Discover the magic of New York Times bestseller Melissa Foster’s writing, and see why millions of readers have fallen in love with the fiercely loyal and sassily sexy characters in the Love in Bloom big-family romance families.Welcome to Oak Falls, Virginia, home to horse farms, midnight rodeos, bookstores, coffee shops, and quaint restaurants where you’re greeted like family and treated like … family and treated like treasured guests. Buckle up for a wild ride. Like any Southern girls worth their salt, the sweet-talking, sharp-tongued Montgomery sisters can take men to their knees with one seductive glance or a single sugarcoated sentence.
A second chance at their first love…
Leaving New York City and returning to her hometown to teach a screenplay writing class seems like just the break Grace Montgomery needs. Until her sisters wake her at four thirty in the morning to watch the hottest guys in town train wild horses and she realizes that escaping her sisters’ drama-filled lives was a lot easier from hundreds of miles away. To make matters worse, she spots the one man she never wanted to see again—ruggedly handsome Reed Cross.
Reed was one of Michigan’s leading historical preservation experts, but on the heels of catching his girlfriend in bed with his business partner, his uncle suffers a heart attack. Reed cuts all ties and returns home to Oak Falls to run his uncle’s business. A chance encounter with Grace, his first love, brings back memories he’s spent years trying to escape.
Grace is bound and determined not to fall under Reed’s spell again—and Reed wants more than another taste of the woman he’s never forgotten. When a midnight party brings them together, passion ignites and old wounds are opened. Grace sets down the ground rules for the next three weeks. No touching, no kissing, and if she has it her way, no breathing, because every breath he takes steals her ability to think. But Reed has other ideas…
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The Bradens & Montgomerys are part of Melissa’s Love in Bloom big-family romance collection featuring alpha male heroes and sexy, empowered women. They’re flawed, funny, passionate, and relatable to readers who enjoy contemporary romance and women’s fiction.. All Love in Bloom novels are written to stand alone and may also be enjoyed as part of the larger series, so dive right into this fun, sexy romance.
PLEASE NOTE: Future books in the original Montgomery series are crossing over to the Bradens at Pleasant Hill, and for this reason I have combined the series into THE BRADENS & MONTGOMERYS (Pleasant Hill – Oak Falls).
THE BRADENS & MONTGOMERYS (Pleasant Hill – Oak Falls).
Embracing Her Heart
Anything For Love
Trails of Love
Making You Mine
Wild Crazy Hearts
Our Wicked Hearts
Searching for Love
Hot For Love
Summer of Love
Sweet Sexy Hearts
Winter of Love
Claiming Her Heart
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Love in Bloom features Characters from each sub-series appear in future books.
Love In Bloom Series
Snow Sisters
The Bradens at Weston
The Bradens at Trusty
The Bradens at Peaceful Harbor
The Bradens & The Montgomerys
The Remingtons
The Ryders
Seaside Summers
Bayside Summers
Wild Billionaires After Dark
Bad Billionaires After Dark
Harborside Nights
Tru Blue and The Whiskeys: Dark Knights at Peaceful Harbor
The Wickeds: Dark Knights at Bayside
“Melissa Foster is synonymous with sexy, swoony, heartfelt romance!” New York Times Bestseller Lauren Blakely
Perfect for fans of big-family, small-town romance featuring billionaires, blue collar workers, and everything in between. The heroes are loyal, loving, and you’re always guaranteed happily ever after.
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It was redundant and very slow moving . I rushed through it to get to the end
She has a wonderful way of wording everything.
Like reading books in a series.
I usually love her books, but Grace and also Sable just annoyed me too much.
