This book, while I did finish it and enjoyed aspects of it, wasn't what I was hoping it to be. I was hoping, given the setting of the Lowcountry, for it to have some lush and atmospheric writing, but I don't feel like it captured the setting as well as it might have. This book was also very light on romance and much more about a woman's career journey in fashion. I do love reading about fashion and enjoyed the way the main character brought her Filipina heritage into her work.

It's also much heavier than the breezy illustrated cover suggests. We have two love interests, one with a terminal disease and the other grieving from a racist mass shooting. That's a lot! While I felt the book was quite sensitive to these two topics, I felt like they needed deeper explorations than they got.

Ultimately there wasn't a lot of tension for me in this book. Maya is working for a vile, racist boss at the start of the book, and it's so clear she needs to prioritize her health and wellbeing, that there wasn't believable tension in the related choices she had to make.

A Lowcountry Bride is much like Charleston, South Carolina, the city in which it is set. It moves along at a leisurely pace, much like sultry, summer days in the Lowcountry, with history, heritage, and humanity at its core.

At first glance the book may seem to be a sweet story of coming home and finding love, and it is that, but it's also so much more. Williams explores some deeply emotional topics through her characters. Derek and his daughter are struggling to recover from two tragic losses in a short period of time, one of them sudden and violent. Derek is also attempting to navigate the unexpected change of career that has brought him home to deal with bridezillas, the realities of single parenthood, and the possibility of healing, and loving, again.

While Maya returns home to help her injured father and open his eyes to the realities of growing older, she slowly begins to realize that she might be the one who needs to reevaluate. When is it time to put someone else's dreams aside and follow your own? What will it take to open her eyes to the importance of being true to her heritage and not allow it to be subsumed by the narrow vision of her racist employer? Will she learn to not limit her life because of the chronic illness she has had since childhood but instead open her heart to the love and joy being offered? Weighty topics Williams handles with sensitivity and grace.

Williams has assembled a cast of characters in this book who each help make the reading of it a richer experience, especially the vibrant community of color within Charleston whose history and heritage is brought to life with this story. I especially enjoyed the tribute the author pays to her own Afro-Filipina heritage through her depiction of Maya and the design techniques used by her in the story. She made me want to learn more. And she made me want to spend time in Charleston. It's been too long. I don't know what will be coming from this author next but I'll definitely be watching.

If you're looking for a diverse, heart-tugging romance about coming home, surviving tragic loss, being true to yourself, following your dreams, and choosing each day to open your heart to love and happiness, add A Lowcountry Bride to your summer reading list.

*ARC received for fair and unbiased review

Wow. What an amazing story, with amazing representation. Our heroine is a half black, half Filipino woman with sickle cell anemia who has the dream to make it big designing wedding dresses. Maya was truly an amazing heroine. Her boss in New York used her for a diversity point, and Maya always have push back when the boss got that way. Not in an aggressive way, but in a way that made sure she was heard, and that this boss was out of line.
Our hero Derek is a military man, trying to keep his mother's Brian shop in business even though they are very in debt. His 12 year old daughter has checked out, and he doesn't have much going for him.
When Maya's father gets injured, she comes home to take care of him. His lady friend works for Derek, and is looking to retire sooner than later. Maya and Derek have great chemistry at home and as business partners. I loved the relationship with the daughter as well. They all came together in a truly lovely way.
I recommend checking this one out for sure!

From the gorgeous cover to the happily ever after, I enjoyed everything about this book.

Maya is a junior designer, trying to make her mark in the wedding dress business. Her boss reminded me of Cruella. I’m not sure why but every time Laura came into the story, all I could think was how much she was giving Cruella from 101 Dalmatian vibes. Lol.

Maya has to return to the south to care for her father after he has a medical issue. It was then then Maya found her niche and made a romantic encounter with Derek, her boss. Immediately when Maya and Derek connected I was all in and ready for their relationship to blossom. The author did a great job with her character development. I liked how Derek’s daughter gave Maya a hard time in the beginning. I think she reacted the way that she did because Maya was a reminder that her mother was gone. 😭

Maya deserved everything that came her way. Derek encouraged her to go after her dreams. It took a while but Maya soon came into her own and realized she didn’t need anyone to make her dreams a reality. The book has a theme of family and continuing legacies. It is an easy read and the characters were super lovable.

