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Average rating5
They have different ideas about the fate of an old inn...until it brings them together. When Sarah Lewis inherits a run-down B&B from her late grandmother in coastal Blue Moon Bay, common sense tells her to sell it and return to her life in L.A. But when the new owners decide to tear down the old place, Sarah’s plan changes in an instant. Now she’s determined to return the charming-but-run-down property to its former glory...even if it means hiring her old high school crush to help. Wes Sharrun’s life feels like it’s unraveling. After losing his wife three years ago, he can’t seem to balance his struggling construction company afloat and be a great dad to his nine-year-old daughter. Working on Sarah’s B&B might be the perfect opportunity to get back on his feet. But keeping his distance is tough when even his daughter can’t resist Sarah’s warmth and charm... As Sarah and Wes work together to transform the old place—and discover some of its secrets—the spark between them only grows brighter. But is this a labor of love...or a second chance at it? Each book in the Blue Moon Bay series is STANDALONE: * A Lot Like Love * A Lot Like Christmas * A Lot Like Forever
Series
4 primary booksBlue Moon Bay is a 4-book series with 6 primary works first released in 2015 with contributions by Jennifer Snow and Susan Hatler.
Reviews with the most likes.
A Lot Going On - And Yet It All Works. This turned out to be one of two romance novels I was reading at the same time, that release about a week apart, that both featured single dads and their only children. So that was interesting as far as my own reading went, but not overly relevant to what you, the reader of my review, want to know about. :D
Here, Snow packs quite a bit into a fairly Hallmarkie romance. Which as I've noted before, there is a massive market for, so I totally get why she went this particular route. (Particularly when given her other creative outlets such as her satirical Housewife Chronicles books and her dark alter-ego JM Winchester.) We get a female coder - more common than some might have you believe, but still accurately portrayed both in real life and in this text as a male dominated field. We get an overbearing boss - which happens at all levels of coding, from the small companies our female lead works for here to the biggest companies on the planet. (I happen to currently work for a Forbes 50 company in the tech field, though to be honest my bosses are quite awesome here. :D) We get a tween girl whose dad doesn't fully understand her, who wants to do one thing - in this case, write code - and yet whose dad is pushing her to more “typical” activities. We get the small town businessman dad whose business is struggling and who has many issues of his own, both from being a former NFL star and from having his wife die several years prior to the events here. We even get a hint of a long-ago romance and long-lost love via another side story. And we get the classic Hallmarkie former high school frenemy who shows up again... and may not be all that is remembered or presented. So like I said, a LOT going on, particularly for a 300 ish page book.
And yet, in classic Hallmarkie/ Snow style, it really does all work. It is (mostly) pretty damn realistic, despite what a few other reviewers claim, including several messy moments. It hits all the notes that any romance reader will want to see, yes, including a few sex scenes - oral (both ways) and full penetration - and the requisite-for-the-genre happy ending.
A truly excellent tale and a fine way to pass some time sitting in the shade or on a lounger whiling the summer away. Very much recommended.