Book Review: Meet you under the stars by Traci Borum

 

Title: Meet you Under the Stars (Morgan's Grove #2)
Author: Traci Borum
Genre: Romance
Publication Date: December 1, 2020
Publisher: Red Adept Publishing 

Chaynie Mayfield is the absolute last person who should be heading up the Morgan’s Grove library Valentine’s event. Ever since her boyfriend dumped her last year—on Valentine’s Day—she’s had a hard time believing in love.

When Greg Peterson, handsome architect and former schoolmate, is commissioned to oversee the library’s renovations, Chaynie’s spirits are instantly lifted. Greg helps her brainstorm, and they create an “Under the Stars” theme that promises to deliver a magical night for the entire town.

The longer Chaynie and Greg work together on the romantic project, the deeper their attraction grows. But when her dream job comes calling, Chaynie must decide whether her future aspirations are worth the price of leaving a town, a family, a library she adores, and a love she’s not sure she can live without.

 

Rating

 *A Thank you to the author for allowing me to read this. This is my honest and unbiased review*

Hello Fellow Readers,

I am so glad to be back in Morgan's Grove, I absolutely loved Borum's first book Love Starts Here so when I saw there was a second book in the series I was so excited. Like the last book this was so much more than a romance, this is a book about family, friendships, and finding oneself. In Meet you Under the Stars we meet Chaynie an assistant librarian, who dreams of becoming a head librarian at a university. However, when she finally gets the chance to chase her ambitions, she starts second guessing whether she wants to take that chance.

 

I adored Chaynie, she was so great and I never once felt that her actions were out of character or unrealistic. I also really loved Greg (almost as much as I adore Rick), he was such a strong and patient man that I completely understand why Chaynie fell for him. I do love that the romance was a slow burn, and not an instant love situation, it really helped set up the mood and made the ending that much better.

I not only loved Greg and Chaynie, but Chaynie's mother and Savannah. I appreciated how Borum gave them small side stories so they were not just there to influence Chaynie's descisions but they felt like real fleshed out characters. Okay, so I love pretty much everyone they included in the Morgan's Grove books, it makes me want to hop on a plane and go live a small town life. 

Overall, a slow burn romance that will make you feel good.

#CurrentlyReading

 Hello Fellow Readers! 

As much as I want to dive right into reading I am going to go slow and pace myself so I don't burnout before I even really get started so just a couple of books to start.

Faith Walker, a UCA cheer-captain-turned-coach, is fired from her daughter's championship-bound team, the Dallas Prep Bulldogs, only to be recruited by the lowest ranking cheer squad, the Wiley Moon Scorpions, located at a local juvenile detention center. Faith works to get the girls ready for their very first cheer competition, but with the girls having zero interest in cheering and even less experience, it's an uphill battle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gallery assistant Piper Diaz is focused on getting her artwork shown, and screw anyone who’s told her to drop the hobby. Nothing will stop her now that Pacific Blue Fine Art Gallery has agreed to display her creations. Things are finally going her way…

Until entrepreneur Alex Hutton purchases the gallery. He’s got zero interest in unknown artists and nothing will sway him from his goals. He gives her an ultimatum: work for him or quit. Pacific Blue must reopen in a month or he loses everything.

Piper’s falling for him, but his refusal to display her artwork just might drive her away. Working with Piper has Alex thinking about a lifetime love, but his family’s heart-shattering past keeps him from committing.

Can two driven, passionate people see past their own goals and come together to create something more spectacular than they could alone?

 

Chaynie Mayfield is the absolute last person who should be heading up the Morgan’s Grove library Valentine’s event. Ever since her boyfriend dumped her last year—on Valentine’s Day—she’s had a hard time believing in love.

When Greg Peterson, handsome architect and former schoolmate, is commissioned to oversee the library’s renovations, Chaynie’s spirits are instantly lifted. Greg helps her brainstorm, and they create an “Under the Stars” theme that promises to deliver a magical night for the entire town.

The longer Chaynie and Greg work together on the romantic project, the deeper their attraction grows. But when her dream job comes calling, Chaynie must decide whether her future aspirations are worth the price of leaving a town, a family, a library she adores, and a love she’s not sure she can live without. 

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.