When Loretta Simmons returns to Hope, Oklahoma, after a disastrous marriage, she’s determined to remain independent for the sake of her daughter. The only thing standing in her way is Deacon Fox—the man she loved and walked away from years ago.

Since Loretta owns the bookstore right next to his current renovation project, Deacon can’t escape the woman who broke his heart. Throw in her adorable little girl and one ridiculously oversized dog, and they’re almost a family. Only he can’t be that guy—what they had was once in a lifetime.
But love has a funny way of re-opening a door you thought was firmly closed…

Loretta and Deacon were in a relationship in high school and even talked about their future life together.  Loretta’s parents had other ideas for her future and being the dutiful daughter she’d always been she ended up dumping Deacon and getting married to another man, Tom. Loretta’s life with Tom was anything but fun but she got a wonderful daughter, Hazel, out of her marriage.  When she divorced her cheating, controlling husband she wanted nothing more than to be an independent woman and show her daughter how strong women could be without a man involved.

Loretta moved back to her hometown of Hope after her divorce.  The bookstore she started is next to a building that Deacon’s construction company is working on.  Deacon first meets Hazel and loves her personality.  When Hazel gets a dog Deacon offers to help her with the training.  When he’s out at the farm that Loretta bought he offers to give her a bid for some work that needs to be done around the farm.  This puts him on the farm quite a bit between the training and the work.

Deacon was heart-broken after Loretta broke up with him but he moved on. He dated some and started his own construction company with his friend Reid.  He didn’t hold a grudge against Loretta for breaking up with him and while things are awkward with her when she first returns to town he can’t stop staring at the beautiful woman she’s become.

Deacon falls in love with Hazel and would do anything for Loretta’s incredible child.  Deacon and Loretta get closer and soon start a relationship. Neither are sure it’s the best idea but they just can’t stay away from each other.

Another great addition to the Hope series.  I loved both Deacon and Loretta and I really loved the fact that this was a pretty light and airy story with little to no angst.  The author gave us a lovely second chance romance.

I mentioned little to no angst and one of the things I loved about this book was that Loretta and Deacon were so…adult.  I mean that in the best way.  There were no ridiculous misunderstandings and when it came to Loretta being upset with Deacon, he knew it.  He also said to her that she needed to talk to him about what was bothering her rather than sitting at home by herself being mad at him and him not being about to defend himself if necessary.  I mean, geez, what a novel concept, right?  Two people talking things out and communicating – what is the world coming to? 🙂  That was one of my favorite parts of the book.

Another favorite of mine in the book was, you guessed it, the dog…Otis.  Burton loves animals in her stories and this was a good one.  Otis was a gigantic goofy great dane who was a big love-bug.  Hazel had picked him up at the pound when her mother said she could get a dog.  Loretta was hoping for a small dog like a chihuahua but no, Hazel picked the biggest dog she could find.  It was adorable and so was Otis.  I loved him to pieces and wanted him for my own.

Overall the story was great.  We got to interact with characters from previous books and catch up with them so if you’ve read all of the books in the series you’ll enjoy that part.  The book has a lot going for it – adorable little girls, love, romance, a goofy dog and some pretty hot sex scenes.  It’s definitely a book I recommend as it was just fun to read.

Rating: 4 out of 5