Story of My Life: when you hit rock bottom what can you do but move to a small town and start over

Story of My Life is the first book in the Story Lake series by Lucy Score. Hazel Hart is at rock bottom. She is being forced from her apartment in the Upper East Side by her ex-husband and her publisher gives her a final warning: write and publish or be dropped. When she sees an article about a small town rallying around a neighbor in need and a house up for action, Hazel takes the plunge and buys the house sight unseen. Taking her agent and best friend, Zoey, along, Hazel moves to the rural Pennsylvania small town of Story Lake. She hopes she can rediscover her writing mojo in the small town life. Swoon worthy inspiration hits when she meets hot but grumpy contractor Campbell “Cam” Bishop. In the name of research, she begins to fully live the small town life and a fake relationship with Cam, what possibly could go wrong? 

As a fan of the Gilmore Girls, Story of My Life was recommended to me. And after reading the note from the author, “This series is my love letter to every reader who said they wanted to move to a fictional town . . .,” I had to take a chance on this book. Lucy Score is an author I have seen all over social media and BookTok; however, I have not read any of her books before. I am so glad that I picked up Story of My Life. There was fun banter, sweet emotional scenes and spicy scenes with plenty of angst and grand gestures. At first, l didn’t like Hazel but once she arrived in Story Lake and goes head-to-head with Cam and the town, she grew on me. I loved Cam and the whole Bishop family. Their interactions were so fun. Overall, I loved this story and I am eagerly looking forward to future books in this series. I highly, highly recommend Story of My Life. 

Story of My Life is available in paperback, eBook and audiobook

The Grumpy Guy: grumpy-sunshine romance

The Grumpy Guy by Nicola Marsh is the first book in the Creative in Love series. Carissa Lewis owns a fairy shop and is as sunshine as her new neighbor is grumpy. She is determined to stay away from the infuriating man even though he is oh-so-gorgeous. Brody Elliot is determined to raise his young daughter, Molly. He holds a lot of guilt over the loss of her mother and is determined to protect his daughter from any heartbreak in the future. When Molly befriends Carissa, he’s wary but can’t seem to stay away and Carissa’s sunshine demeanor is getting harder and harder to fight. Can he find the strength to love again? Will her sunshine attitude clear away the storm clouds around his heart? 

Nicola Marsh is usually known for her psychological thrillers. However, she can write sweet romances. The Grumpy Guy is a sweet sunshine-grumpy romance. At first, the story seems to drag and there is no real connection between Carissa and Brody other than being neighbors. However, as Molly spends more and more time with Carissa, Brody seems to thaw a bit toward Carissa. Carissa has deep scars in her past but she refuses to let those hurts bring her down while Brody has let the past cloud his future. And Molly is a sweet and adorable child. Overall, the happy ever after ending is a bit predictable; however, sometimes one doesn’t read romance for the unpredictability. If you enjoy a sweet romance, I recommend The Grumpy Guy. 

The Grumpy Guy is available in paperback and eBook