I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

A Low Country bride was a cute and entertaining read, low on angst despite the main character having serious health issues. I listened to the audiobook edition, which was a tad monotone but otherwise well-read.

A Lowcountry Bride is an affecting story of discovering identity, fulfilling dreams, dealing with loss, keeping the faith, and finding love. The authenticity with how the characters’ culture came across strongly emphasizes the importance of providing opportunities for own voices stories, of lifting marginalized creators, of representation and inclusion.

This book is bursting with Ms. Williams’s pride in her unique mix of West African/Filipino heritage. It’s manifested in the food, by distinctive sewing techniques, and in the sympathetic personalities of the main characters.

Maya Jackson, with her struggles to cope with a chronic illness while attempting to achieve her mother’s dreams for her amidst obstacles in the workplace, feels like a real person to me. Adding to all those the care for her injured father, she is heavily burdened than most but utterly real. Maya’s internal conflict when making life-altering choices made me anxious. Despite the guarantee of a hopeful ending, I still fretted over her decisions.

While I liked Maya, I was soft for the men in her life–her father Carl and her love interest Derek Sullivan. These two dads had similar tales of guiding their daughters to find their paths. They had the best lines from the book.

Her dad’s advice resonated with me.
"But don’t stop living, Maya. Don’t ever stop living. You owe it to yourself to live every single day to the fullest.”

Derek’s declaration made me melt.
"It’s not the dying that matters. It’s the living. … I can bring the past with me and use it to craft a beautiful present and a hopeful future."

I like that despite the heavy topics (illness, deaths from a mass shooting, inequity in the workplace, racism) this book is not depressing. There’s enough humor and joy in the successes both Maya and Derek achieved individually and together.

My minor concern is with the portrayal of Laura, Maya’s boss, as an irredeemable villainess. I wish there’s more dimension to her character. After all, she hired Maya in the first place. Her part in the story appeared soap-opera-ish.

Besides that, I enjoyed this book. It’s engaging and made me root for the characters. I can’t wait for the author’s upcoming books.

I really enjoyed this romance by this new-to-me author. Immediately I realized that it featured a romantic heroine with symptomatic sickle-cell disease, I was already excited and ready to like this. I’ve lost loved ones to sickle cell and I have relatives currently fighting the condition so it was great to see a heroine dealing with her own struggles and feelings about her condition and her prognosis, even as she navigates regular life struggles of ambition and insecurity and that niggling feeling of not trusting yourself because you don’t feel good enough.

The premise of this is that aspiring head designer at a major NYC wedding dress label, Maya, has to take time off to return to South Carolina to help her father after he falls and breaks a hip. With her leave being unpaid, she has to find other means of making money, leading her to retired soldier and single dad, Derek’s failing bridal shop which he inherited from his mother. Together, they have to figure out a way to work on their imposter syndrome and overcome grief if they’re to find a chance of happiness.

This is my first book by this author and I definitely want to read more. This wasn’t quite Christian/Inspirational Romance per se, but it definitely had elements of faith that I as a Christian person really appreciated, but not enough to put it in the Inspirational category. This wasn’t religious fiction, although people kind of feeling let down by the church (and by God) is a minor minor theme. There is romantic chemistry in this so it’s not a no-steam romance even if it is definitely a sex-free one that I think even the most conservative of grannies wouldn’t have an issue with, and yet high steam scenes never felt missing in this. I loved the romantic interactions between the protagonists and how supportive Derek was of Maya’s dreams. This was an enjoyable read and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fantastic Black romance read that features a heroine with sickle cell and a hero completely out of his depth with fatherhood and with running a bridal store.

Ingredients-wise, this had everything. It had a realistic heroine living her experience of a chronic disease, it had grief and themes of how communities recover from gun violence (based on the Charleston church shootings), it has grief and healing, it has elements of faith, it has the racism, bigotry, gaslighting, cultural appropriation, and micro and macro aggressions Black people experience everyday in the work place. There was romantic tension, good father-daughter relationships, bad father-daughter relationships. Trauma, heartbreak, healing, the works. I enjoyed reading this and I found the conflicts and experiences really touching and heartfelt. I loved that the author didn’t just give the heroine’s condition a token mention and wasn’t afraid to make the heroine’s condition a significant part of this particular heroine’s perception of the world. I loved the exploration of Black (and Filipina) history and identity and also the exploration of muting oneself to fit into a world where you feel like you’re “other,” and of feeling like you need the validation of the same people who discriminate against you to be valid. There were all sorts of real, uncomfortable but honestly-dealt with themes in this book that just grabbed me because of how raw and true and vulnerable they were in the experiences they shared.

