e- Arc, NetGalley
Author: Carolyn Brown
Cassie O’Malley is on the run. Her evil foster parent sold her to a sex trafficking ring, so she grabbed her grandparents’ wedding rings, enough clothes to fit in a backpack and fled. When the bus she’s in stops, she goes into a café to use the restroom and the local sheriff is there looking for a girl who fits her description. She quickly sits at a table where a young man is having his coffee and pretends she’s with him. She pleads with her eyes for him to go along and he does. His name is Ted Wellman and he’s still trying to get over the death of his adventurous twin brother. He thinks “what would John do?” and decides to save the pretty girl. Apparently, Ted can’t shut up when he’s nervous and he tells the sheriff that she’s his fiancée and they are eloping. The sheriff calls their bluff and says he can have them married right away. So, by the end of the day Ted has got himself a wife..
I have enjoyed Carolyn Brown’s books for years, but this one was published as Love is The Answer under the pseudonym Abbey Gray. It’s one of her very first works and it’s been updated, revised and revamped to be more contemporary, but it still very much has the feel of a romance novel written in 1997. It’s very sweet, drips with southern charm and you have to accept some plot points that aren’t very plausible, but it’s a quick, sweet , enjoyable read for a lazy afternoon, probably while drinking sweat tea on a porch. Or a mint julep.
I was a little disappointed with the resolution given regarding the evil foster parent. I really wanted him to get more than a slap on the hand, but it’s very much on par with the tone of the book.
Cassie and ted are cute together. It’s a little insta-lovey, but The Wellmans are so amazing that you get all warm and fuzzy with their story. I don’t know if this is part of the revamp, but I like that Mama Wellman is Mexican and we get to meet her parents and her abuelita.
Pretty much a closed door, fade to black romance. If you are looking for sweet, you’ve got it. If you looking for spice, look elsewhere.
Possible Triggers: toxic relationship with parental figures, dealing with grief, mentions of a death by vehicular accident and of sex trafficking
