The Love List: a woman takes charge of her life by doing what she loves. Is falling love be a part of the plan?

The Love List is the first book in the Hilton Head Island series by Elana Johnson. Beatrice “Bea” Callahan loves lists. She loves when she creates to-do lists and the satisfaction she gets when she can check each item off. So when she gets the finalized divorce papers, she is ready with a list to live the life she wants. Bea doesn’t call it a bucket list, it’s a love list. She loves the outdoors, so she plans to visit ten National Parks. She loves animals, so she will get a puppy. She loves the beach and wants to take a dream vacation. After the insistence of her beloved friends, she heads to Hilton Head Island. There she meets Grant Turner, the man who owns her rented house. He soon becomes her tour guide, a friend and then something more. Can she add falling in love to her list? 

This story opened with Bea eagerly waiting for her divorce papers and when she does, she wastes no time and consults no one as she starts down her list. It is supposed to be Bea and Grant’s romance story; however, I did not like chapters featuring her friends more and discussing their troubles. I understand that the author is trying to establish interest in the future books in the series but it was a turn off for me. I also disliked that all the couples are divorced, troubled marriages or newly separated. While all marriages have issues; but can one marriage be relatively a happy one? Overall, I did not enjoy The Love List and will not be continuing the series. However, if you are a fan of Elana Johnson, you may enjoy The Love List and I encourage you to give it a try. 

The Love List is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook

What's Worth Keeping: a story of healing, renewal and falling in love again

What’s Worth Keeping by Kaya McLaren is an emotional journey following Amy, a breast cancer survivor, her husband, Paul, an Oklahoma City police officer who is still haunted by the Oklahoma City Bombing and their teenage daughter, Carly, a recent high school graduate who has lost her way. On the day she hears the word no one wants to hear, Amy discovers a secret that Paul has been keeping from her. As summer begins and the months of chemo treatments are over and her recovery from surgeries is complete, she escapes her claustrophobic life. She seeks to find healing, peace and clarity in the one place which she felt whole: the ancient forests in Washington State. After dropping Carly off at Amy’s Aunt Rae’s horse ranch in the mountains of New Mexico, Paul visits the house he bought many years ago with the hopes to fix it up and retire. What he finds mirrors his life and marriage, everything looks fine on the outside, but inside is a disaster. When he finds himself with more time off than he expected, he begins the painstaking but loving repairs to the house and maybe even his future. After witnessing her mother’s treatments and recoveries, Carly is terrified when she learns that the cause was genetic, leaving her with a sense of impending doom and all her hopes and dreams seem like a waste of time. With the help of Aunt Rae and a Clydesdale horse named T Rex, can Carly discover she can have hope for the future again? Will Amy find the healing and peace she seeks? Can Paul repair his marriage and find the love they used to share? 

Right off the bat, the story of Amy, Paul and Carly hits you in the face. It pulls you in and tells you to put yourself in the shoes of these characters. Like life, What’s Worth Keeping has its ups and downs. At times it was sweet and these people obviously loved each other at one time and others, the heartbreaking moments when their world has been rocked to its core. At times I wanted to shake some sense into the characters and tell them not to be such an idiot! At other times, I wanted to hug each one and cry with them. I have not had the experiences that Amy has but her reactions and fight to gain her life back felt very real and very raw. I don’t know how I would react if I were in Amy’s shoes but her fears are very real. Paul is definitely a first responder who was just going through the motions as he is constantly reminded of the horrible events after the bombing and how it shaped his life since. He must battle the demons of survivor’s guilt if he wants to regain the life he once again and to love and be loved as he did before. Carly’s reaction to her mother’s illness was the most heartbreaking as she became angry in general as she saw her future in her mother’s pain and suffering. What’s Worth Keeping is a book that will break your heart, shed tears as Amy, Paul and Carly come to terms with the events of their lives and decide whether to fight or give up their futures. I highly recommend What’s Worth Keeping. 

What’s Worth Keeping is available in paperback and eBook

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