Tag Archives: Denise Hunter

Book Review – On Magnolia Lane

14 Wednesday Nov 2018

Posted by in Blog Tour, Book Review

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , ,

Hunter’s latest is stuffed to the edges with beautiful, realistic, and emotional moments.

*****

On Magnolia Lane

Blue Ridge Romance series

by Denise Hunter

Paperback: 336 Pages

Publisher: Thomas Nelson (November 6, 2018)

Blurb:

From the bestselling author of The Convenient Groom (now a beloved Hallmark Original movie) comes the final book in Hunter’s Blue Ridge Romance series.

Pastor Jack McReady has secretly carried a torch for Daisy for two long years. She’s a member of his congregation, after all, and she’ll never see him as more than a trusted counselor. Jack’s best friend Noah has taken every opportunity to encourage his lovesick friend, but when Noah catches wind that Daisy has joined an online dating site, he takes matters into his own hands and orchestrates a meet-cute of the most unconventional kind.

Owner of the local flower shop, Daisy Pendleton is content with her small-town life, but she’d sure like someone to share it with. After several disastrous first dates, she’s about to give up—and then she finds a seemingly wonderful man online. Daisy gets to know TJ through a series of messages but finds herself spending more time with Pastor Jack outside of the church at the same time. What she doesn’t know is that her online prospect and Jack are one and the same.

Just as Daisy’s love life starts to look promising, a mysterious woman appears in town. Daisy is faced with a revelation about her family that turns her world upside down, and she looks to both TJ and Jack for help.

Jack must find a way to reveal himself as her online suitor without breaking her heart and losing her trust. As Daisy faces Jack’s betrayal, she’ll have to learn to extend grace to herself, her family, and the man she’s grown to love.

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

*****

Review:

From the very first page, I fell for Pastor Jack.  I love that Hunter made sure to emphasize that, while he is the spiritual leader of his church, he’s also a man.  He’s developed feelings for a friend but unfortunately she seems oblivious, which is very frustrating for him.  And in a moment of weakness he connects to her through a dating site … while hiding his identity.  You know it isn’t going to end well, yet you easily understand how he found himself caught up in the deception.  It lets you seen the more human side of him right along with Daisy.

Daisy is a sweet and caring person but she is a little stuck on how some things from her past affect how she feels about herself.  And she’s definitely a little clueless when it comes to Jack 🙂  She has a habit of putting people up on a pedestal and unfortunately that’s what she’s done to him.  But life tends to knock them down and things are quickly going to get complicated for her.  When the dust settles, she’s definitely done some growing up and has a few things to come to terms with, including her feelings for Jack.

Packed full of emotions, On Magnolia Lane wonderfully explores the idea of identity and perception, secrets and forgiveness.  All while delivering a tender love story that, more than once, made me give a little happy sigh.

(Part of a series but can easily stand alone.)

*****

Author Info:

Denise Hunter is the internationally published bestselling author of more than 30 novels, including “The Convenient Groom” and “A December Bride” which have been made into Hallmark movies. She has appeared on the The 700 club and won awards such as The Holt Medallion Award, The Carol Award, The Reader’s Choice Award, The Foreword Book of the Year Award, and is a RITA finalist.

Denise writes heartwarming, small-town love stories. Her readers enjoy the vicarious thrill of falling in love and the promise of a happily-ever-after sigh as they savor the final pages of her books.

In 1996, inspired by the death of her grandfather, Denise began her first book, writing while her children napped. Two years later it was published, and she’s been writing ever since. Her husband says he inspires all her romantic stories, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too!

When Denise isn’t orchestrating love lives on the written page, she enjoys traveling with her family, drinking good coffee, and playing drums. Denise makes her home in Indiana where she and her husband raised three boys and are currently enjoying an empty nest.

Website | Facebook | Twitter

*****

Visit TLC Book Tours to check out the rest of the tour

https://tlcbooktours.com/2018/07/denise-hunter-author-of-on-magnolia-lane-on-tour-november-2018/

Book Review – Just a Kiss

23 Friday Sep 2016

Posted by in Book Review

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

cover87807-mediumJust a Kiss

A Summer Harbor Novel

by Denise Hunter

For fans of JoJo Moyes’ Me Before You and Nicholas Sparks’ The Choice comes a breathtaking story of second chances, friendship, and true love in all its forms by bestselling novelist, Denise Hunter. Watch the Author Interview!  http://blog.netgalley.com/author-chat-with-denise-hunter/

Riley Callahan’s plans to reveal his secret feelings for his best friend are ruined when his life is drastically altered in Afghanistan.

Watching the love of his life falling for his brother was enough to send Riley straight to boot camp. But over a year later, he’s officially a marine, and Beau and Paige are no longer an item. When Riley’s tour in Afghanistan is up, he intends to confess his feelings to Paige and win his best friend’s heart once and for all.

