This is a story about love and friendship, heartbreak and healing, loss and second chances. This is a story that will have falling in love with the lead characters, only to feel like one of the family as you let all those that surround them into your heart. This is a story by a new-to-me author that opens a new series that will have a home on my wish list as long as it's being written. Yes, my friends, I fell that hard for this book.

Brianna is SUCH a great leading lady, though she'd never steal the spotlight from anyone else. She's kind yet strong, talented in so many ways, and a romantic through and through, though her heart has always belonged to the one that got away. Well, okay...honestly, he didn't so much get away as fall for another before actually being "got" in any sense of the word, but despite that obstacle, their friendship remained (all three of them actually!), and that connection from days gone by will show its strength through the years, good times and bad, and when the time is right shine for all its worth to reveal what was there all along.

Seth, on the other hand, is...okay, he's a great lead as well, and SO easy on the eyes, but the trauma he's faced has frozen his heart like the Washington landscape in winter. Don't get me wrong, he still cares for others, takes in stray dogs, and lends a helping hand, but he's done away with any of those niceties towards himself, making him a bit of a miser. (Sorry, Seth...it's true though!) Lucky for him, Brianna's unexpected arrival and life plan is about to tempt him to thaw out the icebox he calls a heart...and while she's teaching him the finer points of actually LIVING, he may find that second chances are well worth the risk.

Like I said, I fell hard for this one, from cover to cover. I adored the leads, but their friends and families were JUST as wonderful as the two of them. The backstory's for everyone were both fitting and realistic...I can totally vouch for Bri's "acting" abilities as anyone can that has made it in the customer service or hospitality industries...and the potential futures were tinged with just enough hope to make you hold on til the end to see just how things worked out. So yes, I'm recommending this one to adult Contemporary Romance fans (some steamy scenes!), and suggesting you make room on your wish list for future installments because it has the potential to REALLY make a splash!



**copy received for review
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