This book is a sweet and charming second chance romance between two high school sweethearts set in a small town. It's been more than a decade since Abby and Carter last saw each other - they broke up right after high school since they didn't want to try a long distance relationship, and they haven't been in touch since then. Abby is now the owner of Sunshine Corner, a daycare, and she hopes to open a kindergarten in the next few months, Abby is happy and content, and the only missing thing in her life is a family of her own. Enter Carter, in town for a few weeks to help take care of his niece, and it's almost like no time passed since they drifted apart. The connection is still there!

Abby and Carter are have completely different perspectives in life - Abby hopes to balance a family with her career, while for Carter, there is no higher priority than his career. Abby has also built her life in her town and has no plans to leave, while Carter, after a tumultuous childhood, tries to avoid coming back home as much as possible. Carter is initially set on avoiding Abby, but he eventually decides to help her with renovations. Spending so much time with each other made them realize that they still have feelings for each other, but where do they go from here?

The House on Sunshine Corner is an enjoyable read - I loved getting to know Abby and Carter, and their playful interactions made me smile. I also loved their respective relationships with their families, as well as their group of friends. A decade ago, Abby and Carter couldn't deal with the difference in what they want, but now that they're older and more mature, they've learned how to compromise, and most importantly, communicate. Carter also opening up to Abby about his past help them move forward. There's nothing I love more than a realistic second chance romance, and this was just that!

All in all, The House on Sunshine Corner is the perfect lazy read. It had minimal angst, a great group of characters, and a lovely romance. This is my first Phoebe Mills book and it definitely won't be my last!

2.5 rounded up to 3
The cover and title really caught my eye. I was looking forward to this book because it has several of my favorite things: small town, high school sweethearts and second chance at love. I also enjoyed the setting of Sunshine Corner Daycare. Unfortunately I had a hard time connecting with these characters with the exception of 3-year-old Sophia. Abby and Carter have little in common and very different life goals. Carter has a miraculous change of heart at the end and completely remakes his life. I'm not a fan of this type of relationship. No talking about goals or compromises just one person changing everything. I really wanted to like these characters but the story was unrealistic to me. I'm so disappointed that this book wasn't a good fit for me. Thank you to Forever publishing and Netgalley for an e copy of this book.

The House on Sunshine Corner is a second chance romance between Abby Engel, a daycare owner, and Carter Hayes, her high school boyfriend. When Carter returns to town to help take care of his sister and niece, it puts him in direct contact with Abby.

This book was not for me. In the first few chapters, Abby at 29 is lamenting the fact that she is not a mother yet as its been her lifelong dream. There is absolutely nothing with that. My big problem with the novel is that Abby at multiple times in the book makes it seem like birthing a child is the only way to be a mother. There are multiple ways to be a mother and birthing a child is just one of those ways. Some of the sex scenes had some cringe worthy writing for me as well.

The House on Sunshine Corner is the beginning of a series from this debut author but I won't be sticking around to see what else occurs.

Thank you to Forever for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

The House on Sunshine Corner has some of my favorite elements in a romance - second chance romance, small town, cute kid mixed in, fun side-kick friends. I like Abby, and felt she was a fairly well rounded character. I liked that she was a business owner. However Carter for me didn’t feel complete and didn’t blow me away. Overall the story was pretty predictable, and I was hoping for a bit more.

This is a super sweet, second chance, small town romance- set along the OR coast. Abby has a daycare trying to turn into preschool when high school boyfriend Carter show up to help out her sister and niece. Carter is determined to go back to Vegas to continue his career and never have a family or come back to Heart's Hope Bay for good. I loved her friend and their support of all her endeavors.


I can't wait for Savannah HEA!! And more of these side characters to get their love as well.

4 stars
2.5 - almost all closed door

thanks forever for a copy of this book.

What a cute book. Well written and heartwarming characters, this book hit the spot. I look forward to reading more from the author.

The House on Sunshine Corner was the perfect choice to binge read while floating in my pool! This is the start of a new series and I’m loving the characters and excited to see where this goes!

Former high school sweethearts are reunited in their small town, much to their chagrin. After a brutal breakup, neither wants to be in the vicinity of the other. They are pushed together even more as Abby runs a daycare that Carter has to visit while taking care of his niece.

This second chance romance was sweet and the small town just lovely. Abby’s grandma is a spitfire and my favorite of the bunch. I did daycare for 10 years so I enjoyed that aspect of the storyline. This was the perfect lighter read to enjoy as summer winds down!

Thank you @readforeverpub for sending me this gifted copy!

