Love Blooms: A Firefighter Small Town Romance

This first book in the author’s new series, Bluestar Island, is a sweet, touching romance about life , expectations and love. Hannah Baker, born and raised on the island, is everyone’s favorite baker. Her dream of opening her own bakery is within reach as she now is the new owner of the location of her future bakery. But her dreams are shattered when she opens the door to the location and finds the kitchen flooded and water coming from a broken pipe up above. Ethan Walker, a NY firefighter visiting the island while he takes care of his aunt’s dog, sees her, and drags her out before she can be hurt. Neither realizing that from then on their lives would change forever. As a friendship develops and Ethan offers to help her with the bakery and his aunt with the Spring Fling, both of them have to deal with their past and how it could affect their future. While Ethan is recovering from an on the job injury, he wonders if he’ll ever go back to firefighting, while Hannah can’t see herself with a firefighter. Not after her father, was killed in one while in the line of duty. Will they each teach the other that there is more to life than what’s expected of them? Will they be able to let go of the painful past in order to find a future filled instead with memories? In the end, will they find their HEA? This is a touching story, that is at times heartbreaking as well as heartwarming. One filled with interesting characters , some of which the reader is sure will have their own stories. I was entrusted a copy of this book. The opinions expressed are solely my own.

Sweet Small-Town Romance In this small-town romance, recently injured but recovering firefighter Ethan comes to Bluestar Island to take care of his great aunt's dog while she is in physical rehab. He's not quite ready to come back to work after an injury on the job, so this is the perfect getaway and chance to help family. Our heroine's future seems bright at the start, as she's about to fulfill her dream of opening her own bakery. But in the dramatic meet-cute, her bakery—which she is just about to renovate before opening in 3 weeks—floods due to a broken pipe, and the hero not only keeps her from running into the building (possibly electrocuting herself) but manages to shut off the water to the building. The hero is totally adorbs. Who wouldn't like a young man who is not only brave but caring and compassionate toward an elderly relative? I had a few problems with the heroine. The aspect of her character that drove me the craziest is that she pushed away any assistance from those who loved or cared about her as she tried to deal with the physical and financial devastation caused by the bakery flood. The author didn't show enough to explain this annoying flaw of her character. Clearly, she needed help, and she rejected it time after time, even lying to people, telling them that she had it all under control when she did not. It would have been okay if this flaw popped up now and then, but it happened constantly in the book, and each time it did, it was a nails-on-a-chalkboard moment for me. However, I did like other aspects of her character, and in fact, of all the people we meet on Bluestar Island in this book. This is the first of a series, and I'm actually looking forward to other ones... so long as the author doesn't give the hero or heroine such an annoying flaw! I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.

Overall, it was a fun story, but it touched on some heavy topics. The characters are well done and the touchy subjects handled well. The main characters are attracted to each other but have real, logical reasons for not allowing themselves to fall in love—as if their hearts would seek permission! This is my voluntary review of a copy I received from Booksprout.