Great small town story. Berkley and Lawson have a shared scandalous past from their old neighborhood. Turns out they both moved to the same small town to put it all behind them but they keep running into each other. It turns out that they are absolutely made for each other. They help each other overcome their pasts and move on to an amazing future together.

Aww I absolutely loved Lawson and Berkeley together. He was so patient and sweet. I loved their shared past and finding out how they overcame their past circumstances so they could find love with one another. I also loved revisiting this quirky town of Cemetery, Indiana. And there's an added bonus of a secondary love story. Really enjoyed this book very much. A must read this summer.

*I voluntarily read an advance copy of this book*

Another delightful book set in Cemetery, Indiana. Berkley and Lawson grow up in the same crime ridden area barely knowing each other. Each leave their home for different reasons. Berkley, with her love of animals is offered the opportunity to manage The Love Shack Animal Haven in Cemetery. She loves starting over in Cemetery with no one aware of the scandal left behind involving her. Lawson held many jobs before landing in Cemetery and opened up a T-Shirt store. After running into each other, they try to avoid each other but Fate steps in and consistently puts them on a collision course (with a little help from Betty).

Betty Cemetery's character, as the town founder's remaining descendant, is further developed in this series. You can't help but love this woman as you learn more about her. Once she sees Berkley and Lawson together she begins a bit of match-making with the help of Kathleen, the town's mannequin mascot.

Add Berkley's pets - a dog named Hero who is constantly trying to save people even when it's not needed, and a cat named Cheese who likes to steal things and you will end up laughing.

There is also another romance between Lark and Oliver that develops. Cemetery is a true community who gets involved. You need to read this heartfelt series by Lori Foster.

I received an ARC of this book and this is my honest review.

The Love Shack
Indiana Summers Series - Book 3
By Lori Foster

Canary Street Press - June 2024

Contemporary Romance


Berkley Carr had thought she'd escaped her past when she moved to Cemetery, Indiana. She ran the local rescue shelter, The Love Shack. She had made friends, but it was the animals she was devoted to. She craved the anonymity after the scandal she had endured. It was ideal, until she ran into someone from her past.

Lawson Salder knew Berkley's history, but he also knew the truth. They were both lucky to have escaped where they had grown up. Maybe not unscathed, but definitely in a better place. Now they were together again, and Lawson could see the amazing woman the young woman he had once known had turned into. She was caring, an amazing friend to people and animals alike, a champion.

And someone he wanted in his life forever.

The Love Shack is a lovely romance I thoroughly enjoyed. It was wonderful to see Berkley's growth. From seeing her new home as a refuge, to being a full-fledged member of the community. Lawson had always been a hero for her, and I enjoyed watching them find their happily ever after. There are also several engaging characters, and a certain mannequin, all of whom add to the enjoyment. I would love to revisit Cemetery, Indiana again.

Kathy Andrico - KathysReviewCorner.com

Wow, this was amazing for people moved to the same town for different reasons and there’s two love stories and they’re both extraordinary. It’s very lighthearted and a great great summer read by the pool book. There’s so many cute scenarios and situations in this book that it kept me smiling almost the whole time. I thoroughly enjoyed this

As always Mrs. Foster bring us an amazing story with wonderful characters.
Berkley moved to Cemetery, Indiana to open an animal shelter and start new life, leave past behind. It didn't happen as she wished.
Lawson moved to Cemetry to start new life and forget about past.
Imagine their surprise when they see each other in this new town. Looks like, forget the past. will not work here, but maybe that past can bring them happy future.
Loved this story very much.

The Love Shack by Lori Foster, book three in the Indiana Summers series, is a sweet story about overcoming one’s past, filled with quirky characters, supporting friendships, and a mannequin named Kathleen. The population of Cemetery, Indiana is growing, as four people move to town, needing to restart their lives; leaving troubled pasts behind. Berkeley and Lawton, and Lark and Oliver, are all hoping to move beyond those troubled pasts, and each is looking to find a place to truly feel at home. In Cemetery, they find that and so much more.

