There’s just something about small town romances that I love. That feeling of community and family, with people that feel so real you just want to move there so you can be friends. It’s that thing that made Gilmore Girls so darn appealing – and Gilroy captures it beautifully. Her characters just come alive and you can’t help but feel for all of their ups and downs (and sometimes even more downs).

Luc is back after losing both his hockey career and his wife. He’s going through the motions of getting back on his feet but he’s not really opening himself up for anything that could hurt him that much again. Then he meets Cat … and she definitely brings all his feelings back alive. He’s a man, though, and has to have a few “really?” moments but he’s carrying around a lot and so it’s to be expected.

Cat has come home but she’s not here to stay. She’s got a temporary work assignment and thinks it best to get her daughter out of the city for a while. And being near family is just what they both need. But what she never thought she needed was Luc – having him nearby again puts all kinds of tempting thoughts into her head. She just needs to come to terms with her own past first.

While I really like Cat and Luc, there were moments when I really didn’t get her daughter. I can see what Gilroy was going for (and she is a hormonal preteen) but she’s all over the place and comes off as a petulant toddler more than once (… although that could be the teenager coming out too :) ). Usually the kid is a highlight in the book but here she just rubbed me wrong as often as I liked her.

But I definitely couldn’t have asked for more with the adults! There is a lot of drama between the two of them but they also bring the feels. Both of them are at a crossroads in their lives – they didn’t plan on being where they are and they need to figure out where they really want to go from here. They’ve both had things in the past that they need to work on but if they do it right then they might find themselves in a place much better than they imagined.

If you love feel-good sweetness in your romances, Gilroy definitely delivers – lots of emotion, realistic, and just plain enjoyable.

(Although it is part of a series, it can easily stand on its own.)

*** I voluntarily read a Review Copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else’s. ***