Abby Engel is living her dream...except for the fact that her friends are having babies. If there was one thing Abby wanted, it was the forever after with a few babies of her own. She thought she would have that at one point, but it wasn't meant to be. Carter Hayes is back in town helping his sister recover from a broken ankle and tending to his niece Sophie who just happens to go to Sunshine Corner, the daycare owned and operated by Abby. Fate keeps throwing the once high school sweethearts together, but Carter is adamant that his life is in Vegas and he doesn't have time for the HEA. Until he realizes that maybe Abby was on to something all along, that what he yearned for was really right in front of him. This is my first book by the author and I look forward to more stories in this series.

I received an advance copy of this book at my request and voluntarily left this review.

The bright door on the cover really does paint a picture of the brightness waiting inside this second-chance romance for the reader.

While The House on Sunshine Corner brings light and fun (a baby whispering Grandma who can predict when someone will have a baby? Childhood friends running a day care and making charcuterie board for wine night?), it also doesn't shy away from real issues. There's small-town magic, but that magic doesn't overwrite the past. Abby and Carter both have familial backgrounds that have caused them hardship, while also having other family ties that are so strong and keep them lifted up. These family issues are really what grounds what tore and kept them apart when Carter left for college, but watching them work and grow together while working on Abby's preschool dream is really heart warming (and even a little bit, ahem, "spirited" at times.)

I really enjoyed this one and look forward to the next one in the series!

✨BOOK REVIEW✨
The House on Sunshine Corner- Phoebe Mills
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

❓QOTD: Are there elements to book covers that stand out to you and immediately draw you in❓

Anytime I see an animal- especially a super cute doggo🐶 on a cover, I’m instantly curious. I love when authors incorporate pets into their stories (as long as they don’t get hurt!)- so I was drawn to this debut from Phoebe Mills right off the bat. The storyline seemed so fun too: two high school sweethearts reuniting 10 years later and possibly rekindling their former flame…I was ALL ABOUT IT.

Except…then I wasn’t. Overall, the romance was cozy and a little angsty- but I highly disliked Abby believing her “happily ever after” could only be achieved by having children (in direct contrast to what Carter wanted). It was disappointing..and sadly there wasn’t much meat to their relationship which was what I figured the book would be about. It would’ve been such a cute story if being happy wasn’t tied to some maternal clock and her not even considering the happiness of the man she loves.

I hate ranting and I’m so sad I didn’t love this more but that plot point is so overdone. I hope in the future we (as a society) start to catch on that there are so many more paths and choices in life than following blindly down the road to our old-timey gender roles/stereotypes.

Thank you @netgalley for the advanced copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

thank you to Forever for this e arc
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The house on sunshine corner is a contemporary romance set in a small town. I can totally see this being a hallmark movie 🎥 we follow Abby and Carter, 2 high school sweethearts who went their separate ways after graduation high school and getting accepted to different colleges and realizing they had different goals in life. Abby stayed in her home town and Carter moved away. 10 years later, Carter comes back into town to help his sister and niece after his sister broke her leg. His niece attends the daycare center that Abby owns and you guessed it, they see each other and memories come flooding back. Carter and Abby still want completely different things in life, and with Carter only being in town temporarily, can they ignore the spark between them?

While enemies to lovers is definitely my fave trope in books, second chance romances are definitely up there. This story was full of heart, and I read it ONE sitting. It was just the contemporary romance book my heart needed ❤️

This romance about second chances between first loves was a quick, easy read that I really enjoyed. The characters are relatable, realistic, and just easy to imagine as someone you know in your every day life. I have always wanted to live a small, idyllic town like Heart's Hope Bay where everyone knows each other.

Mills does a great job of creating a love story that is built on friendship, as well as making a love story about the friends & family you surround yourself with, creating a solid support system. And just sometimes, those first loves never go away, but the time apart makes that love better, stronger in the long run because you have lived.

Abby and Carter were high school sweethearts, very in love for two years until Carter went off to college, while Abby attended close to home. Carter was content to make a clean break and they didn’t stay in touch, since Heart’s Hope Bay was a place he wanted to escape after years of contention his cruel father.

Now ten years later, Carter is back in town helping his sister with his three-year-old niece, Sophia. While he visited briefly in the past he never ran into Abby, but as his niece attends Abby’s preschool/daycare, running into her will be inevitable. Seeing Abby again brings up all the old feelings and attraction, but even more intense. He’s never had the same connection with any other woman. Even so, he can’t let his attraction get in the way of his career goals which seem to finally being coming together.

