Another thank you to Michele Ashman Bell for asking me to be on her blog tour and allowing me to delay my review until life settled down enough to finish reading the book & actually write on my blog, too. Here's some more info about Hometown Girl.
Jocelyn Rogers’s life is in a rut. Maybe she should step outside her comfort zone and move to Milford Falls, where she has inherited her grandmother’s house. With the encouragement of the other Butterfly Girls, Jocelyn musters her courage and starts a new life.However, when she arrives in the small town that holds both good and bad memories for her, she discovers the house in worse shape than she expected, and getting repairs done is anything but easy — especially when it comes to dealing with Jack Emerson, a man who seems to be agitated by Jocelyn and everyone else within a fifty-mile radius.
To make matters worse, she has begun to worry that moving back to the place where she once spent a troubled summer will expose the deep personal secret she has kept hidden for fourteen years. But Jack also has a hidden secret that has prevented him from getting close to anyone in a long time. And now it seems that interfering neighbors may prevent both Jack and Jocelyn from moving forward with their lives.
Join the Butterfly Girls in this charmingly romantic story that shows sometimes it takes a leap of faith to land on your feet.
My Review:
Hometown Girl is the second book in The Butterfly Box series. I absolutely loved the first book - A Modest Proposal - and have been anxiously waiting for the next book to come out. I am a huge Michele Ashman Bell fan. I love how much depth her characters have, their unique stories, and how real to life their choices and emotions are. All of this is once again in Michele's newest book, Hometown Girl.
I really like how Michele continued to show the bond between The Butterfly Box girls - Lauren, Chloe, Emma, Jocelyn, and Andrea. But it was particularly interesting to learn more about Jocelyn. I have to admit, she was the one person I was most curious about when I read A Modest Proposal. I thought we wouldn't get to her story until later in the series, so I was surprised when I found it book 2 was all about her - a happy surprised!
Lauren faces some very difficult memories while she's at her grandmother's house. Watching her face those memories and finally coming to a point where she could find forgiveness, feel whole again through the atonement and Heavenly Father's love was just incredible. There are a few quirky, funny moments (it just wouldn't be a Michele book without them!). And of course, the added romantic element between Jocelyn and Jack satisfied my romance-loving heart. Overall, I really enjoyed Hometown Girl. If you're an LDS drama/romance fiction lover - or just love good clean books - you'll want to pick up this one! I'm already looking forward to the next book!
Contest:
Michele is running an awesome contest in conjunction with her blog tour. She's giving away a $50 Visa Gift Card, which can be used anywhere. Now that's a prize I love! To find out more about the contest and enter for a chance to win, check out this post on Michele's blog.