For me, this book thematically and in the content was 5 stars. I even loved looking up the comfort food from Maya’s Filipina half and learning about the traditional stitching and sewing heritage from her culture. I loved the descriptions of how she blended her Afro-Filipina heritage in her designs and really discussed that importance. Perhaps a little nerdy, but it added authenticity and believability to what her design aesthetic was and what the conflict was with her boss. That said, where this boom fell a little short for me was in the actual storytelling and linkages: perhaps some of the conflicts were a little too easily resolved out of nowhere, perhaps sometimes the characters were a little too passive and things happened too much to the characters rather than the characters happening to things, perhaps some of the simpler conversations were a little too rushed and surfacey with perfection being saved for the deep conversations, perhaps the romantic relationship sort of came out of nowhere and was a little too “do they really love each other or is it just convenient for them to be together because it’s a partnership made in heaven?”, a symptom of not having the simpler conversations that lead to crushes and relationships. Perhaps the father-daughter conflict kind of never had its concrete moment of resolution. None of these things were major things in this otherwise stellar book that contained all the ingredients of a 5-star novel, but for me those missing dotted i’s and crookedly crossed t’s kind of made this fall short of perfection in my opinion.

Many thanks to Avon Books and Harper Voyager US for a complimentary review copy of this book through NetGalley.

When NYC wedding gown fashion designer Maya Jackson has to rush home to Charleston, SC after her father fractures his hip, she’s worried. She’s worried about her aging father’s health, she’s worried about losing her job, and she’s worried for her health. As a sickle cell anemia patient, she’s been given 10-15 years by her doctor and knows that she has so much left to accomplish.
When her father’s girlfriend suggests she shows her special afro-asian wedding gown designs to her boss at Always a Bride, Maya does just that. She would love to sell some gowns so that she can pay her bills and not have to worry about losing everything she has in NYC while she’s in Charleston. The only problem? Always a Bride is just a few weeks away from foreclosure and the owner Derek Sullivan can’t purchase anything right now. But he does come up with a solid plan. He’ll allow her to consign some of her gowns. He then hires her to replace his retiring assistant.
Derek has enough on his plate with his failing store. Always a Bride was started by his mother at a time when black owned businesses were rare in Charleston and it’s a legacy he doesn’t want to lose. In addition to the problems with the store, he’s having issues with his daughter. He’s trying to reconnect after the mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church took the life of his wife and her mother. With him in the military, it took him a week to get home, and his daughter still hasn’t forgiven him for that.
With Maya’s help will Derek be able to turn around Always a Bride? Will Derek be able to reconnect with his daughter? Will there be a Happily Ever After for Maya and Derek?
This was an enjoyable debut story from Ms. Williams. I enjoyed how the relationships progressed between Maya and Derek and Maya and Jamila. The description of Charleston brought back many fond memories of my time as a resident of the state, and all the time I spend in the Holy City, or Chuck Town as our group called it. The references to the 2015 shooting brought tears to my eyes as I vividly remembered everything that happened that day, and the lives of the nine people that were taken that day who were simply meeting for bible study.
I can’t wait to see what’s next from this new author.
**I received and ARC of this story from the publisher and Netgalley and this is my honest and voluntary review.

Will also appear soon at the Romance Reviews Today website: http://romrevtoday.com/

A LOWCOUNTRY BRIDE – Preslaysa Williams
Avon
ISBN: 978-0-06-304029-8
June 1, 2021
Multicultural Romance

Charleston, South Carolina – Present Day

Dress designer Maya Jackson has been working in New York City under a famed bridal gown brand. She has hopes of becoming the company’s Head Designer, though her boss keeps shooting down her ideas to sell gowns that would appeal to Black-Asian brides. Maya suffers from sickle cell anemia, but it hasn’t stopped her from pursuing her career. After her widower father falls and breaks his hip, Maya decides to temporarily move home to take care of him. Maya’s career is important to her, but her father’s health is now a top priority. Unfortunately, she has little paid time off, and while her boss will keep her job open, she will have no source of income. So, Maya decides to see if she can sell wedding gowns rejected by her boss in Charleston. At the recommendation of her father’s friend, she approaches the owner of Always a Bride shop.