Abby’s always loved Heart’s Hope Bay where her grandmother took her in, as it provided the stability her mother never gave her. She’s always wanted to settle down with a family of her own right there surrounded by the people she’s grown to love. I could totally understand Abby, since Heart’s Hope Bay, a small coastal town in Oregon, sounded lovely and picturesque! Abby loved Carter; his leaving took a long time to get over. Abby knows that getting involved with him again will only lead to heartbreak but being around him only underscores what they had together: a once in a lifetime love.

I’m a sucker for second chance romances and I was rooting for Carter and Abby since the love they had in the past was there again and even more intense. Carter was a sweetheart with Abby, helping with the house renovations, and with his three-year-old niece, but boy did I want to smack him! He kept on with the “I must stay on track with my career goals, so I don’t turn into my deadbeat dad” mantra! I need proper groveling to forgive a character for being frustrating and dense, so I was pleased Carter snapped out of it and got a clue!

The House on Sunshine Corner was a sweet, second chance romance with one of my favorite settings: small, charming coastal town with lovable and quirky secondary characters. After some of the exchanges between Savannah and Noah, I’m really looking forward to the next installment which seems like it’ll be a fun enemies-to-lovers romance!

This is a great debut! A second-chance, small town romance, The House on Sunshine Corner focuses on Abby and Carter. Carter is back in town for a few weeks to help his sister after she injures herself. Abby owns and runs the daycare where Carter's niece goes and so the two reconnect after a high school breakup. These two dated for years in high school but Carter broke it off as he never wanted to stay in town and have a family and that is all Abby dreams of.

I really enjoyed the way these two reconnected. So many times, a second chance romance features someone who is still really angry a decade later which can come across as really juvenile. That wasn't the case here. Mills does a great job of showing the very real challenge when two people truly love one another and yet want different things. The friendship between Abby and Carter is great and the chemistry is definitely still there. Don't let this cover fool you because this is definitely an open door romance and I loved it! I was a bit worried that the daycare/niece aspect of the book would take away from the romance but it really didn't. Mills really balances that well. I enjoyed Abby's friend circle but do think conversations about what it is like when one person wants children and the other does not could be triggering so there is a content warning there.

I loved the setting of a small town in Oregon. The feel and pacing of the book is great and has me wanting to read more in this series and from this author. I would recommend to any fan of a small-town romance.

I love a second-chance romance. Set it in a small town populated with interesting people and I'm all over it. That's exactly what Phoebe Mills does in her debut novel: The House on Sunshine Corner. It's a promising start to a new contemporary romance series that has me eagerly anticipating more stories.

Abby and Carter were high school sweethearts but he couldn't wait to leave Heart's Hope Bay behind and she can't imagine living anywhere else. When he returns several years later to help care for his niece while his sister recovers from an injury, one of the first people he runs into is Abby, who runs the daycare his niece attends. Suddenly, he's running into her everywhere. Unfortunately, the issues that have kept him away from his hometown still stand between them, not the least of which is Abby's desire for marriage and children when Carter has sworn to steer clear of both. But it's also abundantly clear the chemistry they once shared still simmers. Could a no-strings affair while he's in town really get those pesky feelings out of their system once and for all or will it just prove what everyone has always known: these two are meant to be together.

Mills has penned a charming, heart-tugging story with characters I became attached to and invested in. I wasn't expecting the issues that Carter kept secret from Abby during their teens. They were real stumbling blocks to him staying in Heart's Hope Bay and added another layer of emotional depth to their story. I understood Abby's need to keep her roots there but, after learning more about Carter, I also understood why he wouldn't want to (I really had no idea how the author was going to work that out). I enjoyed the ease of long-time friendship that existed between them with the added edge of tension that came with both their physical attraction as well as the limited time period before Carter would once again leave her behind. It kept the story moving and kept me eagerly reading.

I love Abby's group of friends. They have such a tight bond, the kind that allows them to be refreshingly honest with one another while always having each other's backs. I'm excited to read each of their stories as the series moves forward. I also enjoyed Abby's grandmother and the tight bond they share. I hope she - and her predictions - will continue to be present for future books.

If you enjoy small-town, second-chance romances with humor, heart, a likable cast of characters, and just enough steam, give Phoebe Mills' The House on Sunshine Corner a try. Book two, A Wedding on Sunshine Corner, is scheduled to be published March 29, 2022. I've already added it to my reading calendar.

ARC received for fair and unbiased review

This second chance romance was incredibly sweet. Being a teacher myself, I loved that the main character was a daycare teacher/owner. This is something that I love, but don't often find in many books. I found the relationship between Abby and her ex-boyfriend Carter to be great. I loved that they were placed in a spot to reconnect. I loved the writing style of Phoebe Mills and can't wait to read more from her. This appears to be the first in a series, and I can't wait to find out more about the next book!

