Sometimes chaos is all you need to shake things up and then see where life lands…Grace is all set to start her new job, at least she was until her cousin drops by hoping she’ll take care of her one-year-old daughter for a few weeks. Unable to have children of her own, Grace is tempted. The opportunity to have a baby around, even if only for a short time, is too hard to ignore—especially after … to ignore—especially after her recent rejection by the adoption agency. With her sister’s promise to babysit, the pieces fall into place and Grace accepts. This Mother’s Day she’ll have a baby, even if it’s temporary. But when her sister calls the next morning and cancels on her, Grace has no choice but to take the baby to work.
Running late, Ryan pops into the local bakery in Hallbrook to pick up some pastries and coffee for his upcoming office meeting with the new World Sport Inc. employees. When the woman ahead of him struggles to find her money to pay, he offers to help to expedite matters. It wouldn’t look good if the boss was late. When she graciously turns down his offer but doesn’t move any faster, he’s forced to take matters into his own hands, much to his own detriment. Talk about being nice coming back to bite you…or vomit on you, in this case.
Grace’s hope for an understanding boss vanishes when she realizes he’s none other than the Vomit Man, the name she’d dubbed the poor, unfortunate man who’d paid for her breakfast. The two of them learn to work together with the baby around temporarily, at least they did, until Grace makes a mistake he can’t overlook, one that puts the company’s future in jeopardy.
When her cousin returns early, Grace is faced with losing her job, the man she cares about, and the baby she loves all at once. With her dog, Lucky, on her side, find out if Grace will have a Happy Mother’s Day after all.
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Grace is a single woman, unable to have children and rejected for adoption, so when her cousin asked her to care for her year-old baby girl for a few weeks she couldn’t refuse. This caused a real conflict for Grace as she was to begin a new job the following day. After convincing her flighty sister to commit to babysitting while she was at work, she felt she had made the right decision.
The story became a series of mishaps and problems for Grace, but her love for the baby never wavered. Her sister fell through on her promise, and Grace was forced to take Baby Holly to work with her. The man in the coffee shop who was the recipient of Holly’s “breakfast” turned out to be Grace’s boss, Ryan, and what could go wrong, did!
Elsie Davis wove a beautiful story of a woman with a mother’s heart. She threaded this story with the changes that can happen in a man when this baby came into his life along with feelings for a woman that he never expected. It is full of many emotions that grip the reader’s heart as well. I recommend this book either as a stand alone or part of the Hollidays in Hallbrook, Books 5-9 Collection.
Saving Grace
The main characters’ relationship is so fun, I was laughing out loud. Great word building and story line!
“Forgiveness sets you free.”
I received a complimentary copy of the book. I was not required to write a favorable review. All opinions in this review are my own.
Great story, great characters.
It was mostly a light-hearted sweet romance with comedic moments… and then there are a couple of squish your heart moments, too.
The dialogue was fun and flirty at times, wonderful banter, really.
This was another enjoyable book in the Holidays in Hallbrook Series. Grace is starting a new job as an administrative assistant and marketing guru for an online sporting goods retailer that’s soon to open. She offers to help out her cousin, Karen, by watching her baby girl for about 3 weeks while she has a chance to sing with her band in California thereby giving Grace a chance to be a mom for a short period of time.
The problems a working mom experiences, especially with a new job and a new 1 year old can be pretty interesting and I enjoyed the interactions between Grace and her new boss Ryan. Ryan has no desire to settle down and get married and have a family and having a family is all that Grace has ever wanted but somehow he’s fascinated with Grace and with baby Holly. With the learning curve of a new mom, Grace finds herself spread pretty thin until she can find help with babysitting duty. I really enjoyed the characters in the book and the visit back to Hallbrook. I received a free copy of this story in exchange for my honest opinion. It was a hard book to put down.
I can understand Grace jumping at the chance to spend time with sweet baby Holly when she was told she can’t have children, but she had been out of work and was starting a new job when her cousin asked her. She should have been considering the risk to her new job and financial stability especially if she wanted to apply again with the adoption agency. Her first day was pretty funny spilling coffee on and having Holly spit up and pee on her boss. She’s lucky he appreciated how skilled she was at her job. The baby does make her distracted and causes her to make mistakes, which Ryan’s investors are not happy with. It’s the struggle of many parents juggling their children and work. But Holly and Grace worm into Ryan’s bachelor never getting married and having children heart. This was a clean romance with plenty of funny and sweet moments.
Love & Hope by Elsie Davis is the fifth tale in Holidays in Hallbrook series. Each book can be read on its own. I thought Love & Hope was an endearing romance with great characters, a cute baby, an adorable dog and plenty of humor. There are several laugh out loud moments which I just love. The first meeting of Grace and Ryan was a hoot and very realistic. The romance is sweet and charming. I like Elsie Davis’ writing style. She never fails to draw me into her stories. Drama, romance, and wit combined into one engaging story. Faith in the Lord and not losing hope are prevalent in the book. I thought Love & Hope was a touching and inspiring tale with friends, family, faith and forgiveness.
