There’s no place to fall in love like the place you left your heart Welcome to Honeymoon Harbor, the brand-new, long-awaited series by beloved New York Times bestselling author JoAnn Ross, where unforgettable characters come face-to-face with the kind of love that grabs your heart and never lets go.Working as a Las Vegas concierge, Brianna Mannion is an expert at making other people’s wishes come … Mannion is an expert at making other people’s wishes come true. It’s satisfying work, but a visit home to scenic Honeymoon Harbor turns into a permanent stay when she’s reminded of everything she’s missing: the idyllic small-town charm; the old Victorian house she’d always coveted; and Seth Harper, her best friend’s widower and the neighborhood boy she once crushed on—hard. After years spent serving others, maybe Brianna’s finally ready to chase dreams of her own.
Since losing his wife, Seth has kept busy running the Harper family’s renovation business and flying way under the social radar. But when Brianna hires him to convert her aging dream home into a romantic B and B, working together presents a heart-stopping temptation Seth never saw coming. With guilt and grief his only companions for so long, he’ll have to step out of the past long enough to recognize the beautiful life Brianna and he could build together.
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As always from this author a great read.
Very enjoyable
Joann Ross brings a gentle touch as well as vibrancy to this heartwarming love story. Emotional, touching, witty and fun…and even challenging at times, Herons Landing will leave you changed, and in a good way.
A wonderful beginning of a great new series
I love contemporary romances where it is all about the people. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an equal opportunity reader and enjoy a love story with a little paranormal twist, historical setting, or a bit of a whodunit. But there’s just something special about a book that just lets you live the character’s life with them for a bit.
Brianna has come home after years away, ready to make her old dream come true and become the owner of a B&B. It brings her back to family … and the man she’s always loved.
Seth and Brianna have been friends forever, but never anything more. He had found the love of his life at 15 and never looked at anyone else. Now a widower, Seth has cut himself off from a lot in life, basically going through the motions … until Brianna comes back.
A slow build romance, Herons Landing is all about second chances. While Brianna is starting a new chapter in her life, she’s also realizing that her feelings for Seth are still strong. And Seth may have been grieving his wife for the last couple of years but time spent with Brianna shows him that there is a whole life still before him if he’s willing to take a chance.
As the start of a new series, there are some extra characters to introduce but I didn’t feel like Ross spent too much time here. Just enough to be relevant to the story and maybe get you a little curious about what comes next. There’s also a decent bit of history among these people so it makes sense to spend some time looking at them a bit more.
There’s also a side story with Seth’s parents that adds a little extra to an already heart-tugging story. And as they have to take a look at themselves and where their relationship may be going, it also causes Seth to realize that he’s got to do some evaluation of his own.
Angsty but not full of drama, Herons Landing is one of those character driven pieces that you need to just sit back and enjoy.
**Review given honestly and freely after receipt of an advance reader copy. This opinion is completely my own and was not influenced in any way.**
Favorite Quotes:
“On our first date, she cited all this damn research claiming vegans lived nine years longer than meat eaters.” Jarle’s teeth flashed in a grin in his flaming red beard. “After a week of grazing, I decided that her statistics might be true, but that extra time would be nine horrible baconless years.”
Dottie’s going to love dressing you. I swear to the Goddess that woman’s goal in life is to get every Northwesterner looking like a unicorn vomited out rainbows.
Jarle tends to fall in love with every good-looking single woman who comes into the pub. I think it’s the Viking in him. So far he hasn’t carried any off, and doesn’t harass them, just admires from afar, so I figure putting all that emotion into his cooking helps improve business.
You make him work for it, sweetheart. A woman’s gotta let her man know from the beginning that he’s going to have to do his share in a marriage. We women shouldn’t have to do all the heavy lifting.
My Review:
I was a bit conflicted on how to rate this slowly developing and character-driven small-town tale of second chances. Being the first in a series there were lots of characters to introduce and considerable background and history to cover about the quaint little community and a long-standing feud between two of the early families that continued to inhabit both ends of the social ladder. The premise was relevant and interesting, and the storylines were meticulously detailed with the tones alternating between amusing, heartbreaking, and realistic with a few hot licks of sizzling sensuality to take some of the edge off the over-serve of sorrow and angst. The characters were likable, endearing, and admirable, but the story tended to stall on occasion due to the rather repetitive and tiresome retreading the young widower’s grief and inability to move on. Despite my personal pet peeve toward angst, I look forward to returning to the characters living in this unique little enclave while hoping for a lighter beat in the next installment.
I wish I had been able to “get” the characters better. The book is good. I love Ross’ books but this one did not warm my heart.
A good escape to northwest and antiqueing/rehab without the time and money.
The start to JoAnn’s new series is epic. I adore this book.
Loved it! Worth the read!
Good escapism.
Loved it.