It was a good story, but I had to skip a lot of the steamy parts
I love second chance books. Reed Cross is every women’s dream man. Kind, caring, giving, romantic, thoughtful, and the list goes on. When Reed and Grace Montgomery were seniors in high school from two BIG rivalry schools. He was the quarterback for the biggest rival school and Grace was a cheerleader for the other one. They feel in love and was keeping it a secret cause kids were very cruel and would have made it impossible for them to date. Reed did not want Gracie to go through the pain and suffering the kids would have put her through for dating the quarterback from their biggest enemy school. After graduation they broke up so Grace could follow her dreams and go to college and go to New York City and become a successful producer. 10 years later she returned to her hometown to teach a screenplay writing class and wanted to avoid Reed as much as possible. Unfortunately they meet each other again and memories start returning!!! A beautiful standalone with an HEA. I didn’t like the use of the F- word. Author needs to know not everyone talks like that. Other than that this story was great!!
Super sweet second chance romance.
I liked Grace and Reed and I love that they worked out their problems without misunderstandings and miscommunications
This is a first book in a new series so there is lots of world building and information about side characters, places, I enjoyed all this info but I can imagine it will be too much for some people.
As usual with Melissa Foster books, the sex scènes were sexy and steamy. I wish I was able to write a love making scene like Melissa does.
Embracing her heart is well written, sweet, low on drama and sexy. It’s a super entertaining, relaxing, light book, perfect for a day on the beach or an afternoon in front of the fire.
I think Embracing Her Heart is my new favorite Melissa Foster book! I listened to this one on audiobook and loved the wonderful narration.
Grace Montgomery is at the top of her NYC theater career. She has mostly avoided returning to her hometown of Oak Falls, but is visiting her family there and helping out teaching a class.
Grace tries to steer clear of Reed Cross. Although bad feelings and misunderstandings cloud the memories of their past together, Reed is determined to rekindle the sparks he still feels for Grace.
I loved Embracing Her Heart. It is everything I love in a sweet, small town, second chance romance.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: Melissa is a master when it comes to tug at my heartstrings. I have crazy expectations when it comes to Melissa’s books but she never disappoints me, in every single one I’m always blown away by her character’s beautiful and emotional journeys.
Embracing Her Heart is a second chance romance set in a small town, it can be read as a standalone but for those who already read a few of Melissa’s other books (like Brett or Touched by Love) you’ll definitely recognize some of the characters (I loved, loved, loved Janie’s moments). Grace is a small town girl only because she was born in one, but her heart always wanted more, she left town to chase her dreams and she’s living a fast paced, stressful, successful life in New York City. She’s a confident, independent, sassy woman who conquered her big dream: to be a respected screen writer and producer. She returns home for 3 weeks and during that time she’ll be teaching a screenplay writing class at a bookstore. She expects to have fun, spend time with her family and have a bit of a break from the crazy divas (actors and actresses) with whom she has to deal with on a daily basis. She definitely wasn’t expecting Reed back in town. Reed, her first and only love, her high school sweetheart…
Reed returned to Oak Falls after an unexpected turn of events, he’s running his uncle’s business, doing exactly what he loves but memories of Grace, their love and how she broke his heart still haunt him and he knows that there’s always something missing in his life. Reed is utter perfection, honestly! He’s strong, self confident, hot, romantic, with a huge caring heart and a “no bullshit, no games” kind of attitude but he’s also damaged due to some of his family issues (I’m trying not to give much away).
I’m so in love with Reed, he’s my favorite character in this story, I loved his personality, the way he said what he meant and what he wanted, definitely a remarkable hero and a amazing book boyfriend! I also loved Grace, her strength and how she slowly realized that sometimes dreams change, her style and her passion for writing, the bond with her family, her sisters and their hilarious bonding moments, made Grace an awesome heroine. The chemistry between Grace and Reed is red hot and I absolutely loved how they grown through the years that they’ve been apart. But Grace and Reed have choices to make and their lives are worlds apart. Will they take their second chance at happiness?
A wonderful, emotional, sweet, passionate love story set in a beautiful small town with amazing characters, loving families and neighbors and I can’t wait to read the next one in this series!
