THE HOUSE ON SUNSHINE CORNER by Phoebe Mills

Publisher:  Forever
Date Published: August 24, 2021
ISBN#   ‎ 978-1538753958
Contemporary Romance
Reviewed by Gina (myreviewbooks@aol.com)
Obtained via publisher
3 Hearts

Abby Engel is kind of living her dream. Along with her grandmother, Hilde, she is running the Sunshine Corner daycare.  Her lifelong friends fill out her life giving her everything she should want except a husband and house full of her own children. 

Carter Hayes left Heart’s Hope Bay as soon as he could along with his dreams of opening his own architectural firm. Over the years he’s worked hard and is on the brink of having his dream come true. But before that happens he gets a call from his sister, Becca, that she’s been in an accident and needs his help. He arrives back in his hometown and is ready to help which assistance includes dropping his three year old niece off at daycare. The same daycare his high school sweetheart and the woman he never quite got over, Abby Engel owns.

Being apart and not seeing each other for years doesn’t mean old feelings have moved into simply pleasant memories. Instead coming in contact again reignites those feelings. But Abby and Carter have different lives in different places, lives neither one is ready to give up.  Or are they?

With world events being what they are lately I needed an escape to a happier, more peaceful place and Heart’s Hope Bay delivered.  Sure, there is drama and some moments that come close to heartbreaking, but it’s a love story in a small town with people who genuinely care for each other. 

Mills hits the Title VII check boxes with the introduction of a gay couple early on in the book and a child who appears to be either minority or mixed race.  I appreciate authors want to be inclusive, but blatantly including those PC check boxes that have nothing to do with the story or to move it along, don’t appeal to me. I’m also not a fan of precocious children and after the first several times of Carter’s niece claiming everything to be her favorite it got old.  It just wasn’t funny to me.

Carter and Abby’s romance hit the spot though. I liked how they reflected on their earlier romance and how their values changed or stayed the same over time.  Abby’s dating other men and considering how they never managed to measure up to Carter is something I think we can all relate to. She and Carter, through their careers, remind us while we can’t go back because we grow and change, we can continue to have our dreams and find ways to make them our reality. We can find a way to have all that truly makes  us happy. 

Grandma Hilde is a hoot. We all need someone like her in our lives. As the series continues I’d like to see her find some romance herself. Given her personality I can see some solid laughs as she moves through her golden years, especially with her part in the day care center. Mills is off to a good start and even if you don’t need an escape from the day to day world, Heart’s Hope Bay is a great place to spend your day.

 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

 

                                                                           

A WEDDING ON SUNSHINE CORNER by Phoebe Mills

 

Publisher: Forever
Date Published: March 29, 2022
ISBN#   ‎ 978-1538753989
Contemporary Romance
Reviewed by Gina (myreviewbooks@aol.com)
Obtained via publisher
4 Hearts

Savannah Lowe is no only the baby of her family, but she is the only girl with four over protective brothers. She’s tried this and tried that, but nothing has ever taken as far as a job she felt any passion for. If it weren’t for her best friend Abby owning a day care on Sunshine Corner she probably wouldn’t even have her current job. She does enjoy teaching the early learners and seems to have a knack for solving their problems. But when her brother, Caleb’s best friend, Noah, brings in his daughter, Rosie, things get a bit tense. Noah knows her history and was pretty free joining in with her brothers when they would tease her. Grown up Noah is a whole other thing.

 

Noah has been struggling. His marriage went downhill not long after their vows were spoken and his ex-wife, Jess, has moved out of state leaving him the single parent of Rosie. Complicating matters is that he’s an EMT and his shift work is not conducive to raising a child.

 

When Savanah’s brother, Caleb and his fiancé, Izzi, as her and Noah to plan their wedding things are about to get even more complicated. They both have busy schedules and frankly, don’t even like each other…right? Right?

 

I read Phoebe Mills’s first book in this series, The House on Sunshine Corner when I needed to sit back and escape into a sweet romance. It did the job so I was happy to dig into her latest, A Wedding on Sunshine Corner and it was even better than book 1. I really liked Noah and Savannah.  They had their issues and didn’t ignore them but found ways to resolve them both on their own and together. Their feelings came across as genuine, especially as Noah dealt with Rosie suddenly having only one parent. She, and the other children, were dealt with with compassion and consideration while at the same time not letting something just go by.

 

Mills creates some realistic characters that you’d like to have as your own friends. Even bratty Austin who in another time would have had his fanny warmed was a good one to read. I wasn’t a fan of either him or his mother, but they added to the story. I would have liked to see something be done about him and Megan, his mother, not get off so easily either. I also liked Tori but aside from Mills seeming to attempt to have a multi-cultural character I’m not sure why it was pointed out she’s Korean American unless that will play into a future story about her. If that’s the case we needed to know a bit more about why that might become an issue in the future.

 

I loved the scenes at the winery and Sage Sanctuary for the wedding aspects of the story. Living not too far from Mendocino I know how lovely the wineries up there—really idyllic. I’m totally looking forward to the next entry in this series.

 

 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.