New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Sharon Sala brings new meaning to family in her small-town Southern romance
No one is alone
Dori Grant is no stranger to hardship. As a young single mother in the gossip-fueled town of Blessings, Georgia, she’s weathered the storm of small-town disapproval most of her life. But when Dori loses everything within the span of an evening, she realizes … everything within the span of an evening, she realizes she has no choice but to turn to her neighbors.
As long as there is love to give
Everyone says the Pine boys are no good, but Johnny Pine has been proving the gossips wrong ever since his mother died and he took over raising his brothers. His heart goes out to the young mother and child abandoned by the good people of Blessings. Maybe he can be the one to change all that…
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I’ll Stand By You (Blessings, Georgia #2) was another great read by Sharon Sala. Dori is a young sing mother and has had her share of hardships. She lives in a small-town and has felt the disapproval of many of the gossip filled people in town. She winds up losing everything in one night and must turn to those same gossip filled people. Ever since Johnny’s mother died, he has been raising his brothers. He and his brothers take care of Dori and her child, when the rest of the small town seemed to abandon them. I loved Dori and Johnny’s story and can’t wait to read more by Sharon Sala.
A beautiful, heartwarming contemporary story of love and redemption. Mrs. Sala is such a prolific author, and her characterization and writing style is completely absorbing as she builds a story featuring a lovable cast of main characters and their hardships and accomplishments. Entertainment at its best!
This is the second book in the Blessings, GA series by Sharon Sala. I’d almost say it’s better than the first, but I’m not sure that’s accurate. In some places, yes; in others, no. They are equally well written with a good story and wonderful characters. This is typical small town America at it’s finest. Flaws and all.
Dori is a single teenage mom with plenty of rumors circulating as to who the baby daddy is. She’s not talking. She’s got good reasons why she’s just not sharing. Just when things are starting to settle down for her she loses it all. Literally. The roof over her head and her only support. Or so she thought.
Johnny knows exactly how Dori feels, he encountered similar circumstances two years prior. Well, not the single mom, but he did become instantly responsible for his younger brothers. Life can change without warning and suddenly you find yourself in a situation you never expected to ever be in.
Once again, it’s the kids that steal the spotlight. Johnny’s little brothers, Marshall and Beep, steal the show. They are the heart and life of the story. I instantly connected with Johnny, maybe because I see a lot of my son in him. This is a joyful story to read. It’s typical small town. This is a quick and fun series that will suck you into the people and town of Blessings, GA.
This is one of my favorite series and I love being able to go back and read them from the beginning! If you enjoy a more wholesome romance then you can’t go wrong with the Blessings, Georgia series. I believe each and every book has been a 5 star read for me!
I’m getting a little verklempt.
Thank goodness for Covid, because under different circumstances I very well could have been reading this in public which would be very embarrassing. First, this hardened cynical little heart cried like an 8 year old watching Old Yeller for the first time; later I laughed so hard I think I snorted.
Lots and lots of bad things happen in this book: an off page rape, a child is beaten up by bullies, a fire, a death, some slut-shaming, a gossipy and lying busybody, a viral YouTube vidoe, a bad CPS employee, and a lawsuit. Is it all a little OTT and tropey? Yes, but it works because Sala approaches her tropey events with enthusiasm and ties off each problem and evil doer. Sala doesn’t fall down the rabbit hole and let her characters do the usual, mind-boggling stupid tropes: characters actually report crimes, consult attornies instead of wallowing in pity, engaging in revenge or running off for years.
Yes, big and small, the evil doers get their comeuppance and none more than the rapist. This was the tip of the revenge iceberg.
SPOILER:
“The clerk, a fifty-something woman with a cigarette stuck to her lower lip, looked up as he entered.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“My room has fleas,” he cried.
She took a puff on her cigarette and squinted as the smoke she exhaled lifted upward past her nose. “Really? What room were you in?”
He slammed the key down on the counter. Room 122.
“Ah. The haunted one”, she said.
“Haunted! What the hell does that have to do with fleas? he asked, then scratched his head and checked under his fingernails to see if head missed one, but there was nothing.
“It’s haunted by the motel cat that got run over in the parking lot last year,” the clerk said, and this time when she took a draw on the cigarette, she blew smoke back in his face.
“Like hell,”Frankie said. I want another room.”
“We’re all full up,” she said.
“There aren’t but six cars in this whole parking lot,” he argued.
“They walked in,” she said, leaning forward and shaking ash on the back of his hand. “Just like you better be walking your ass out of this office. We don’t take to people who rape young girls around here.” END Spoiler.
The 17 year old heroine is now raising her 6 month son while the H, considered white trash, is raising his little brothers. Both are sweet, honorable characters which sounds boring, but that would be very wrong. The secondary characters like Johnny’s little brothers, Peanut the philanthropic town attorney and others are hysterical.
Just so much fun.
enjoy all of her books.
I am just loving this series set in Blessings, Georgia. Each book is set in this small town but each one has a great story on its own. I love getting to know the residents and would love to be going to a hair salon like the “Curl and Dye”. It shows the two sides to small town living, and good always wins (with some heart ache along the way). I recommend this book to everyone who wants a great read!
I just discovered Sharon Sala sometime last year and especially this series set in a small town called Blessings. I love this town and want to move there! The townspeople are what you might expect, fast to gossip but just as fast to defend their own.
The focus is on two young residents of the town, Dori who is 17/18 and Johnny who is 20. They went to school together but never expected to come to depend on each other as they do in this book. Despite the hardships these two have endured over the last few years it has only made for stronger characters.
There are a couple of unlikeable characters because you have to have some conflict right?! Pansy wants to be a Christian woman but when she puts herself on the wrong end of some gossip, many call her on it. Then there is another “evil” character, Frankie, and you just know something is going to happen with him when he learns some things about Dori. But this is when you know the town isn’t going to put up with his shenanigans.
Great story and I hope to see more books about this town and its residents especially Ruby and Lovey who run the hair salon and restaurant.
May favorite book so far in this series. You can’t help but root for Johnny and Dori and you just know there happy ever after will be just that. Got a little book hangover from this one. I didn’t want it to end, yet I couldn’t stop reading it once I started. No housework was completed while reading this book.