Susannah Westbrook never thought she’d find love again.After a failed marriage, focusing on her children instead of her love life was the best thing to do. Now years later, she’s content with her life. But when she meets Colton Hale, she decides that she wants to be more than just content—she’s ready to take a chance on love once again.After just a year of being together, Colton is ready to spend … Colton is ready to spend forever with Susannah—to give her the happily ever after she deserves. But old insecurities have a way of making a comeback when you least want them to.
Will they be able to get over all their befores for a chance at their happy ever after?
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I was so happy to read Susannah and Colton’s story!!
Susannah hasn’t had it easy but finally her children are happy and settled, her business is about to take off and she is dating a great guy. Until that great guy wants more. Colton has been in love with Susannah since the day he met her. He knows she is the one for him but while he is ready to take it to the next level, she definitely is not.
My heart broke for these two!! It is a great, Christmas novella. I can’t wait to head back to Magnolia Sound soon!
Susannah whole world revolves around her children. She is single mom whose ex did a real number on her. She never really started dating till her kids were in college. It took years for Colton to get up the courage to approach Susannah. After one date he knew she was one for him. All Colton wants and need is Susannah. Susannah cannot get her ex’s words out of her head. She is scared to start a new marriage. Her kids are moving on and she is set to open a B and B. Susannah had one failed marriage and she feels she was a terrible wife. Colton is her rock. With his help she comes to realize she is amazing woman. She did a wonderful job with her children and she deserves to have love in her life. I loved how Susannah’s sister is softening toward life. This is great series and very much looking forward to Dean and Courtney’s story.
Love this book and love, love the series!!! Samantha Chase did not disappoint. I loved every word of it. Susannah and Colton’s was wonderful. It was so heartwarming to see Susannah finally have a relationship worthy of her. Colton was the perfect man to give it to her. Loved her relationship with her kids and how they only wanted her happiness. A wonderful read!!
Susannah Westbrook has raised 2 children on her own.
Now both Children are grown and in their own relationships.
Susannah has been hurt in the past, by her ex-husband who walked out on her and her children.
She is not sure if she is able to love again.
She meets Colton while he was doing renovations at her grandfathers home. They become friends and develop deep feelings for each other while Colton is remolding her house into a Bed and Breakfast.
Will she finally let go of her insecurities and find love again?
Colton and Susannah prove that there is no age limit for love. Chase takes a peek inside of a couple of bruised hearts and finds a few life lessons along the way. Susannah is right on the cusp of having it all. After years of regrets and learning what it means to be a mother. Susannah has found the man of her dreams and a life she adores. So why do her past mistakes continue to haunt her after all these years? Chase can make any story into a revelation. All the Befores takes on a couple with a bit more life miles on their emotions, but no less heart. Susannah and Colton remind us that love is not always beautiful, but it’s the most rewarding experience of our life. If we’re willing to do the work. Magnolia Sound is the perfect destination to fall in love.
All the Befores is a quick read but it still packs a mighty punch and it still draws you in to life the residents of Magnolia Sound share. This is one of my favourite series and I really enjoy my visits and catching up with the residents of Magnolia Sound because this author makes me feel like I’m going home and catching up with friends with every book I read of hers. I was so excited when I heard Colton and Susannah were going to get their own book and their story was everything I hoped for.
Susannah’s family have flown the coop, her children are all grown up and she now finds herself thinking about taking another chance with Colton but will love second time around be any different or will her insecurities destroy it once again …….
Colton is one of my favourite hero’s, he loves unconditionally, he supports Susannah even when she is trying to push him away and he does his best to build her confidence but will that be enough to make this relationship work after all they tried once before …..
This book can be read as a stand-alone but I’m sure you would love all the books in this series as this very talented author is one of the best at small town romance, she always gives us stories that are heartwarming with characters we love. So my recommendation is you need to one click this entertaining enjoyable read……
Great story!! I really enjoyed reading Susannah and Colton’s story. Two people in their early 40’s finding love after disappointments from the past gave me hopeful and light hearted feeling. This was a quick read but all the feels are there for a great story. It also has a bit of holiday magic that just adds to the romance of the story.
5 Star Review of All The Befores (Magnolia Sound #3.5) by Samantha Chase
Although only a short story Samantha Chase has certainly packed a lot in to this book. I love this series series and I was excited that Susannah Westbrook and Colton Hale we’re getting their own book.
This book can be read as a stand alone, but I recommend that you also one click the other books in the series as they are just as enjoyable.
Susannah has been happily focusing on raising her children after a failed marriage and now that they are grown, she finds herself ready to take another chance on love with Colton.
Can Susannah and Colton make their relationship work, or is it destined to be destroyed by the past and Susannah’s insecurities?
I love Colton’s unfailing love and support of Susannah and how he is always there to build her up and love her; a swoon worthy man whom I fell hard and fast for.
All The Befores is a romantic, love story with mature characters which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was heartwarming and I was so happy to be back in Magnolia Sound.
ALL THE BEFORES is instalment 3.5 in Samantha Chase’s contemporary, adult MAGNOLIA SOUND romance series focusing on the Westbrook family. This is forty year old contractor Colton Hale, and forty-five year old B&B owner Susannah Westbrook. ALL THE BEFORES can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.
