Monday, June 8, 2020

Love Starts Here; Traci Borum

Title: Love Starts Here (Morgan's Grove #1)
Author: Traci Borum
Genre: Romance; Contemporary
Published Date: March 30th, 2020
Publisher: Red Adept Publishing

Feeling her life is at a standstill, Jill McCallister jumps at the chance to visit Morgan’s Grove, the town founded by her great-great-great-grandfather. Eager to discover her roots and do research for a new book, she drives from Colorado to Texas, excited to meet the inhabitants of her grandfather’s legacy.

Jill immerses herself in the charming community, enjoying the residents and their quirky traditions. When she meets the mysterious Rick Wright, she almost forgets she’s sworn off men, but she’s not willing to risk getting too involved, especially since she will be returning home in a few weeks.

When the winter festival kicks into high gear, Jill and Rick are thrown together to work on a project, and sparks soon fly. Although she fights it, Jill can’t help falling hard for his soulful eyes and flirty smile. But as tempting as Rick is, he’s hiding something, and the mystery writer in Jill is determined to discover his secret.

With the clock running out on her time in Morgan’s Grove, Jill needs to decide what “home” really means to her.
*Thank you to Traci Borum for allowing me to read this book in exchange for a honest and unbiased Review*

Rating


 Hello Fellow Readers,

Today we have a more realistic romance novel, Love Starts Here about Jill, a successful mystery writer facing writer's block. Under the guise of a writing assignment, Jill is sucked into the small Texas town of Morgan's Grove. Here she discovers unknown family roots. As the townspeople welcome her as one of their own and the new found connection of her family's past, Jill starts to grow. Is it enough to get her out of her rut or does she need more? Like the hunky grandson Rick Wright?

Can I just say that it is so refreshing to read a romance where you can actually read about the characters falling in love rather than it being instant? I'm not completely against the love at first sight cliche, but I feel that nowadays its just a way to give lazy writers an excuse not to have to write about real love. Okay, that may be a bit too harsh but Borum just does it so effortlessly.

It was also refreshing for the characters to be civil to each other. I like a good enemies to lovers trope it seems as if it has just been too overused. Another serendipitous surprise was that I liked all the characters. Jill did frustrate me towards the end of the book with her insecurities, but it was a good kind of frustration (if that makes any sense). Rick was such a sweetheart, that I don't blame Jill for falling in love with him, I pretty much did (Don't tell me husband!).

My Favorite character by far, besides the corgis George and Gracie, was Lucille. She was just so cute and heartwarming, Not some meddling granny whose sole purpose was to just push the romance between Jill and Rick. She felt real, fleshed out, as if she was also a main character.

There were just a couple of things that did frustrate me, such as the small conflict that arose with Jill writing her article, but choosing to not tell anyone. It seemed a bit unnecessary, but at least Borum didn't drag it out. Another thing is Jill's relationship with her mother, it's obvious that she has some lingering childhood (and Adulthood) issues about her mother's flighty ways that I was hoping to see something. Either a conflict or at the very least a conversation but we got neither. This is a series so I do hope we can explore this further going into the next books. Overall, I loved the book, and if you are in the mood to experience real romance and to feel good this is your book.

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