Berkley has found a purpose in life, running The Love Shack Animal Haven. Lawson grew up in the same troubled neighborhood as Berkley, traveled the world, only to move to Cemetery to open a t-shirt/printing store near her. Stylist Lark left home after a relationship gone bad. Oliver decided he needed a change of pace from the demands of PT practice and his family by opening a gym. The chemistry between Lawson and Berkley is evident to all who witness them together. Berkley’s pets are special: Hero an overly protective dog and Cheese, the klepto-cat who kept stealing things from Lawson, causing him to visit Berkley to retrieve them. Despite Oliver being ten years older, Lark is drawn to him; needing his maturity and love. Lark brings a breath of sunshine to the town, with all her fun ideas and just by being her. Between Betty, town matriarch who rules the roost, Kathleen, a mannequin who ends up all over town, and a shelter full of adorable dogs and cats, there are plenty of laughs, lots of emotion, and heart-warming entertainment. I enjoyed how the relationships grew, strengthened, and built between the two couples.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
#NetGalley #HarlequinTrade

Berkley Carr came to Cemetery to leave her past behind her and to run The Love Shack Animal Haven. She grew up in a poor neighborhood with dangerous elements. A quiet girl devoted to helping her mother who was dying of cancer. When a married man takes advantage of her, and his wife led a smear campaign to destroy her, it left deep wounds. She's determined to leave it behind her but she never truly healed.

Lawson Salder is four years older than Berkley. He grew up in the same dangerous town as Berkley but he was dealing with parents who were drug addicts and dealers. Refusing to join the family business He left town to get away from it all as well. He found success in construction and helping restore homes after natural disasters.

These two both found their place in Cemetery, Nebraska but neither wanted to revisit their past. Lawsom remembered the quiet girl from his past but wasn't in a place back then to pursue her. Berkley remembered the handsome Lawson, but is afraid her past will ruin her future in Cemetary.
Lark Penny is a vibrant, outgoing new-comer to Cemetery. She's determined to meet everyone and make friends.

Oliver Roth was a physical therapist. Trouble at home made him want to re-prioritize his life and start fresh. He's opening up his own Fitness Center in Cemetary. He just has to get past the matriarch of the town.

He had no plans to get involved with anyone but he finds he can't resist Lark's charm.
While the main love story was all about Lawson, Berkley and her beloved animals. Foster delivers a sweet bonus romance with Oliver and Lark. Prepare for hometown feels, healing, sweet romance and animals that find their own love.

For more of my reviews follow my blog at https://wyldheartreads.wordpress.com/

I love going back to Cemetery, Indiana to visit! Love Shack Animal Haven is a place I'd love to volunteer at! Berkley Carr is in charge and still feeling the sting of her past. Lawson Salder has just moved to Cemetery and knows Berkley from their old neighborhood and all about her past and is trying to overcome his past. Now that they both have businesses in Cemetery and lots of busybodies, are the sparks going to fly or fade? There are some characters from previous books in the series, I loved that we are seeing them periodically and getting to see how they are doing now. Lots of laugh out loud moments in the story which to me is always a 5 star story!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This review is based on an ARC from NetGalley, courtesy of the publisher.

This is the beach read for the summer of 2024. This story takes up back to Cemetery, IN for a couple of love stories, plenty of dogs and cats, a look at more side of the town matriarch Betty Cemetary, and a funny subplot with Kathleen, the mannequin. This story will take you through a whole range of emotions, you will shed some tears and laugh out loud a lot. I love the small town that this series is set in and how the whole town comes together to protect the citizens - no questions asked. If only I could move there.

Everybody needs a hero. A cute rescue dog that not only helps everyone he sees but also 4 friends find friendship and love in this small town romance story.

When I say I love Lori Foster, I love Lori Foster. She is a guaranteed hit & this did not fall short in the least. I mean, the dog in the story is enough to get a 5 star, but it’s a cute little beach read. Pick this one up next.

THE LOVE SHACK – Lori Foster
Indiana Summers, Book 3
Canary Street Press
ISBN: 978-1-335-51714-2
June 11, 2024
Contemporary Romance

Cemetery, Indiana – Present Day

Berkely Carr thought she’d escaped the past when she settled down in Cemetery and opened The Love Shack Animal Haven, a pet rescue center, so she was shocked to see a man from her past. Turns out that Lawson Salder left the same town as Berkley for similar reasons to hers: to escape the painful memories. She had hoped he would not recognize her, but he did. To her surprise, Lawson is aware of her scandalous past and sympathetic. While Berkley tries to keep her distance from Lawson, it won’t be easy when she discovers that he lives only a short distance away from her.

