Hannah has a secret.  She knows James did not recognize her, but she wants to see where it leads before she tells him.  Hopefully the man of her dreams will make them come true.

James is frustrated.  Newly divorced from a diva with a capitol D, he wants to relax and find someone who cares about him for him.  Not his money.  He has secrets he is keeping too.

When it all hits the fan, these characters are stronger than they know.  If they can keep together and stay strong, it will be a brighter future for them both.  Can they make it past the secrets form their pasts?

I found the story to be charming.  Second chances in real life, are rare.  So that makes them all the more special.  I found Natalie's voice to be unexpected.  Very pleasant to listen to with the occasional surprises of accent with the words thrown in.  The story flew by and before I knew it was over.  I give this a 3/5 Kitty's Paws UP!

***This story was provided in exchange for a review.

Their melody was a meeting of hearts until big city dreams changed the tune. Can time help them rewrite the heartache and give them a second chance? One More Summer brings the real world to small town living. Burke lights up the canvas with a sweetheart of a love story that never quite fizzled out. His dreams proved bigger than their small town and lead young love down the road to heartbreak. Now he's back to claim the love he never forgot. Levi are Annie are only a piece of a much bigger picture. Family tragedy, adult angst and small town meddling, pepper the landscape with heartwarming moments and heartbreaking discovers. From ugly cry to megawatt smile, Dez Burke delivers compelling entertainment.

My reviews are honest & they contain spoilers. For more, visit:

3.5 stars. This rating and review is ONLY for “Mrs. Sartin’s Secretary” by Wendy LaCapra. If I read the other stories later, I’ll try to review them. Of course, the rating may change too.
****

Mrs. Sartin’s Secretary by Wendy LaCapra

When I read book 1 of Wendy LaCapra’s Lords of Chance series titled Scandal in Spades last year, I was blown away not only by Wendy’s beautiful writing but also the story and its protagonists. The H and h shared amazing chemistry that was palpable right from the moment they met. It was a straight winner so I was eagerly waiting for book 2...which turned out to be Heart’s Desire.

While I waited, I heard about Wendy writing a short story in between these two books, somehow connecting to book 2 through its hero, Lord Markham or Heart. But why is Markham called ‘Heart’? I talked about it a bit more elaborately in my review of book 1. In a nutshell, the other heroes of this series formed a group of sort where Markham joins later, and they called each other by sobriquets taken from the cards. The hero of book 1, the Marquess of Bromton Giles went by as Spades. Two of his close friends that will have the next books in the series, Lord Farring and Lord Rayne, are known as Club and Diamond. In that order.

In book 1 I had the hint that Markham, the youngest of them all, was a bit of a rake, hence he was the Hearts. It was said that he never left his lovers wanting. Just how much of a rake, you get a glimpse of it in this really short story here. From the beginning though, I had issues. I had a difficult time connecting this story with the series. For one, Mrs. Sartin or her secretary, the two protagonists were never even introduced in book 1 so I had no earthly idea who they were and why they even had a story to begin with?! Well apart from the fact that it becomes clear very early on that Mrs. Sartin is Markham’s lover. (note here that Mrs. Sartin may well have been briefly introduced in book 1 but I don’t remember her at all so my point stands)

In the end though, Wendy’s note explains that we’ll be seeing more of Mrs. Sartin in Markham’s book, Heart’s Desire. She wanted the lonely widow to have a story so she gave her one.

Fair enough.

A Heart of a Hero #1, Laura Trentham is wonderful when it comes to small town romance, with this new series it's  more Women's Fiction with a romance. What I loved about this book was the alternating of past and present it was a nice touch you get to see all the best and the worst memories Harper and Bennett had with Noah at the same time you get to see Harper and Bennett fall in love and Harper finally finds what she was meant to do with her life. Told in the third person but switches perspective between Harper and Bennett.

We also meet Allison and Darren. Darren is an officer and Allison is his wife, mother of three, and Harper's best friend. Darren is feeling the effects of PTSD but too ashamed to admit he needs help doesn't feel like he deserves the help. Harper can tell Allison needs someone to really talk to and goes to visit her on that visit she attends one of the group meetings for the wives and hears the same stuff she heard when she was in their shoes so she comes up with a plan to help out military wives who feel like they need to do more than just fill the time. Harper has the start up money she was given a large sum when Noah died. But when Allison tells her one of the guys on the team gave her that money and not the NAVY Harper tracks down Bennett Caldwell to return the money. 

Bennett meet Noah in BUDs and they formed a fast friendship, they became brother's in every way except blood. When Noah found out Harper was pregnant he had Bennett promise him if anything should happen he would take care of Harper and the baby. The entire friendship Bennett avoided meeting Harper, through all the emails and letter that Noah shared Bennett had fallen in love with her. He left the SEALs after Noah died and thought that giving Harper all that money would be enough to take care of the baby and herself. He never expected to see her again after handing over the money but here she is five years later trying to give it back.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was such an emotional journey not just for Harper and Bennett but for Allison and Darren too. This book made me cry and laugh and cry. This was a wonderful second chance romance and a wonderful story of a woman helping other women and finally getting on with her life and moving on. A lot of lessons in this too, like learning how to accept help and learning to let go of guilt.