Derek Sullivan inherited his mother’s bridal shop and is finding it difficult to keep afloat, all the while he is trying to raise his motherless daughter. After Maya approaches him about selling a few of her gowns at his shop, he first rejects the idea, but soon changes his mind. Maya has some unique bridal gown designs that catch the eye of brides, including the daughter of the governor. Derek hires Maya and the business takes off. And a romance is soon brewing between the shop owner and his new assistant. But Maya still has plans to return to her old job in New York City.

Maya was diagnosed with sickle cell anemia when she was a child and told she had ten to fifteen years to live. She takes medication and treatment to lessen the symptoms. Derek’s wife was killed during a mass shooting at her church, and he and his daughter Jamila are still struggling over their loss. As readers can see, A LOWCOUNTRY BRIDE is an emotional read that will tug at your heart. How will Maya and Derek come together? Maya has worked hard for her employer, but whenever she tries to get her employer to approve ethnic-based wedding gown designs, she is shot down. Will she finally prove her gowns are in demand?

Meanwhile, Derek is nearly tearing his hair out. He has no idea how complicated it would be the run a bridal shop. He was in the military when his wife was killed, then his mother, who owned the shop, died. It’s just him and Jamila and he wants to do what’s right for her by keeping the family legacy open. Derek doesn’t have time for female relationships, but Maya intrigues him. However, she keeps the secret about her illness from him at first. How will he react? How does Jamila feel about having Maya around, especially since her dad appears interested? Will the shop stay afloat?

A sweet and emotional tale that will have you rooting for Maya and Derek, A LOWCOUNTRY BRIDE delves into how much a wedding dress can mean to the bride beyond the marriage itself because it’s a reflection of the bride and her heritage. An intriguing and entertaining read, be sure to not miss A LOWCOUNTRY BRIDE.

Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Rep: Chronic Illness (Sickle Cell Anemia), bi-racial MC (Black & Filipina)

CW/TW: references to the real terrorist attack at New Hope Baptist Church, racism, depictions of grief, dealing with the after effects of losing a loved one

I think it is really important to point out the care the author took when crafting this novel. She didn’t just talk about the sensitivity of a mass shooting, that was racially motivated, she actually talked about the real-life event that took place in Charleston, South Carolina. As expected the terrorist attack rocked the Black community and I am glad the author took the time to explore how that trauma would manifest for different people.

Maya is an Assistant Designer for Laura Whitcomb, who is a traditional mogul in the wedding dress industry. However, Maya wants more for herself, she wants to be a Head Designer for Laura’s brand, but she has to battle between staying true to herself and her cultural background or fitting into Laura’s mold. Laura’s boss gaslights her throughout the entire the novel and it was difficult to watch Maya, an extremely competent and intelligent woman constantly belittle, disregard, and simply lack belief in her own abilities.

Maya decides to move to Charleston, under less than ideal working circumstances, to help care for her recently injured father. While there she meets single-father, and military veteran, Derek, and his daughter Jamila who are still grappling with the loss of their wife/mother in the church shooting. We get to see how Derek’s relationship with his faith and his daughter have been altered by these horrific events as well as the guilt he shoulders.

This novel has some very impactful messaging and takes a close look at a lot of prevalent issues. However, if I am being completely honest I did not connect with this story or the characters. This simply was not the romance for me, but I can see it being everything to someone else. I never really felt the chemistry between Maya and Derek, I mean sure it was talked about, but the writing never evoked any strong emotions for me. Additionally, as this was a story told by the dual points-of-view (POV) of Maya and Derek, Derek felt like a dry MC. I think a lot of choices were centered around a romance that was and felt very new, and frankly a bit insignificant in the sense of emotional tethers. The story overall was enjoyable, however, the romance aspect, as this is marketed as a romance, was definitely a lot weaker than others I have read.

Also, another gripe I had was the repetitive nature of the writing. Now, I read and ARC so I cannot say for certain if it gets cleaned up a bit in the finished copy but I saw enough “O-kays” to last me a lifetime. However, the repetition is not limited to constant word usage. The author told us the same information over and over and over again, and the presentation was not really altered at all. It got to the point where I started to skim the last forty-ish pages, because I was essentially disengaged and wanted to know how it would end. I’m pretty sure about halfway through you can figure out how this one will end, but it is a romance so you are guaranteed a certain ending in every scenario.