Really really love reading this authors books. She pulls you into the story and make you fall in love with the characters. Reed and Grace’s book was full of drama and hotness. My only negative is it just ended. To me the ending was rushed. But still love the book and will definitely buy more.
I loved this fun, sweet and steamy second chance romance! Grace and Reed had a secret romance in high school. They were each others first love and thought they could weather a separation to follow their dreams. When they lost contact, they were both heartbroken. Now years later they are both back home at the same time. They never expected the attraction and sparks to be even stronger and they find it impossible to ignore. They fall back into a flirty and sizzling romance. But Grace is only home for a short time, heading back to a career she loves but has grown disenchanting. Can she find her passion again with the home, family and man she loves and never forgot? I loved this heartwarming start to this new series. Grace, Reed and their family and friends are fun, quirky, loving and supportive. It is the kind of small town story that captures your heart and makes you feel at home.
I always enjoy listening to Andi Arndt, and Sebastian York, and they did an amazing job bringing this heartwarming and sizzling story to life.
Foster did a wonderful job bringing these two large families into one series. I can’t wait to find out more about all The Bradens & Montgomerys!
I will read anything by this author. All of her books have terrific characters and great plots.
Reunion. Home. Second Chance. Lasting Love. Family. Friends. Love.
Overall 5 out of 5 stars
Performance 5 out of 5 stars
Story 4 out of 5 stars
02-16-20
Andi and Sebastian started this one off just right. We get the love and connection to the characters through two different voices. The complexity of characters via pitch, emotion, inflection and simple changes allowed for a smoother more enjoyable read and connection with the story.
Reed needed to once again embrace the heart of the one person in the world that loved him unconditionally. Grace was back home for a short time. She was not eager to get involved in her sisters antics, but low and behold. She too was up for the peek at all the man candy up and over the hill.
Reed Cross held the world for Grace at one time. Now they both were back in the same place at the same time. What was once done in secret becomes a focal point. More eyes. More noses. We find more characters to fall in love with and more characters to anticipate their HEA.
You will be entertained by this tale of returning to your hometown and encountering your first love. The Montgomery sisters are strong, capable women and they love deeply and passionately.
A second chance romance, one of the better ones that I have read. Great families.
Not as good as all the other books on the family
The story about Texas teens turned adult. Got back together. Not much story. Raunchy, too much explicit sex.
Another great book by Melissa Foster. Reed and Gracie have a sweet romantic story which we get in on ten years after the fact. Lots of family twists and turns and a good read.
Grace and Reed were meant to be. Melissa Foster has written another 5+ star book, and then the narrators, Andi Arndt and Sebastian York, have done a most wonderful job bringing Melissa’s words to life. Grace and Reed were secretly together in high school. It had to be a secret, because they went to rival schools. This brought memories back to me of my high school years. Grace left him though to go follow her dreams in New York City, but now she is visiting her hometown, and Reed is there too. I love second chance romances, and this is a beautiful one. Every time I was listening to the audiobook in my car, I would take the long way to where I was going, and sit in the car for a long time after arriving at my destination, because this book is so good, I could not stop listening to it. I highly recommend this book, whether you read it, or you listen to it.
The story and narration were right on point with Embracing Her Heart. This is a second chance love story that bypasses all of the lengthy problems that occur in other romance stories and get’s right down to the nitty-gritty of a real relationship.
Grace and Reed have a second chance at love in the small town they grew up in. Both left, leaving each other heartbroken as well. But they had their chance to see what life would be like away from one another. When Reed moves back and Grace comes to visit for vacation, they run into each other again and it’s all sparks and fireworks from that point.
This story focused on their relationship and well as Reed’s feeling of abandonment due to his father leaving him as a small child. I really liked that the story was focused on their current relationship and being together instead of bringing some other problem into the story line. It was interesting, hot and full of redemption in many ways.
The narration was so on-point. Andy and Sebastian did a fantastic job of making these characters come to life and that is what I look for in an audio book.