But all that changes when an IED takes the life of a comrade and leaves Riley an amputee. Now he’s heading home, injured and troubled. His plans to win Paige are a distant dream. She deserves so much more than the man that’s left. All he can do now is put some healthy distance between them. But upon his return he discovers his family has arranged for him to stay with Paige.

Paige is a nurturer at heart and happy to take care of her best buddy. By all appearances he’s adjusting miraculously well to his disability. But as the days pass, Paige begins to see that the smiles and laughter are just a mask for the pain he’s hiding. He has nightmares and mood swings, and his unwavering independence keeps him from accepting help from anyone, including her. To make matters worse, her job is in serious jeopardy. The animal shelter that she’s poured her heart into has lost its funding, and she has three months to come up the money needed to save it.

As the weeks wear on with the two in such close proximity, Paige’s feelings for Riley begin to shift into unchartered territory. Why is she suddenly noticing his corded arm muscles and the way his lips curl at the corners? Will she be able to deny her feelings for another Callahan brother? And will Riley let his heart heal so he can let Paige in?

When you see that a book is part of a series that you’ve not been reading, you’re always taking a chance that the book isn’t a true stand alone.  I almost always take the chance unless there is a clear indication otherwise – sometimes it works out really well, sometimes not out all, and sometimes I’m mostly OK.  This is definitely that last one.  Technically I think you could say that this one is a stand lone, but it seems like you would have a better understanding of Paige, Riley and their relationship if you’d read the other stories.

They’ve been friends for a long time and I get the feeling that this story was one in the making for a while.  Paige loves Riley but doesn’t see him in a romantic light.  Riley on the other hand has had deeper feelings for years and being around Paige while she’s dating his brother is more than he can handle.  So he enlists in the Marines, only to come home injured in body and spirit.

He has a lot of issues trying to acclimate to his new situation, dealing with his feelings over what happened to him overseas, and spending a large amount of time with Paige.  It’s hard to see him struggle so – you know that he needs to get professional help but he’s not in a mind to do it.

Paige is trying her best to be understanding but it’s hard as the time spent with her friend has her looking at him with new eyes.  You get a good feel for her conflict – not just with the new romantic feelings but also with trying to help someone that doesn’t want it.

I really think that Hunter does a fantastic job with the resolution of Paige and Riley’s feelings, his issues and their futures.  It’s not an easy road for them but they have friends, family and their faith to see them through it.

Book Review – A December Bride

10 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by in Book Review

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

cover36471-mediumWhat started as a whim turned into an accidental – and very public – engagement. Can Layla and Seth keep up the facade in Chapel Springs this holiday season – for the sake of her career . . . and his heart?

Under normal circumstances, Seth Murphy, the best friend of Layla O’Reilly’s ex-fiance would be the last person she’d marry. But the news of their upcoming (and phony) nuptials convinces a big client that Layla may be high-society enough to work for his agency, a coup that would put her fledgling home-staging business on the map. Seth has secretly loved Layla for years, even when she was dating his best friend. Maybe she’ll never forgive him for the way he hurt her back then, but he has to try. And Layla is willing to keep up their engagement farce until she’s landed her client. For Layla, it’s the chance to save her career. But for Seth, it’s his last chance to win her heart. A year’s worth of novellas from twelve inspirational romance authors. Happily ever after guaranteed.

A December Bride is a sugary sweet story, perfect to remind readers about the miracles of the holiday season.  It’s actually book 1.5 in Hunter’s Chapel Springs series – I haven’t read the first book (although the second full length story is in my TBR pile) and I didn’t really find that it made that much of a difference … although there were some hints about what happened in the first one.  It was more of an “ooh, what happened” moment than anything that would interfere in reading this one.

And I loved Seth and Layla together.  They were friends, they were on the borderline of maybe going somewhere romantic, then she started dating his best friend.  That relationship ended badly and Layla blamed Seth for some of what happened, which destroyed their friendship.  Now thrown together by a fake engagement (it does make sense in context), they have the chance to find out whether their pretend relationship could turn into something real.

Seth has to deal with the fact that he had feelings for his friends girl and that he has some responsibility (very slight) for the hurt she felt when that relationship ended.  He’s caring and hardworking and wants very much to have a second chance with Layla.

Layla still has a lot of bitterness and anger toward her ex and with Seth.  Now thrown together with him for the good of her business, she remembers all the reasons why they were friends … and with the possibility for more.  But she has to decide if she is willing to let go of those past hurts and look to the future.

Novella in length, Hunter still manages to pack a fantastic story into just a few pages.  She manages to give readers a detailed history of their relationship, setting up their happy ending nicely, but still telling a complete and in-depth romance in the present.  A December Bride is compelling and sweet, full of so much sappy, happy love.