All and all, this was not the romance read for me, but if you are looking for a book that explores how a chronic illness can impact daily life or good depictions and conversations about loss then this book will not let you down.

Included as a top pick in bimonthly June New Releases post, which highlights and promotes upcoming releases of the month (link attached)

A Lowcountry Bride is a sweet, compassionate romance, set in South Carolina. The heroine, Maya, whose heritage is Afro-Asian, learned dressmaking from her deceased Filipino mom. She now works in NYC as a junior bridal gown designer in a famous design house, trying to fulfill her mom's dream for her to be the head designer, even though it means swallowing her own creative impulses to fit her unique designs incorporating splashes of color and intricate Filipino stitching into the fashion house's spare, simple bridal aesthetic. She also hides the fact that she suffers from sickle-cell anemia, with increasingly painful crisis incidents, and a significantly shortened life expectancy. When Maya's dad breaks his hip and she takes a leave of absence and returns to Charleston to help him, it triggers her to branch out with her career in an entirely different direction than she'd envisioned. She then must decide whether to continue on this new path, and pursue a new love, with Derek, the owner of a local bridal boutique, or go back to NYC, where her employer finally seems willing to acknowledge all of her hard work and her designs.

I admired both Maya and Derek, who were the kind of people that just kept going, no matter how many times bad things happened to them. There were also lots of interesting cultural references and details that I rarely see in romance, since this was set in Charleston's African American community. This was a story that was more about hopefulness and the importance of family than about tragedy or struggle in spite of all of the heavier elements. It's definitely not a light, easy romance but it's a rewarding read. Also, I don't typically pay much attention to covers, but I have to say, this one is just stunning.

This book is a well written beautiful story that shows how the main characters who have gone through some life challenges of family, illness, loss, being a single parent and careers. The way the author weaved all of this and more into the storyline, you can feel the emotions that the characters were going through. I found myself angry at times because of the self doubt that Maya had with her depending on her ruthless boss Laura Whitcomb who owned the New York City Bridal Design Company. I wanted Maya to see that she had to be comfortable with creating her own bridal designs and not what someone else’s opinion say yay or nay to her creations.
Also with Derek Sullivan a career military veteran who became a single dad after his wife’s tragic death and also carry on the vision and run the Bridal shop his mother owned, when she passed. He had so much compassion to keep the shop open while he was behind in the mortgage and lack of sales, along with raising his 12 year old daughter who misses her mother, feels distant because of her father’s military career where he was hardly home.
I love how the author incorporated into the storyline and characters the awareness of Sickle Cell Anemia which is a disease that is not talked about that much, along with a lesson of not second guessing yourself and letting other people define who you are especially when it comes to a passion that you want to do with your life.
I highly recommend this book to read and look forward to reading more books by this author..
Cassandra H.
I voluntarily received a ARC from Netgalley and this review is of my own honest opinion and thoughts.

I love a book that incorporates the authors heritage, it makes it so much more special. The author is Africa and Filipina.

This story is about loss, hope and the courage to move forward in life. Both Maya and Derek are grieving the loss of someone special, Maya lost her mom and Derek lost both his wife and his mother. Maya was also left at the altar after telling her ex fiance about her illness. Both Maya and Derek are struggling with accepting new love, they're scared of losing love again.

Maya has sickle cell anemia and as someone with disabilities and chronic pain, I'd say it was handled amazingly. We need more disability rep. Mayas heritage is extremely important to her, her mother was a bridal gown designer and passed along her techniques to Maya. She wants to incorporate Asian Fillipina techniques into her gown designs.

Derek is a single father. His wife died in a church shooting, he hasn't been able to connect with his daughter since then or return to church. Derek's mother opened up her own bridal shop that's been around since the 80's and Derek is trying to not foreclose, sell or file for bankruptcy but he's unable to pay the monthly mortgage. This shop is a connection to his mother and part of her legacy, its special to his daughter too.

Derek and Maya, their grief, fears and motivations felt very realistic. It was realistic to have them apprehensive as well.

