About the book: Lila Mae Guidry is a Southern girl through and through. As a fourth-generation Latter-day Saint in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she's proud of her heritage as both a Southerner and a Saint—and she doesn't take kindly to people who disparage either. Ten years ago, Max Archer was just that kind of jerk. As the mission president's son, Max spent his entire three years mocking the South...and teenage Lila. After Max's family moved away, Lila forgot about her sworn enemy. Almost.
When a new job brings a grown-up Max back to Baton Rouge, Lila is less than thrilled with his reappearance, especially since everyone seems intent on throwing her together with this old adversary. Yet fight as she may, Lila soon realizes resistance is futile—their connection is undeniable. Max embodies everything she wants in a man—except perhaps the most important thing—her life is rooted in the city she loves, but his dreams are bigger than Baton Rouge. With such mismatched visions of the future, Max and Lila are faced with a life-altering decision: jeopardize their aspirations or risk losing love.
My review: Melanie Jacobson has such a way with writing contemporary romance. I love the way that she writes her book. I have each and every one of the books she has written and I wouldn't part with them for anything. There aren't many other authors that I could say the same thing about. And this book is just as amazing as any of the other ones!
I LOVE Lila in this book. I love her strength. I love that even though she was raised as a "Southern Belle," she is spending her career teaching high school in an area that is known for it's poverty. And she is an amazing teacher, I love the way that she takes these kids under her wings to give them wings to fly and make their lives better. I especially love the way that she is with Kiana, just thinking about the things that she did for her brings a tear to my eye. So sweet!
I love that this whole story is from Lila's perspective. That means that for some of the parts, even the reader gets a surprise. When you see the story from multiple perspectives, sometimes you lose that sense of surprise. I really loved the way this one was written. Everything, even down to the way it ended was a surprise. I had no idea just what was going to happen for Lila.
Max...what about Max. Max is amazing! I loved that you really don't know his true motives for having to returned to Baton Rouge, a city he had hated as a teenager, until way late in the plot. I love the way he was a gentleman in everything he did, and how he realized his mistakes throughout the whole book and was continually trying to fix them and make himself better.
The whole plot of this one was great. I loved every bit of it, and especially the ending! This is a cute, clean, fun romance that I didn't want to put down, even when it ended. I still kind of want to know just what happened in both Lila and Max's lives. That's the mark of a great book to me, the way that it sucks you in, even after the story is over!
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
About the author: Melanie Bennett Jacobson is an avid reader, amateur cook, and champion shopper. She consumes astonishing amounts of chocolate, chick flicks, and books. After meeting her own husband on the Internet, she is now living happily married in Southern California with her growing family and a series of doomed potted herbs.
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Labels: Clean Romance, Covenant Communications, LDS Romance, Melanie Jacobson
About the book: Lila Mae Guidry is a Southern girl through and through. As a fourth-generation Latter-day Saint in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she's proud of her heritage as both a Southerner and a Saint—and she doesn't take kindly to people who disparage either. Ten years ago, Max Archer was just that kind of jerk. As the mission president's son, Max spent his entire three years mocking the South...and teenage Lila. After Max's family moved away, Lila forgot about her sworn enemy. Almost.