Much Ado About a Latte - Kathleen Fuller

 

In Much Ado About a Latte, readers return to Maple Falls, where restoration of the town businesses continues.  Anita works hard at the Sunshine Diner, even while dreaming of opening her own coffee shop in town.  Unbeknownst to her, Tanner Castillo, her high school tutor, has dream of his own - of owning the Sunshine Diner and making it into a coffee bar/diner combination.  While pursuing their dreams secretly, their friendship grows with the chance of more - but can either aspect of their relationship sustain the secrets and competition?

While I love this town, and the storylines about updating the town and its businesses, this second installment didn't appeal to me as much as Hooked on You. The stories didn't feel flushed out, so the conclusion felt a little illogical.  Why did Tanner end up working in a diner when he was obviously intelligent and driven in high school? Where did Anita get her dream of a coffee shop? There was no build up of her dream or experience; it didn't seem to tie into her passions, it was just a way to prove herself to her parents. There also wasn't a great explanation of how the two businesses were going to work together; it just somehow conveniently tied the end up in a rosy ending.

I enjoy these characters, and I will continue to look forward to the series, but this one was only 3 stars for me.

You can find Much Ado About a Latte HERE.
You can find the author HERE.

I received a digital copy of this book, via NetGalley, from the publisher, in exchange for my honest review.

Hooked on You - Kathleen Fuller

 

Riley McCallister never planned to come back to Maple Falls; she'd planned to become a renowned artist in New York.  Hayden Price never planned to work at his family's hardware store; he'd planned to become a major league baseball pitcher - which he did, for one pitch.  When Riley's grandmother takes a hard slide at a church softball game and breaks her leg, Riley finds herself back in her grandmother's yarn store, planning to only be there long enough to get her grandmother literally back on her feet.  Hayden, however, has adjusted his plans, and is looking forward to settling into Maple Falls, until he finds that his family may have different plans of their own.  Can Riley and Hayden find a way to be content with their plans being changed?  

After reading through a string of overly sappy romances, this novel hit many of the right notes for me.  Riley, the self-proclaimed artistic loner, and Hayden, the popular athlete, were a great combination of characters.  I loved that this wasn't a second-chance story, per se; Riley and Hayden never connected in high school, each thinking the other never even noticed them.  I loved the Bosom Buddies, Riley's grandmother's collection of friends who bonded over knitting and crocheting and had been together so long as to be able to speak truth to each other, while also watching out for each other.  I loved how the younger version of them, dubbed the Musketeers by Hayden, easily took Riley in, even through her resistance.  

If you're looking for a Christian novel with strong threads of faith, this isn't the book for you.  While the characters go to church, there are no conversations about God, or prayer, or the Bible.  However, it is a clean novel, with themes of love and forgiveness, and how blood family is not the only kind of family.

I give this book 4 stars.  I'm excited that this is a series, and I can't wait to see which characters get the spotlight next!

You can find Hooked on You HERE.
You can find the author HERE.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.