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Blurb

Buried secrets never stay hidden in the South.

Kallie

I fell in love with him when I was seven. I scraped my knee, and he helped carry me inside.  Our love story was the talk of the town until a woman told everyone she was pregnant with his baby. The only rational solution was to high tail it out of town and never come back.

My best friend needed a place to hide, and you can’t get much more covert than my family farm, so I came back. For her. It was supposed to be temporary, and I wasn’t supposed to see him, but that’s what happens when you live in a small town where everyone knows each other.

Jacob

Being the sheriff in a small town was never my dream. My father died and my older brother took off, so I had to be the one to look after my mother. I stayed. I fulfilled my duties as a son and I protected my hometown.

My life wasn’t perfect, but I was content. Until I locked eyes with a ghost from my past, Kallie. I thought it was my imagination, it couldn’t be. I loved her most of my life, but now I hated her.

The town gossip mill was going into overdrive. I kept my head down and my mind off of the woman who shattered my heart when she ran away. She didn’t give me a chance to explain, it didn’t matter to her then. I didn’t matter.

A second chance is never promised, but now that mine is right under my nose, I’m not sure I can take it.

 

 

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Review

5 stars and all the feels!

The beginning of a new series for Natasha Madison, something a little bit different from her, and oh, I loved it so much!

Before the gushing commences, I have to admit that I had some mixed feelings before I even started reading this book. The blurb alone freaked me out. I am not a fan of unnecessary angst, and from that blurb that’s what I thought we were going to get. But I love Natasha’s books, so there’s no way I wasn’t going to read it, and OMG, I’m so happy that I did! This book is dramatic and complicated… and yes, it’s angsty… but it works to build the story and create an absolutely BEAUTIFUL second-chance-romance that completely swept me up in its charm, longing, emotion, and soul-deep love, and I absolutely loved this book!

Kallie and Jacob were childhood sweethearts, and the golden couple of their small, southern country town. They were it for each other, everybody knew it, and they were planning their life together when everything suddenly fell apart and Kallie left town, leaving them both shattered and broken-hearted.

Eight years later, Kallie’s best friend finds herself in trouble and needs a place to hide out and, figuring there’s no better place to hide her, Kallie brings her home to her family and the place she hasn’t been since she left all those years ago. Small towns being as they are, it takes no time at all for Kallie to run into a now very grown-up Jacob, and the chemistry between them is electric, except now it’s anger and hatred that burns between them, each of them still broken-hearted but furious about all that went down between them.

Despite their desire to keep away from each other, it doesn’t quite work out like that as Jacob, now the town Sherriff, steps in to protect Kallie, and we get these angsty, dramatic and chemistry-fuelled interactions that are part anger, part longing, and it’s so beautifully written. From both perspectives, we can see the pain that they are in, and it really brings the feels.

The woman with the most beautiful smile in the world sits with her head hanging because I just broke her again.

I love these characters so much. Kallie is strong, stubborn, intelligent, funny, and absolutely relatable. Her anger and pain at seeing Jacob again tore at my heart, and as her story unravels, I could understand her so much more, and I just loved her. And Jacob! SWOOOOOOOOOOON! He’s a man who has been living with only half of his heart since Kallie left him, and when she comes back it’s not easy, but you can feel the love between them, and it doesn’t take long before they do, too. The emotional rollercoaster is intense, and I was right there with them the whole way!

“When did you fall out of love with me?” I ask him softly.
“Never.”

I’m not going to give details, but I will say that yes, all of that anger and heartbreak could have been so easily avoided. It was stupid, and a little bit unbelievable, but they were young, they made mistakes, and they did what they felt they had to do. Was it frustrating? Sure… BUT, it paves the way for an epic reunion as they finally confront the past, and I quickly forgot my frustrations as it all unfolds. My heart was pounding and I had tears in my eyes as they found their way back to each other, and from then on it is an absolute total swoonfest as they go about making up for lost time and finding their way back to where they always should have been.

“I’ve never loved anyone but you … I’ve loved you my whole life.”

Along for the ride is Kallie’s best friend, Olivia, and her fantastically flirty brother, Casey, who will have their story told in the next book, as well as Jacob’s best friends Beau and Savannah, who will get book #3. It’s a fantastic introduction to the group, and with some complicated dynamics and backstories at play, I am so excited to read more about these characters.

Natasha has given us a beautiful story for Kallie and Jacob. A soul-searing, heart-wrenching second chance romance that will make you smile, cry and swoon. I felt everything, and I absolutely loved it!

5 stars!

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

The Southern series

 

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About the Author

When her nose isn’t buried in a book, or her fingers flying across a keyboard writing, she’s in the kitchen creating gourmet meals. You can find her, in four inch heels no less, in the car chauffeuring kids, or possibly with her husband scheduling his business trips. It’s a good thing her characters do what she says, because even her Labrador doesn’t listen to her…

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