Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Wedding Gift by Carolyn Brown Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca on November 1, 2020
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 382
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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A bride with cold feet might just make the mistake of a lifetime... Includes two bonus novellas to help you celebrate the seasons!
A week before your wedding is one heckuva time for your ex to ride back into town, stirring up trouble. But that's exactly the predicament Darla McAdams finds herself in. Darla's on the verge of breaking up with her fiancé, Will Jackson—only a week before the wedding. Her parents would disown her, but Darla's sure that her Granny Roxie will understand when Darla tells her that her first love, Andy, has come back to town. Thank goodness for a wise granny's reminiscences of her own sassy wedding at just the right moment…
It’s a Carolyn Brown release so of course I was going to snatch it up. Three light and entertaining, novella-length country charmers which appear to be one brand new release and two previously released novellas gathered into one place.
The Wedding Gift is the new standalone piece. Shortly before her wedding to kind and handsome Will Jackson, Darla’s old high school bad boy old flame blows back into town and causes second thoughts. Then Granny Roxie and Grandpa Claud share their earthy wisdom and memories with her which helps her see clearly what is best.
A Slow Dance Holiday, a standalone Christmas romance from the Honky Tonk series comes next. Jorja is given a half partnership in a bar so chucks her boring job in Nashville for small town Texas and an old Honky Tonk. She makes the mistake of thinking her business partner is a woman, but Cameron is all long and lanky cowboy. Cameron wants to own a bar and have a ranch so he leaves working a tiki bar in Florida to partner with some guy named JJ.
And, lastly, there is Summertime on the Ranch, a standalone from the Spikes and Spurs series. Becca followed her dreams of singing professionally to Nashville and now a decade later, she’s resetting her life back home working at a winery and trying to deny the attraction to a good-timing cowboy. Dalton works on the ranch where the winery is located and fell for Becca when he first saw her, but it has been six months and she hasn’t given him the time of day until his dog does a bit of matchmaking and gets him a chance with her.
I thoroughly enjoyed each of these with a slightly different set up and romance situation, but loaded with Carolyn Brown’s earthy everyday folk humor and sweet with a pinch of spice cowboy romancing. I hadn’t read any of these novellas in a previous release, which I caution readers to check on first, but, if not, rope them in for a good time of laughter, music, and love in ranch country.
About Carolyn Brown
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Carolyn Brown was born in Texas and raised in southern Oklahoma. These days she and her husband make their home in Davis, Oklahoma, a small town of less than three thousand people where everyone knows everyone, knows what they are doing and with whom, and read the weekly newspaper to see who got caught.
A plaque hangs on her office wall that says I know the voices are not real but they have such great ideas. That is her motto and muse as she goes through the days with quirky characters in her head, telling their stories, one by one, and loving her job.
She has been married almost half a century to a retired English teacher that she calls Mr. B and he does not read her books before they are published because she cannot afford a divorce. They have three grown children.—and enough grandchildren to keep them busy and young.
When Carolyn is not writing she likes to sit in the back yard and watch the two tom cats protect the yard from all kinds of wicked varmints like crickets, other cats, spiders and blue jays.
As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing.Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators.Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance.Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
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Oh, I love when authors put out anthologies like this. Glad you enjoyed.
Same here! Gathering up all the shorter pieces in one convenient place is great. 🙂
All of those stories sound like charmers.
Oh yeah! I got a kick out of each couple and their situations particularly the middle story at the bar.
I’m glad you had a good time with these stories! I’m always happy when novellas/short stories are finally collected into one book for fans to enjoy! 😀
You said it, Lashaan! I’m fond of story collections rather than having to track down all the singles when they’re short like this.
These sound like three wonderful stories! Laughs, love and a bit of sage advice. I always have a good time with Carolyn Brown’s romances!
You said it, Rachel!
I really need to start reading her books! I do love a well written novella!
She is amazingly prolific and I love that whether its short like these are longer, they are some well-developed characters and romances.
I really need to get back to reading this author, I love how atmospheric her stories feel!!! I really like that these have novella like stories into one especially when it looks like she develops them pretty well.
Lovely review as always Sophia!
I second that. 🙂
I’ve been itching to read some Carolyn Brown!
You just gotta, Carole. 🙂