Mattie Sharpe is never late​ but ​ getting lost on a winding island road that dead-ended in the mountains set her back by two full hours. Nerves already frayed from the delay left her unprepared for ​what she found​ at her destination--Paul Cormier slowly bleeding to death on the white marble floor of his pristine mansion. Had she been on schedule, Mattie ​ ​would have suffered the same fate. ​ 

Now she's on the run with the only man who can keep her safe, Hugh Abbot. ​Trouble is, he's the same man who walked out on her several months ago; the one man she vowed never to see again. ​Hugh is a man who understands priorities. Getting Mattie safely off the island is at the top of his list. He's got a lot of challenges -- he can deal with a closed airport, a plane in flames and a jungle. But convincing Mattie that she can trust him is the biggest problem of all.

Oh, those Sirens.    They are always having their noses in each other and anyone else that crosses their paths business.  Yet, they have the biggest, most open, and well-meaning hearts ever.   In The Season of Silver Linings we find them planning Linnie’s wedding to Daniel and matchmaking Jada and Phillip.   

The wedding plan was difficult.   I am not sure she meant to be but Linnie wasn’t an easy bride and she was a very busy bride who seemed to not be able to make a decision to save her life but when she finally did make a decision nothing could sway her.    I loved seeing Fancy, Phillip’s young daughter, push her boundaries, make things interesting, and put her own twist on being the flower girl.   The fashion show of picking out her outfit was amazing and so heartwarming.   These ladies dote on her but still manage to keep her in control, most of the time.

The matchmaking of Phillip and Jada was difficult.   Phillip is recently widowed after his wife committed suicide leaving him as a single dad to a young, precocious little girl.    The wife, Bodi, was a friend of Jada’s.     There is so much more to this story but you need to read the story to learn the rest.    But this friendship, potential relationship, was fun to watch develop.    To see them struggle with the past, move forward towards their future, and find out if they can be more than friends to each other.   While I never like to some anyone struggle but I liked that Jada was struggling.   She didn’t just jump into a relationship without having her eyes open and understanding that what could happen with her and Phillip would also affect Fancy.   

Christine Nolfi has an amazing series of books and The Season of Silver Linings in the perfect continuation of the story.      While this is part of a series, the characters will be familiar but each book has a beginning and an ending.   There isn’t a cliffhanger, there isn’t a need to know what happens in the other books before I read this one.   Each book can be read alone.

The focus of this third book in the popular Sweet Lake Series is on Jada Brooks who is a pastry chef at the Wayfair Inn that she restored along with her friends Linnie and Cat. Linnie is getting married and Cat is a newlywed and they are both focused on other things. Jada is in a relationship of sorts with Philip Kettering. She is reluctant to take the relationship to the next level as Philip was kind of wild one in their school days. Philip has a young daughter that Jada has really gotten attached to and vice versa. 
Phillip's deceased wife committed suicide and Jada was with her and she carries the guilt of not being able to save her. 

An elderly woman arrives at the Inn asking a lot of questions about Jada and this puts Jada on edge as she does not know what the woman is after and she would rather keep the past in the past. Questions on both sides culminated in answers that Jada never expected. 

I read the first in the series but not the second, which is ok because they are all stand-alone novels. I enjoyed both of the books I read, the characters are believable and the friendship of the three friends is a sweet thing to behold. A series that has the reader wanting to read more about each of the women portrayed. I think if you love a book that is a sweet charming read, then this series is for you for sure!

Truth - I had watched the movie version first and I do find it oddly attracted to the movie in many ways (the performance, the story, the theme) that I truly enjoy it a lot. What I did not was reading the book first. I had this with me for a year over now and last month, I decided (based on a mention) to read it and it was then, I never thought how honest this book turns out to be. There are many realistic themes about this book that makes it not just sad but emotional, troubled but relief and undeniable but real... because in reality, there are no happy endings. Just closure.

Pat Peoples was released from an institution he could not remember why he was there in the first place. At age 34, staying with his parents is the only way he could recuperate his mental health. With a football season starting, Pat has to improve himself physically and started reading books to return to his wife Nikki, so that his 'apart time' is over. He can't wait to go back to his wife until he befriends Tiffany, his friend's wife sister and the secrets they both block and keep together in their own way to come to terms with their hearts and mind.

Its not easy to write characters that are broken and in ways, how damage they become. I can relate a lot with Pat Peoples and most of all, people who do not understand him well. Much like how TiffanyPats and his family and friends, the joy and happiness and the opposite of it. The anger and opinions about the books Pat reads and how he needs help from people he never expect. Its what I believe why this book works because its real. For me - a real positive message is better than a hopeless positive message advice given and for a long time now, I never thought I would read a book that really hits it. Although the movie adaptation and the book had a lot of difference in terms of content, both in their own way is good except I like the book better.

My first 2018 book rated very highly because this book makes me feel in so many ways that I can say I loved it a lot and its one of my favorite reads. I would highly recommend to readers who doesn't believe happy endings are real but believe that we are all part of life to who wants to be happy but not in a Disney way.

Well, this is never going to be a favourite book. For a start, it needs an editor. Badly!

And then, of course, we have the author...

But at least this will be a quick read. :D