User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
3.5*
Just another rom-com?!🤷🏻♀️
Sandy and Hank were high school sweethearts growing up in a small town. They also shared dreams that stretched far beyond their tiny city limits. Hank, an aspiring musician and Sandy a very talented artist.
Hank is thrilled he’s been accepted to university, but the celebration is short-lived when they come to the realization that Sandy can’t leave. With a broken heart and no other choice she makes the ultimate sacrifice to just let him go.
Fast forward 15 years. Hank has returned to visit his family and friends. Could there still be a spark between the two? Or has too much time passed?
I loved the trope of a second chance romance. But I just failed to connect with the characters and felt like I was just watching it play out from a distance rather than up close and personal.
I need to
“feel” my rom coms… and I just couldn’t get there.🙁
A buddy read with Susanne who enjoyed this one a bit more than I did.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing
Rating: really liked it
Sweet, soft, heartwarming stories that embrace you tight, give you so much hope, put a smile on your face are my addiction!
As a devoted romance reader I love second chances, angsty high school sweetheart stories as well! So this book definitely ticks all those boxes with its so much lovable characters.
The story line has resemblances with HeidiMcLaughlin’s “Forever my girl”: the famous country star hero is coming back to his hometown to take his girl back. Only difference is at Forever Girl: MCs’ sharing a child but in this one hero marries with other woman, bringing his son to know his grandparents and his hometown!
I still enjoyed this book so much and I didn’t care about similarities with other books. Because the author’s portraits of characters and their dialogues were so genuine, realistic and entertaining.
I didn’t only like Sandy: our resilient, self torturing, tough, emotional heroine, who couldn’t move on from her first love, I also loved Honey: the best friend a lot. Actually I have to admit, I even loved her more than Hank: our kind hearted hero, great dad, famous country star! Honey is amazing and dreamy friend every woman needs! She’s dependable, loyal, fun, smart, caring!
The other best friend Shelby is also eccentric, straightforward, peculiar.
The other small town characters from Burger, Sean, parents of MCs are also lovable!
I love going back and forth how Hank and Sandy’s love story evolved and how they finally grew up and learned from their past mistakes.
Only thing I didn’t like rushed HEA parts! The book was slow burn but the ending parts seem like too fast and too much things are going on at the same time. The epilogue could be taken place in one year later at least!
And of course I had hesitations about hero’s marriage and having a son from another woman at first. Maybe the other woman’s involvement into this equation made me a little agitated as heroine devotedly lusted for the same man for years.
Because of those reasons I gave four stars! But I have to admit: this is so far best book of the author! She created amazing characters and witty dialogues. The small town theme couldn’t be developed so good! I hope she writes more heartwarming, engaging books like this! I still loved it so much!
Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.
Rating: really liked it
After years of trying, I finally wrote a small town romance (based on my own hometown). It's about Sandy, who feels like she got off track when she was a teenager and now, in her thirties, thinks it might be too late to go for what really makes her happy. It's also about Hank, her high school sweetheart and the one who got away. Now he's a successful alt-country musician and a dad. But here's what it's REALLY about: the Maggie Rogers cover of Taylor Swift's "Tim McGraw," blueberry fritters, a very quirky small town street fair, a sexual tension filled dance in a fire station, an Ohio-themed B&B, a pro-zinnia agenda, SUMMER, front porches, the Jason Isbell song "The Life You Chose," community, being brave, "Neon Moon," possibly some haunted dolls, and a character named Hotpants Ed. I hope you love it as much as I do.
Rating: really liked it
A small town, second-chance romance where the love interest is a single dad who also happens to be a country superstar???????? This book had pretty much every romance trope under the sun and I ATE. IT. UP. Kerry Winfrey has very quickly become an auto-read author for me because she just has *such* a knack for creating the world of her stories. Of course I loved the relationship between Sandy and Hank at the center of it all, but this book truly shone in the dynamics of the side characters and the small town vibes and my heart is just very full! My only real issue with that one was the dreaded third-act conflict, but I can't even really fault it much for that because the epilogue was absolutely adorable. Anyway this was precious and I cannot wait to read anything and everything that Kerry Winfrey puts out next! Definitely recommend if you're looking for a fun new romance to dive into.
CW: divorce
Rating: really liked it
honestly...okay!
review to come / 3 or 3.5 stars
----------------------
currently-reading updatesromance quest (my semi annual attempt to find a romance novel i genuinely like out of either masochism, desperation, or immense sadness) begins NOW
thanks to netgalley for the e-arc
Rating: really liked it
You had me at Hotpants, Ed. This is not just another romcom. Visit the town of Baileyville and get to know Sandy Macintosh and watch her world turn upside down when old flame Hank swaggers back into her life. His little boy Henry has some Opie Taylor vibes. Sandy has a bowl made out of a Billy Joel album (you've seem them at flea markets, right?) and she names it her Joel Bowl. There are other delightfully quirky characters like Burger (yep, he does end up flipping some actual burgers in the book) from high school, best friend Hone, and her high school sweetheart husband Brian. The pages are just overflowing with hometown heart. And don't forget the many talents of Hotpants Ed! After three books from Winfrey, I can tell that her sense of humor hits me just right. One of my favorite reads this summer! Be sure to check out other Winfrey titles like Waiting for Tom Hanks and Very Sincerely Yours.