SOME BACKGROUND: The late Ezekiel Coleman, one of the original founding members of Magnolia Cove, left each of his heirs something different, a business or business plan, in an effort to bring together his dysfunction family.
Told from several third person perspectives including Susannah and Colton ALL THE BEFORES follows divorcee and single mother of two grown children, Susannah Westbrook, as she struggles moving on with her life. Ezekiel Coleman left the family homestead to Susannah, and our heroine would find purpose in Magnolia Cove turning the homestead into a B&B. Now that her children were falling in love and having babies of their own, Susannah battled memories of the past including the failure of her first marriage, a failure that she continues to blame on herself. Nine months of dating, and having fallen in love, Colton Hale asked Susannah Westbrook for her hand in marriage, but Susannah would panic fearing failing all over again. What ensues is the breakdown of Susannah and Colton’s relationship as Susannah struggles with issues of self-esteem, insecurities, and another possible failure.
The secondary and supporting characters include Susannah’s children Mallory and her fiancé Jake, Sam (and Shelby), as well as their cousin Mason (and Scarlet), and Mason’s mother Georgia Bishop.
ALL THE BEFORES is a quick read; a story of family and friendships, love and happily ever after. Susannah and Colton are a mature couple, having previous relationships that ended in divorce. Colton is hoping to move forward by marrying the woman he loves but Susannah struggles with taking their relationship to the next level and beyond. The premise is heartfelt; the romance is passionate and sweet; the $ex scenes are mostly implied; the characters are energetic and colorful.
All The Befores by Samantha Chase is a novella in the Magnolia Sound series. I really loved this story, it was filled with all the bittersweet and poignant moments I have come to love and expect in this series. That is truly what makes this an incredible story. Once again we get caught up on the lives of Mallory and Jake, Sam and Shelby, and Malcolm and Scarlett, it feels like coming home again. I love how the title in mentioned in the story in the most marvelous way. All The Befores is the story of Susannah Westbrook, mother of Mallory and Sam, and Colton “Colt” Hale, construction worker at Coleman Construction. In his will, Zeke Coleman left Susannah his house, and she had always talked to her grandfather about turning his house into a bed and breakfast. Zeke never wanted to make any changes to his house. The story starts with Colt cleaning up his house after a proposal gone wrong. While making all the necessary adaptations to Zeke’s house to turn into Susannah’s bed and breakfast, Colt and Susannah began a romance. Now that the work on the house is complete, Colt thought it was the appropriate time to propose. Unfortunately, Susannah still lives with all the scars from the verbal abuse from her ex-husband, Mark. Susannah has always put her children first, and as a single mother never dated. Now that Mallory and Sam are grown, she isn’t sure that anyone will love her because of all the demeaning things that Mark had said to her. Susannah’s bed and breakfast will not meet the final permit requirements, so Colt decides that he wants to finish what he started and takes on the project himself. Colt has his own skeletons in his closet, with an ex-wife who fell out of love with him. He questions how will he ever know if this won’t repeat itself. While making the adjustments, Colt once again falls into bed with Susannah. All the Befores was a wonderful story showing that love conquers all the hurdles placed before it. I loved the bittersweet moments, and the surprise plot twists. I love the advice that Susannah gave to Georgia. Once again with All the Befores, Samantha Chase shows that she is an amazing storyteller. Glad that everyone got their happy endings.
This novella took me by surprise. I’m not used to seeing Samantha write about older couples. I don’t mean old ladies in Red Hats, but it’s not new adult. These two are in their 40’s and the story is a sweet heart-wrenching, swoon-worthy romance about two people who’ve already had one failed marriage under their belts and are trying to figure out if they can make another marriage work.
Twins, Sam and Mallory’s mom, Susannah has worked for the last year on the house her Grandfather left her to make it into a great Southern bed and breakfast, despite her cousin Georgia’s negativity. That negativity along with her ex-husbands treatment of her during their marriage break-up contributes to her lack of confidence to marry again. Colton on the other hand is ready to have a woman in his life and bed full time with a ring on it!! You go man, cause there are too many men out there that want to have their cake and eat it too.
Susannah leads him on a merry chase through TWO proposals, the Holidays, and her insecurities before she finally says yes. As usual the characters have all the truth and emotion to make them feel like real life people having experiences the rest of us have in smaller doses. When you get done with this one, be sure to reflect back on your own relationship and think of the small things he or she did once for you that made a moment special, maybe a birthday or anniversary…those keep us going. If we didn’t have hope they would happen again, we probably wouldn’t work so hard.
For me this is a 4 of 5, we got our HEA, with no cliffhanger. For me there was just a little bit of sparkle missing from the story. I would like to have seen Susannah make a grand gesture to Colton and I think that would have been better. In the end I did love it though. Can’t wait to see what the next Magnolia Sound novel And then One Day has in store for us.
Susannah and Colton are such true to life characters. Second chase at love after both have had marriages that failed for different reasons. They both have to get past a few things to see just how happy they can be together. The Christmas wedding and catching up with her two children from past books were added bonuses.