A Colorful Life: friendship, love and finding strength in life's twists and turns

A Colorful Life by Melissa Storm is a story of friendship, love, adventure and finding the strength to move forward. Life has been one disappointment after another for Daly English. She locks herself in her art studio, focusing on her art school portfolio rather than dealing with the hurt. However, fate is going to give her no choice but to face them. Three separate times, she comes face to face with a handsome stranger, Akash “Kashi” Malhorta, refuses to walk away from Daly and forces her to face the losses she has had and open herself to love and trust again. Their whirlwind romance takes them from her drab Midwest hometown to the bold and colorful country of India. Will Daly continue to live in the background of life? Will her journey teach her to live and love despite life’s disappointments and tragedies? 

A Colorful Life was a hard book to read. Daly was a hard character to like. While I sympathized with her grief and struggles, I felt she was very childish in many aspects even toward the end. The story itself seemed to be lacking something. The conflicts were too quick. At one point, as Kashi and Daly are flying to India, he reveals that he isn’t going to introduce her as his girlfriend and, of course, Daly is upset; however, she accepts this condition too quickly. Yes, they were already halfway around the world but to say “I don’t like it but ok” was just odd to me. Overall, it was a hard book to enjoy. There was so much going on and at the same time nothing really. It wasn’t a bad story, it just wasn’t the book I was expecting. 

A Colorful Life is available in paperback and eBook

The Loneliest Cottage: an easy to read, fun and sweet romance

The Loneliest Cottage by Melissa Storm is the first book in the Alaskan Hearts series. Lauren Dalton’s world is shattered when she learns that her father was killed in a tragic accident. It is shattered again when she discovers he had a life that he never told her. Heartbroken but determined to find out more, she takes a job in rural Alaska to help Shane Ramsey, an injured musher, with his sled dogs. She soon learns that her new boss has secrets of his own. As she cares for the dogs and even learns to become a musher herself, Lauren finds herself losing her heart to her new boss, his dogs and the wild wilderness of Alaska. Will Lauren discover more about her father’s life in Alaska? Will her search reveal more secrets? 

The Loneliest Cottage is a story about love, loss and finding where you truly belong. A quick read, it is a sweet romance set in beautiful Alaska. There were a few moments that I felt were unrealistic and would not fly in real life but in romances, reality is usually stretched a bit. The sled racing and the dogs take a backseat to the relationship of Lauren and Shane. Shane is the typical romance “hero”  that has been hardened and bitter from a previous relationship and it is Lauren, the romance “heroine” who thaws his frozen heart. Overall, I enjoyed The Loneliest Cottage. It is a typical romance but enjoyable and I look forward to reading the rest of the series. If you are looking for a quick, enjoyable story, I recommend The Loneliest Cottage. 

The Loneliest Cottage is available in paperback and eBook