This was a cute romance.
A clean read. The HEA alone is worth the read. The characters were relatable. A well written book that managed to fully charm me!
Apparently, this was my week to read books that were going to jab sharp pointy sticks into all of my most tender places. Grace is named so wildly appropriately. I could so completely empathize with Grace’s situation, but I’m pretty sure I would not be able to handle it with her equanimity. Ryan’s a sweetheart even though he starts out the book quite stuffy. They’ve both got heaps of family baggage to deal with. And watching them do that was in turns painful, frustrating, and heartbreakingly sweet.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.
I really enjoyed the characters, getting to know Grace, Ryan and of course Holly. Their backgrounds of why the 2 adults had the feelings they did about relationships, family, and life in general. I give kudo’s to Karen, what an “adult” thing to do for her daughter. Of course Lucky was the ever faithful 4 legged character for each of the 2 legged characters.
Grace longs for a husband and family and doesn’t think she will ever have one. Ryan is avoiding having a wife and family. Can two such opposites come together? Loved their first meeting. The theme of faith in the Lord and His will was central and really made this story. Great ending.
Love & Hope is a fabulous small town romance that is part of the Holidays in Hallbrook series. It can also be read as a stand-alone.
This book is packed full of wonderful characters that are completely true to life. They are far from perfect, except for baby Holly and Lucky the dog who are just adorable. When Grace and Ryan first meet it is hilarious and many a parent will have faced something similar. I really enjoyed this sweet, charming book and its underlying message of hope and love with a wonderful HEA and I definitely recommend it.
This was another good clean read! I’d recommend reading it! The story line was different and very in tune with our times.
I received an advanced ebook and I am voluntarily leaving my review.
Excellent inspirational romance. Grace is such a sweet person, very smart and longs to be a mother. She has accepted her situation but when Holly needs her, she instantly goes into nurturing mode. Despite the chaos, the love is apparent. This even reminded me of when I kept my 18 month old godson for one week and how quickly we bonded. Such a realistic, touching, touching and tear-jerker story. I was provided a free copy without obligation and am voluntarily reviewing.
ECan Grace find love, happiness and the family she dreams of? Ryan do not beleive in love and family. Can Grace and Ryan get their happily ever after thanks to little Holly? A sweet love story
Love & Hope is a sweet, touching, heartwarming romance that grabbed me on page 1. I love Grace, Ryan and Holly. The characters are all well portrayed. Grace faces way more challenges than anyone should have to. This well written story of faith, hope and love really touched my heart.
This is a very well written, clean, sweet, heart-warming and entertaining romance with a little drama thrown in.
Highly recommend.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I liked this book.
Grace is starting a new job, but is also tasked with taking care of a kid. I liked that she had infertility issues.
Ryan is her new boss and they met in a not meet cute.
Will Grace lose everything?
Such a sweet and loving story which involves a baby who can make everyone’s world a better place. Mishaps along the way can jeopardize a new job and possibly a new love. Make sure to grab this book to see if they all have a happy ending after all. Loved the storyline and characters so very much.
I really enjoyed this story of two characters that appeared to be quite opposites at the beginning of the story but the heroine (Grace) gradually shows the hero (Ryan) the true meaning of love and family and therefore, the true meaning of joy! Ryan wasn’t a bad person, just a workaholic and because of his past, he didn’t want anything to do with a family or anything resembling a relationship. He’d been very hurt in the past by his family growing up and he wasn’t going there again. He was sinking all his money, time, energy and personality into his new company. He didn’t have time for anything else. Grace comes along as a new employee and what happens…the first day he gets thrown up on and peed on by a baby he THINKS is Grace’s!!! How is that for an introduction for a first day on the job? Grace gets a baby thrust upon her the very day she starts a new job by her cousin and boy does she have to make a lot of changes in her life but she welcomes them because she wants to be a mother so badly! The events that follow between Grace and Ryan and Grace’s sister are so touching. I hope many people read this book!
The title of this book was perfect for this story of love, hope, and faith. I was drawn into the story behind Grace Baxtor having polycystic problems and not being able to have children of her own. This had effected her dating life when men found out she could not bare children.
Grace agreed to watch her cousin Karen’s little baby while she was away for three weeks and her sister, Faith agreed to come over and babysit Holly so Grace could start her new job at World Sport Inc. Her boss, Ryan sounded like a dream and after having to bring the baby to work when her sister did not show up to babysit he probably was just going to be a dream. She was sure he would fire her.
I liked Ryan’s character who had no plans for marriage or children. He ended up in foster care when his mom died and his dad was suffering from his loss and could not take care of them. While in foster care his father died and he was separated from his sister. Ryan was very angry and bitter inside until Grace and Holly came into his life and inspired him with hope. I really enjoyed the ending to the story. I received and advance copy of this book and I willingly chose to write an honest review.