Thank you to Berkley and Edelweiss+ for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: really liked it
Call it Love! Just Another Love Song made me smile for days thereafter.
Also, a rom-com I liked more than Kaceey? How is that even possible?!?! Baawaaahhaaaa! High School Sweethearts Sandy & Hank always thought they'd end up together. Then they didn't. You know the story. Hank went off to University, and Sandy stayed home, then Hank went and married someone else.
Years later, Hank winds up back in their old hometown and runs straight into Sandy. Their old chemistry is still there, yet Sandy is the one holding back.
What seemed obvious here, is in order to find happiness with someone else, you have to be happy with yourself first.
Perhaps that is why I loved this rom-com so much!
Full of love, laughter, friendship, and tears, this also had lots of great witty banter.This was my second favorite novel from Kerry Winfrey. If you like her books, I think you'll like this!
Another fab buddy read with Ms. Kaceey.
Huge thanks to Elisha at Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley for the arc.
Rating: really liked it
A small town, first love and the one who got away. What more could you want than this sweet, funny romance by Kerry Winfrey? Her dialogue is sparkling, the town is filled with believable, wonderful people, and the kid is ridiculously adorable. Sandy and Hank have spent fifteen years apart while he pursued his music dreams and she foundered, a little lost and hapless. But she finds meaning in the business she inherited and enjoys a close circle of friends. When Hank comes back, all that yearning and angst rear up again in a most delicious way. Can they reconfigure their high school love to something that works now? Of course they can, and every page of the story leads to that wonderful conclusion. Light-hearted but with emotional depth, this book is a real treat.
Rating: really liked it
This was a super cute second chance romance. I really enjoyed reading Sandy & Hank's story and watching their love story unfold. I do wish we got see or hear more of Hank's musical career, that was def. on the back burner in this book. I enjoy all of Kerry Winfrey's books because they are lighthearted, funny and just so cute.
Rating: really liked it
I picked this book for two reasons:
🔸I really liked Kerry Winfrey’s previous book, Very Sincerely Yours.
🔸Based on the blurb and the cover, it seemed this book had fall vibes.
This is a romance story of the second chance trope, and I really enjoyed the storyline. As it turns out, the story doesn’t take place during fall, but it takes place in late summer. The ambience and end of summer events give the story some fall vibes 🍂.
Fans of the Gilmore Girls show, will recognize a lot of similarities in this story.
Full review at LucyKnowsThings.com.
Rating: really liked it
Sweet for the moment. I finished it yesterday and can barely remember it.
Rating: really liked it
Review coming soon.
Rating: really liked it
Favorite Quotes:
Baileyville’s star quilter, Hotpants Ed (so named because if it’s above sixty-five degrees, he wears the shortest shorts you’ve ever seen everywhere he goes— and he’s a six-foot-tall man with a ponytail and a gray beard, so it’s a striking look).
How am I supposed to live vicariously through you if you won’t even share any details? I’ve already read all the Amish romance novels at the library, Sandy. I need drama.
I want to protest, but there are no words in my mind right now, just random bursts of punctuation. My entire body is an exclamation point.
I’d make a great mom. Sure, my kids wouldn’t know what vegetables are, and they’d probably get scurvy, but at least they’d be happy.
I know I’m always talking about how desperate I am for a man’s touch, but I’m not that desperate. I know what that man’s touch feels like, and unless he’s improved his technique in the past fifteen years, it mainly involves boob honks.
My Review:
This was a fun and lively tale that sparkled with clever wit and snarky banter that kept me smirking and giggle-snorting with glee. I fell right into the breezy and crisp storylines populated with an entire community of authentic yet recognizable small-town quirks and complications. I adored this from beginning to end and hit this talented wordsmith’s listing to see what else I could score as I definitely need more of this in my life.
Rating: really liked it
I mean, this simply had everything I love! Set within the charming town of Baileyville, it's a second chance romance complete with dual timelines and the sweetest country musician hero.
Hello, Hank Tillman. Pure warmth and kindness, this single dad will surely make you swoon. Both he and Sandy had dreams of leaving Baileyville as teens, but unfortunately only Hank succeeded. The sweet, aching angst, barn kisses, Pride and Prejudice readings, and nod to She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy gave me the cheesiest of grins while reading.
As Sandy and Hank cross paths in present day, I loved their ease into friendship as they pair together to help with the town's annual street fair. And the chemistry was definitely still alive!
Feeling cemented to her small town, I really enjoyed seeing Sandy overcome her hesitations of following the wrong path ... eventually leading to the sweetest happily ever after! This one gave me all the warm and fuzzy feelings I crave while reading a romance!
Rating: really liked it
3.5 ⭐️ rounded down
I love second chance romances and was so excited for this! I also LOVE that it’s also a small town & close proximity. But, I rounded down because I didn’t really like sandy, the fmc… she got on my nerves 🙃
