Hometown Girl by Mariah Stewart

Brooke Madison Bowers.  Everyone in St. Dennis, Maryland knew her name.  After all she was the prettiest, most popular girl of her town.  Star of the pageant and Prom Queen, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Brooke would go far.  She married the man of her dreams and Brooke’s happily ever after seemed to all be falling into place…

but things can happen…

When her husband is killed while serving in Iraq, a very brokenhearted Brooke returns to her hometown along with her young son, to be close to those who love her.

When Jesse Enright moves to St. Dennis to run the family law firm, Brooke catches his eye and his heart in short time.  But Brooke has no intention of putting her own heart on the line again and Jesse finds that if he wants any chance at all with Brooke he is going to have to wait for her to first come to him.

Ummmm…. so Sheila, I didn’t think you really enjoyed romance novels?

This is true… but every once in a while a book comes along that I am drawn to despite the genre.  Honestly, reading that synopsis, doesn’t it remind you a bit of the movie Hope Floats?  In both cases you have a popular, beautiful woman who returns to her home town after things go wrong in her marriage.  She is afraid to love again but along comes a guy who seems to be so right… yet the woman is afraid to put herself out there… I love Hope Floats.  I own the movie.

Ok.. I drifted…

Hometown Girl is part of a series called The Chesapeake Diaries.  I admit, I have not read the previous books and I am curious about them.  While I did not need the other books to get into this one, there are friendships around Brooke (especially in the beginning) that I feel had I read the previous books I would have felt more in the know. 

While it is true romance stories are not my genre of choice, this is just a sweet read.  Honestly, I rooted for Jesse.  I love the fact that Brooke runs a cupcake shop, it just feels like a sweet story and a nice place to live.  I liked the characters and am drawn to read the other books just to get to know them better.  In fact, I enjoyed Mariah Stewarts way with words so much that I have been checking out some of the many other series she has written.

Thank you to Lisa with TLC Book tours

for the chance to read and review this book