Review: What The Heart Wants

What the Heart Wants
by Deborah Grace Staley

Genre: Contemporary (Southern) Romance
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Cost: $12.78

What I Liked:
What this particular Angel Ridge book had going for it that none of the others really did is a good solid plot. Something that really keeps these two characters apart, and could keep them apart for good. Of course, part of contemporary romance is just having issues and baggage keep people apart, so I don't fault anyone for doing that. But this was a great plot.

It kept me on the edge of my seat, and the pages flipping quick. If you like a little suspense (but perhaps not full-blown romantic suspense) in your romance, this is the one of the three I would suggest.

Once again, Deborah Grace Staley wrote a fantastic hero in Grady, the town sherriff. And Candi/Lark, the heroine, really was the best of the three heroines of Staley's that I've read in this series. She was the one I'd most like to befriend, if she were real.

All in all, this book had a great plot, good characters, and a satisfying ending. The romance was well-written, the setting (as usual) was spot on, and the Angel Ridge series has now come to a close. Since this was my favorite of the three books, it's definitely the best note to end on.

Book Blurb:
Candi Heart is layers of mystery in a very appealing package. A lethal combination for Sheriff Grady Wallace. With a nickname like "Candi Heart" and a plan to open a frilly lingerie and perfume shop called Heart's Desire, Lark Hensley knows she may raise some eyebrows by moving to quiet little Angel Ridge, Tennessee. She hopes no one remembers that the women in her family were once accused of being seductive witches by townsfolk, and that decades ago her moonshiner grandpa committed a deadly crime. Lark has questions she can't answer and secrets she doesn't want to share, especially with Angel Ridge Sheriff Grady Wallace, even if Grady is hard to resist.

Grady falls hard and quick for the new mystery woman in town, though he's determined to find out what she's hiding. Angel Ridge's one-woman Welcome Committee, Dixie Ferguson, has taken a liking to Candi Heart, and Dixie's instincts about newcomers are rarely wrong. But maybe not this time . . . Grady never intended to follow the Wallace family tradition of lawmen, but when his father died young, rebellious Grady grew quickly into the role of staunch town defender. Candi Heart may not have meant to bring trouble to his town, but she has. Someone does remember her family. That someone wants her to leave . . . or to die. An unknown driver tries to run her down. Her shop is broken into. Rumors begin to swirl. Suddenly Grady is caught between his duty and his heart's desire for Candi Heart. -from Amazon.com.

~ Rebecca Lynn

Review: A Home for Christmas

A Home for Christmas
by Deborah Grace Staley

Genre: Contemporary (Southern) Romance
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Cost: $12.78

What I Liked:
Well, now I'm all ready for Christmas to come! (Except snow... please, God, no snow.) This book was warm like hot buttered rum, and just as satisfying... and just as festive. Having recently read and reviewed Only You, which is also in this Angel Ridge Series, I was eagerly looking forward to reading the next book, and was not disappointed. It was all it promised to be.

Once again, Deborah Grace Staley has created a hero in Blake Ferguson that just makes your heart (and all your other parts) melt. His Southern accent only adds the finishing touch on a very yummy personality, and even his foibles just make you want to hold him. Or fight with him and then hold him. But the man is a gem.

I must admit that some of Janice's conflict just didn't make sense to me. I had a hard time getting my mind around why it really was they couldn't be together. But I do sometimes have those questions, mostly because I think when you find true love, why wouldn't you go after it? Then again, I have to remember that we don't all know when it's staring us in the face. Still, Janice wasn't my favorite heroine of all time. But Blake... he made up for all of it.

This is a heartwarming Christmas tale, well worth the time spent. Blake Ferguson can warm my hearth anytime. Or hang my lights. Or... well, you get the idea.

Book Blurb:
Dr. Janice Thornton has been lonely for too long, especially at Christmas. But Angel Ridge, Tennessee, the one place that holds the key to what family should be, is offering her a chance at a new life. Could she find happiness by taking over her uncle's small town practice? Local contractor and carpenter Blake Ferguson comes from a big family. He'd like to fill his rambling old Victorian with one of his own. But there's one problem. He needs a wife! When Janice shows up at his house, Blake sets a course to win her, but soon finds she's built a wall around her heart this master carpenter finds difficult to dismantle. Can the magic of an Angel Ridge Christmas bring hearts home or will old hurts create an obstacle even the town's legendary angels can't overcome? -from Amazon.com

Review: Only You

Only You
by Deborah Grace Staley

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Belle Books
Cost: $12.95 (free right now on Kindle)

What I Liked:
I adored the hero in this book. Cole Craig was everything a perfect Southern gentleman should be, plus a little rough around the edges and blue under the collar. It only makes him more attractive. I was very impressed with the way he was written. It made me want to read more of Deborah Grace Staley's books. And that's a good thing, because there are three books in this series, and I still have two left.

I did enjoy the heroine, as well, and saw a bit of myself in her. She's an intellectual, has worked her whole life to accomplish her goals, and is now faced with obstacles that are more than just professional. The small town of Angel Ridge could easily have been any small town in the South, or the North for that matter. It was very familiar and comforting while simultaneously being frustrating. I loved that.

Deborah Grace Staley has been compared to Debbie Macomber. And while I'm not much of a Macomber fan, I would definitely keep reading the books in this series. So that's a good sign for me. Looking forward to seeing what happens next!

Book Blurb:
A charming romance about the lives and loves of people in a small Tennessee town. In the tradition of Debbie Macomber. "Hey, ya'll. Dixie Ferguson here. I run Ferguson's Diner in Angel Ridge, Tennessee. Population three hundred forty-five. It's a picturesque town in the valley of the Little Tennessee River, established in 1785. In the early days, its first families--the McKays, the Wallaces, the Houstons, the Joneses, and, of course, the Craigs--staked their claims on hundreds of acres of the richest bottom land anyone had ever seen. After all the years I've spent behind the counter at Ferguson's, I could probably tell ya'll a story about near everyone in town. But we only have so much time, so I'll narrow it down to just two for now. This is a story about coming home. It's also a story about acceptin' folks for who they are. You could say it's a story about Josie Allen, a librarian, and Cole Craig, a handyman, but I say it's a story about finding love where you'd least expect to."

~Rebecca Lynn