#AmReading

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The Somerset Girls by Lori Foster (The Summer Friends #1)
Published by HQN on May 19, 2020
Age/Genres: Contemporary, Fiction

Goodreads

No one knows you quite like a sister…

Summer in Sunset, Kentucky, means long, hot days—and sometimes surprising new beginnings. Through it all, the ties of sisterhood will be there, guiding Autumn and Ember to the lives, and loves, they need…

When they’re running the animal-rescue farm they inherited from their grandparents, Autumn and Ember Somerset are perfectly in sync. At all other times, not so much. Dependable Autumn would rather curl up with a good book than paint the town red with Ember. After the disaster that was Autumn’s last relationship, it’s pure self-protection. But when her high school crush comes back to town with his adorable young daughter, igniting memories best left forgotten, there’s only one person Autumn can turn to…

Beneath Ember’s free-spirited facade is a layer of deep hurt. She’ll gladly nudge Autumn toward a second chance. But risk her own heart? Not likely. The closer Autumn gets to her own happily-ever-after, the more Ember wonders what she might be missing—and if it isn’t her time to be bold, too.

One was known to be steady and dependable, the other a free-spirit, but together, the Somerset sisters were a force to be reckoned with. I read the second book in this series first, but I can say that this one was just as delightful. 

Some highlights for me:

• The twofer romance – Both sisters fell in love during this story. I was team Autumn and Tash from the beginning. Finally getting her shot at the boy she pined for in her youth. This is my catnip. They were adorable together too. Ember’s romance seems a bit secondary, but at least there was there for Mike to grow on me, and they were a delightful couple in the end.
• An animal rescue – Animals always make the stories more fun, and Foster did a great job featuring them just enough.
• Small town life – I was born in a city, but I have a penchant for small towns. Sunset was a quaint and charming place, and the fine people of this town really stepped up and won my heart during a particular part of this book.
• Family – Families can be complicated, but there was a lot of love in the Somerset clan. I adored the way they embraced those they claimed as their own, and how deep their love ran for each other. I didn’t think I needed a particular character to be redeemed, but I was glad when it happened.

Overall: My return trip to Sunset was lovely and punctuated with lots of laughs and aww-shucks moments.

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Everything After by Jill Santopolo
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on March 9, 2021
Age/Genres: Contemporary, Fiction

Goodreads

The Light We Lost mixes with a touch of Daisy Jones and the Six in this novel of first love, passion, and the power of choice--and how we cannot escape the people we are meant to be.

Two loves. Two choices. One chance to follow her dreams.

Emily has come a long way since she lost her two passions fifteen years ago: music, and Rob. She's a psychologist at NYU who helps troubled college students like the one she once was. Together with her caring doctor husband, Ezra, she has a beautiful life. They're happy. They hope to start a family. But when a tragic event in Emily's present too closely echoes her past, and parts of her story that she'd hoped never to share come to light, her perfect life is suddenly upturned. Then Emily hears a song on the radio about the woman who got away. The melody and voice are hauntingly familiar. Could it be? As Emily's past passions come roaring back into her life, she'll find herself asking: Who is she meant to be? Who is she meant to love?

After the way Santopolo broke me with The Light We Lost, you wouldn’t think I would be eager to get to more of her backlist, but I was.

This author sure knows how to get me emotional. The pain! The tears! I loved it! No lie, The Light We Lost feels were there, especially with Emily telling this tale to her child, but it was different in that I found the ending much happier.

Emily experienced two miscarriages, many years apart and under very different circumstances, but both were painful for her. This was her dealing with those losses, especially the first miscarriage which she never really healed from. Like many, she didn’t realize how much that past event was affecting her life until she was faced with that same type of loss again. The story was also about walking away from a dream she had and facing the what-ifs.

Overall: Very emotional and thought provoking, and I enjoyed it immensely.

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