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Blurb: All roads lead home in Snowberry Creek...
After a devastating tour in Afghanistan, all Spencer Lang wants is for life to return to normal. But when he rides into his hometown on his Harley, he learns that his friends and family have tried to move past their heartbreak since he was reported killed-in-action—and the woman he loved is about to marry his best friend. Now, all he can do is pick up the pieces of his life.
Years ago Melanie Wolfe left town, with no intention of ever coming back. But when her father dies, she reluctantly returns home to salvage the family business. Reuniting with Spencer, her high school crush, complicates the already thorny situation, especially when she begins losing her heart to him all over again.
As Spencer and Melanie work to restore order to her family's company, two damaged hearts face an unexpected new future that is filled with possibilities...and love.
Review: I received a copy of A Reason to Love from the author for an honest review.
I have enjoyed reading Ms. Morgan's books since picking up a copy of Dark Defender when it first came out. Like the books I have read since, A Reason to Love has all of the elements that I have come to expect in an Alexis Morgan book.
The first is great characters. Spencer Lang comes back to a hometown that believes he was killed in action. He has issues, but he learns how to deal with them - step by step. He re-learns how to be around not only the people in his hometown, but the surviving members of his unit. Melanie Wolfe is a member (and heir) of Snowberry Creek's founding family and is expected to maintain a certain standard. While she tries to keep the family business afloat, she works on ways to improve it. Neither they, nor their various friends or family friends, are perfect and that is why I like them.
Another element is the setting. I really like the small town setting of Snowberry Creek. It is, in many ways, like small towns everywhere: Everyone knows (or thinks they know) everyone else's business, it takes a lot to overcome the image you had, and the world might very well come to an end if you do something differently from the way your parents did it.
A final element I enjoy is the story itself. Sure, it has been "done before". Soldier comes home, finds girl, etc. Ms. Morgan, however, has a way of writing which keeps it fresh and keeps readers - or at least this one - coming back for more.
Is the book perfect? Of course not. For one, I would have liked to know what has happened to Spence's uncle Vince. It was mentioned in the book that Spence's cousin Austin has changed from their younger days, yet there is no encounter between the two. Maybe more will be learned in a future book. This is also my first Snowberry Creek (I am more familiar with the Paladin and Talion books) book, so there may be more that was mentioned about these two characters in the previous books.
Overall, an excellent read from an excellent author.
(Image (c)Barnes and Noble, blurb (c) Alexis Morgan)
(Review cross-posted to Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and GoodReads.)
