Series & Title: Granite Lake, Book 4: Divining Elise
Author: Jody A. Kessler
Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon
Publisher: Jody A. Kessler
Release Date: June 14, 2018
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
ARC Received From and Reviewed For: Enticing Journey Book Promotions
Hosted By: Enticing Journey Book Promotions
Elise Martinez wished her date with destiny didn’t include being run off the road by the most caring, handsome, and intelligent man she’d ever met.
Moving to Granite Lake to manage a bookstore and coffee shop meant Elise could finally leave her haunted past behind, but being a psychic mom to a deaf child has its benefits and downfalls—and her guarded heart isn’t ready for a new romance.
Rob Everett never imagined giving up corporate law to open a brewery with his brothers in Granite Lake would begin with a car accident and the arrival of a surprise baby.
As if being a single dad and starting a new business weren’t challenging enough, Rob can’t get the beautiful, mysterious, and feisty bookstore manager out of his mind.
For Elise and Rob, falling in love is a complicated, sexy, and emotional enterprise.
Mix in a baby, a haunted brewery, craft beer, and a dangerous ex-husband into this recipe of love and their future isn’t as easily divined as the fates would have foretold.
**A steamy, fun, stand-alone novel with a happy ever after.
Elise is a unique kind of heroine for me. She's lovely, sweet, strong and resilient. She's moved herself and her little boy to Granite Lake for a better life, a more thriving life. She's the Mama Bear you hear about in jokes, or see mentioned in memes. She'll do what's necessary to protect her own, moving heaven and earth to ensure her family is safe and flourishing.
Rob isn't all that different, I don't think. He gave up corporate law to go into business with his brothers in Granite Lake and wound up with a secret baby along the way. I admired that he didn't shirk his responsibility or deny his child just because he already had plans in place. An infant daughter threw him for a loop, absolutely, but he made her part of his life from that point on instead of an afterthought. It's a fine line he walks as he balances fatherhood and business.
Elise and Rob meet in the most unusual of ways: he runs her off the road. Not intentionally, of course. He's stressed from opening the brewery, exhausted from being a new single dad who really has no idea what to do but is giving fatherhood his best shot. Despite their rough beginning, Rob and Elise forge a friendship that turns into lust then love. It doesn't happen without encountering bumps along the way though, but the road to happiness is rarely smooth sailing.
Ms. Kessler is a new-to-me author, and one I'm happy to continue following. Elise and Rob are incredible characters to get to know and to watch fall deeply in love. Granite Lake is a beautiful setting, one I'll explore more in the first three books of this series. This isn't an angst-filled story, neither is it so complicated that the reader gets lost. The characters are real, or real enough, without being obnoxiously over the top concerning themselves, each other, and their lives. While the ending of this story is obvious, Ms. Kessler does a great job of getting her characters to their well-deserved, long-awaited Happily Ever After with minimal damage.
It made this a relaxing read for me, one I would also recommend to anyone needing a break from whatever their normal reading material is, or if you're just looking for someone new to read.
Jody A. Kessler is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. Her debut novel, Death Lies Between Us, is the winner of the Readers’ Crown Award for Best Paranormal Romance. She also writes contemporary romance, historical time travel fiction, and new adult coming of age.
When she isn’t navigating the terrain of her imagination and writing it down, she can be found exploring the wilderness of Colorado with her family, teaching Hatha yoga, or in the kitchen baking cookies & brownies – and trying not to eat them all.
Thank you very much for the review! ❤
ReplyDeleteCheers and happy reading!