After a tumultuous past, Greta Kendall has focused mainly on her bridal shop, located on the first floor of her beloved Queen Anne Victorian near Aspen. For two years she’s fought to save her house from Stephanie Harwood of Harwood Development, who is intent on razing her home to build a new mall. But now Greta’s running out of time. The town council is about to approve the final plans for the mall.
When Gray Daniels walks into her shop, Greta is immediately attracted to his rugged good looks and midnight blue eyes, until she learns he’s Stephanie Harwood’s fiancé. She’s furious to find they’ve tricked her into a publicity stunt aimed at garnering support for the mall. So now her little war has a new front: Gray Daniels. If only she could also fight her growing attraction to him.
A knock on the door brings a return of old danger, and Greta must now put aside her anguish over the house to discover if she’s at last capable of looking the past in the eye and overcoming it—and if she’s finally free to love again
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About the Author:
I was born in Philadelphia but grew up primarily in Seattle where I think I got a little rusty from all that rain! My family and I moved to L.A. during my senior year in high school and I graduated from the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara with a degree in Literature. I later moved to the east coast and ran the New York City Marathon in 1991. (At 5 hours, 12 minutes, fast I was not.) I now live in sunny Denver, Colorado with my husband Ben and our beautiful baby boy, Cole. In my rare spare time, I like to cook, garden and work on the endless renovations of our 1922 bungalow.
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My Thoughts:
This was a cute, touching, somewhat bittersweet romance.
Greta and her mother live and work in what is known as The Gingerbread House. The house along with many others in the neighborhood are being threatened. Stephanie Harwood (Greta's Nemesis) has half of the town sold on the idea of a mall. The mall would be placed where Greta and the rest of her neighborhood live.
Let me just say that where Greta and her mother were sweet as can be Stephanie was pure wretchedness. She truly didn't care that she was wrecking people's lives. She got a thrill from making Greta look bad.
Gray, Stephanie's fiance enters the scene when he takes an antique dress that was his mothers to Greta's wedding shoppe to get repaired. Greta and Gray hit it off right away. And then Stephanie happens along to blind side them both.
As much as I enjoyed the drama over the house, what touched me the most was how Greta handled her mother's newly discovered Alzheimer's. This is one of the many things that help her and Gray relate to each other. His father is also suffering from the disease only his is way more pronounced.
Greta and Gray keep fighting the chemistry that they have each time they are thrown together. This is the first time in a long time that Greta has even felt this way about a man. She had been abused by her ex husband and is leery of men with good reason.
I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you Nell!
Long story short, this is a wonderfully written, heart wrenching, happily ending story. I really enjoyed it and I would recommend it. :D
I'd love to know what you're thinking. Please leave a comment!
This sounds like a really good read! My friends grandma had alzheimer's and its extremely sad. It was very difficult for them and I couldnt imagine having to deal with someone I love having it. I'll have to try this one! Thanks!
ReplyDelete.. i guess the fact her mother has alzheimer drives Greta even more in her will to save the house because each changement can have devastating result and make teh illness worsen more quickly.
ReplyDeleteMy father had a variant of Parkinson that had some similarities with alzheimers... it's really devastating to see someone we love fade slowly without any opportunity to change the final result... it good conditions we can stabilise the situiation a moment but no reverse possible....i really can see why this book moved you
My Grandma had it. I was fairly young when she died but from what I remember of her it was really sad.
Deleteit was i'm sure and often people think the children don't see it, aren't hurt by it but in fact they are often the one who understand the best and the quickest
DeleteA friend's mother has Alzheimer's and it really is devastating for the whole family. Unfortunately more and more families are in this situation.
ReplyDeleteYes there are so many sad situations that we hear more and more of and Alzheimer's is one of them. It is so sad.
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