I received this arc from Preslaya Williams 🤍

Bridal gown designer with issues meets bridal shop owner and it becomes a delightful tale to get to their happily ever after. Some heavy subjects are handled nicely and lightly. A sweet, heart-warming page turner. Ambition versus love. Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy of the charming book via NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for an e-ARC of this book.

Ugh… bummed to say this just did not work for me! While I enjoyed the multicultural backgrounds and inspirations behind our main characters, I felt that the characters were all very underdeveloped and the story telling was very disjointed at times. I just had a very hard time connecting with our characters and definitely wished there was more romance in this.

Rating: 2.5 ⭐️s.

Designer Maya takes a leave of absence from a design firm in New York after her father in Charleston breaks his hip. While she nurses him back to health, she takes a job at a bridal salon to supplement her income. She and the owner, Derek, are instantly smitten. But Maya won't be hanging around, and Derek's got his hands full trying to save the shop from bankruptcy and preserve his mother's legacy for his daughter. Is there any hope for their burgeoning romance.

I adored Maya and Derek, both individually and together. They're both full of compassion, with powerful inner strength despite the tragedies they've experienced. I loved how the novel addresses Maya's sickle cell anemia without being maudlin. While this book doesn't shy away from painful subjects. it's ultimately a joyful experience. And the sweet Southern charm captured my heart. Charleston is one of my favorite towns, and it was nice to get to visit it through the pages of this book.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

A wedding dress boutique brings two lonely hearts together in this South Carolina romance. Maya is a wedding dress designer whose creativity and ambition are being stifled at work because the fashion house doesn't appreciate the Afro-Filipina designs that reflect her heritage. She keeps hustling and dreaming, but the pressure is on high. Boutique owner Derek is trying to pull the family business back from the brink after his mother dies while also facing the challenges of being a widowed single dad. There's potential for true love if Maya can win over Derek's middle school daughter and if Derek can accept the 10-15 year life expectancy stemming from Maya's sickle cell anemia.

The book takes on racism in fashion and in workplaces more generally. I thought the biggest strength of this story was seeing Maya's journey as she recognizes her own talent and escapes a toxic work environment and power-grabbing boss. It highlights the way systems make people feel they can get ahead if they just work hard enough, but really the deck is stacked against them.

This narrative practically floats off the page, the touch is so feather-light. Conflicts are smoothed over with ease, and major traumas are referenced rather than dwelled on. The biggest example of this is the loss of Derek's wife to a mass shooting three years previous (if you are worried about a trigger, know the event is not described but is mentioned at a few points throughout). The grief of Derek and his daughter are parts of the plot but not a tangible weight on the story.

I prefer a bit more layering and struggle in my romance with raw moments and hard-won growth. In this one, I think the desire to keep things flowing limited the emotion, and the romance had an insta-love feel as a result. There are also few side characters and limited detail that would make the world feel lived-in and multidimensional. I think if you're looking for something mostly quick and light with hints of bigger themes, this may be a good fit for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the opportunity to read and review this book. It's out next week on 6/1!

Review posted on GoodReads (Posted on May 26th, 2021)
Review Linked.

3.75/5 stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Avon for sending me an E-ARC of this book for an honest review.

This book sounded so cute, and the cover is beautiful. My only issue that I really had was that this book is marketed as a romance, but the romance was not the focus of the book itself. For me, the two main love interests had no chemistry and the romance felt really rushed and forced. I wanted them to end up together, but there was very little chemistry. In theory, the romance would work, but for some reason fell super flat to me.

On the other hand, I loved all of the characters individually. Maya was such a bright and inspiring character and I absolutely loved Derek and his daughter. I loved Maya's father and the community that the author created.

For me, this book was good, but it could have been better! It was an enjoyable read and I do recommend it if you love romances that are focused on familial love!

Thanks for reading!
Caden

This book was a very easy read (finished in 2 days!). The book starts out with two people feeling both stuck in different ways with underlying grief of loved ones. What I loved most about the book is the fact that by Derek and Maya falling in love, they not only healed relationships with their families, but also ignited the passion and drive in their respective efforts; and mostly to just live, and be in the present, with each other. They realized that when they combined their minds and talents with love, everything around them blossomed. I appreciated how patient Derek was with Maya, especially when she fought hard against what was ultimately the best decision for her. It was refreshing to see issues that pertain to people of color, including Maya's Filipino/AA background and her struggles with sickle cell anemia.