Abby Engel owns the Sunshine Corner daycare with her grandmother and loves working with her girlfriends every day taking care of the children in the small town she grew up in. The only thing missing from her life is a husband and family of her own, but she has already dated all the eligible men in town, and now she is out of options. When she runs into her high school crush Carter Hayes who is in town to help his sister, she must decide if a short-term fling is going to ease her longing for a family. She just can not give her heart again to the one man who broke it. Will Abby be able to move on once Carter leaves town?

This debut novel by Phoebe Mills was fabulous. I loved the characters and enjoyed getting to know all the ladies of Sunshine Corner. The novel was witty, funny, sweet and I really enjoyed Abby and Carters journey. Abby’s grandmother was such a great addition to the story and had me giggling more than once with her antics. I am already looking forward to the next story in the series to see which characters story is told next. Many thanks to Forever ( Grand Central) Publishing, Phoebe Mills and Netgalley for an advanced copy of the book. I voluntarily read and reviewed the book and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

4/5 ⭐ Many thanks to the publisher for the e-ARC.

The House On Sunshine Corner was like sunshine in book form. ☀ Books centering around small towns have always been my favorite kind of stories, and this book was no different. This book features a second chance romance ~ a trope I've been really enjoying recently. I've never read a book centering around a day-care center before, which was honestly the cherry on top of an already beautiful cake, in my opinion! The setting, the characters, and the plot were all wonderfully written. I absolutely adored the easy chemistry between our main characters, Abby and Carter! Knowing about their history, along with their revived friendship (read blooming romance) was such a delightful ride! The unresolved issues between Carter and Abby's past were reasonable enough, so I liked reading how their lives merging after over a decade would turn out. 💚

I really loved how the book wasn't all about rainbows and butterflies though. The author highlighted Carter's troubling relationship with his father, along with Abby's business struggles, which added a very realistic touch to the whole storyline. The flashbacks to their teenage moments made me feel happier to experience their second chance at love as well! Abby's friends were all so nice, I daydreamed countless times about being a part of her gang! Don't even get me started on how much I adored her cheeky grandmother :')

If you're looking for a cozy, yet heart-warming read, I really recommend picking The House on Sunshine Corner up! 🧡 Can't wait for the next book in the series to come out :')

Abby has a great life. She owns and runs a daycare, Sunshine Corner, out of the house she lives in with her grandmother, and she couldn’t ask for a more amazing group of friends. There’s just one thing missing - she really wants to settle down and start a family, but she hasn’t found the right guy yet. When a blast from her past, Carter, comes back to town to help out his sister, Abby realizes the flame between them may not have died out after all. Could career focused and family averse Carter be the one, or has that ship sailed?

There’s something so comforting about small town settings, and Heart’s Hope Bay sounds like an adorable place to call home. Abby and Carter are former high school sweethearts, and whereas Abby loves living in her hometown, Carter couldn’t wait to get away. There was some serious tension and great chemistry between them, and this book had a surprising amount of steam. I couldn’t help rooting for these genuine, relatable, and realistically flawed characters. Neither of them had an easy past, and Abby and Carter discovered things about each other that they had been too afraid to share when they were younger. I also enjoyed getting to know Abby’s wonderful friends. The side characters were great and made this story even more enjoyable, especially Abby’s spirited grandmother and Carter’s absolutely adorable niece. I’m already looking forward to revisiting this charming town and the lovable characters in the next book in The Sunshine Corner series!

If you enjoy a good small-town, second chance romance, then go read this sweet and heartwarming story!

I love starting a new series. There is something exciting about getting to a new town and learning about it and the people who live there. When I saw the cover for The House on Sunshine Lane I knew that I had to try it. In fact, I didn't even know what the book was about it was all about the cover for me.

The book starts off wonderfully. I right away got a feeling about the characters and decided I liked them. In fact, you meet the hero and heroine of this story pretty quickly within the story. That can give you a good amount of time with them or play your hand too soon. With this story, it's a little of both.

I really enjoy the story but can't say it's my favorite. You'll enjoy the characters especially Sofia. Both Carter and Abby once had a relationship so this is a second chance romance. I will admit and I think this is what made this a 3.5 stars and not a 4 is that I didn't feel like these two ever dated at one time. They seemed like they didn't totally click and if it wasn't for Carter's niece they wouldn't have many touching moments.

I know that they haven't been together for a long time so I tried to see them as getting together for the first time. Let's be honest everyone changes from the time they are teenagers. We grow and become better people or at least we hope so.

I might not have loved this story but I did like it enough to try the next book in the series. Like I said it has great characters and makes for a good summer read. I think as a whole you'll find this to be a good story. If I forgot to mention you'll love Abby's grandmother too. Great lady.