Berkley and Lawson soon develop a friendship and help each other out. The town of Cemetery has proven to be welcoming to both and they make friends. Oliver, also new to town, is intrigued by Lark, a beauty stylist who hasn’t met anyone she doesn’t like. Berkley’s animal rescue operation brings the four together and a friendship develops. Meanwhile, the town’s namesake, Betty Cemetery is making sure everything is going smoothly as she hangs around. Is she doing a little matchmaking too? But just when Berkley thought she could relax and enjoy herself, the past comes back to haunt her.

THE LOVE SHACK is an unusual name for a pet rescue business, but it is all about giving love to abandoned animals and finding them new homes. Cemetery has been ruled with an iron fist for decades by Betty Cemetery, but she recently has opened her heart to the people of the town. Bringing in new businesses is important and that is where Berkley and Lawson come into play. After Berkley’s mother died and people drove her out of town over her affair with a man she didn’t know was married, she was ready for a new start. Lawson had some awful parents and he left town the day he graduated from high school. It’s just a coincidence that both end up in the same town. Lawson turns out to be protective of Berkley, as well as supportive. He loves animals as she does. Right now she owns a dog and a cat, but the various assortment of pets will play into the interactions between characters.

The romance between Berkley and Lawson starts out sweet in THE LOVE SHACK, though one can understand why with her backstory. She thought she had found love, but he ended up being a married jerk, and his wife turned her anger on Berkley. Right now her focus is on her animals and getting her business up and running. She doesn’t have time for a romance—but Lawson is making a case for turning a friendship into love. In the end, he is there when she needs him the most. Along with the secondary romance between Oliver and Lark, there is a lot of falling in love in this tale. Add in the small-town atmosphere and the quirkiness of some of the other characters, this means readers are in for a fun read. While part of a series, THE LOVE SHACK is a standalone read.

If you love a book where good rules over evil and people unexpectedly fall in love, then you are in for a treat. Add in the cute and lovable pets, then THE LOVE SHACK becomes a book I highly recommend.

Patti Fischer
Romance Reviews Today

This book has everything you’d expect from a Lori Foster book, cute animals, interesting characters, and a whole lot of heart. Berkeley is fairly new to Cemetery, and was brought on to run the pet shelter started by town matriarch Betty Cemetery. She is excited to start over in this quaint small town and to try to rebuild her life. But she gets the shock of her life when in this small town far from where she grew up, she runs into someone from her youth that knows all the awful things about her she has been desperately trying to escape. Lawson is a business owner who has opened a t-shirt printing company and slowly remodeling his home to create a haven for himself. He is equally shocked to run into someone from his past, a time in his life he desperately wants to forget too. They try to avoid each other and confronting their past, but Berkeley’s pet cheese keeps brining them together in amusing ways. As they keep interacting, sparks start to fly, and they have to decide if they are willing to let the past define them and their lives, or if they can find a way to make peace and move forward. Sprinkled into this story was a mystery, adorable animals, a quirky town, and so many wonderful side characters. Another winner from Lori Foster. I received an ARC, and this is my honest review.

I really loved the premise of this book but for me the execution left a lot to be desired. While it started outside cute it quickly became all over the place. It had multiple POV but sadly the characters didn’t get a lot of development which made some chapters hard to figure out whose perspective I was reading. If this story would have been developed better I think it would have been a great book.
Had this not been an advance reader copy of the book I would not have finished it.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Cemetery, Indiana is the sort of small town that defies its name- it's filled with residents who want to best for one another, even if that sometimes seems like meddling. Both Berkeley and Lawson moved to town to start fresh. They're both dealing with trauma from childhood poverty (but there isn't any triggering event). She's running an animal sanctuary with a pack of fun animals - animals who want her to have an adult relationship with Lawson, as do others in town. The characters are believable and the storytelling fine. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This is good clean fun.

Cemetery, Indiana is not a dead end town. It’s a vibrant caring community with lots of cute animals and sprightly Betty Cemetery at its helm.
This newest installment is sweet and tender.
I loved all the animals, especially Cheese, the cat burglar. The animals add so much to the scenes and round out the character development for the rest of the cast in the book.
I loved the dual romance of Lawson/Berkeley and Oliver/Lark. Eventually Foster reveals the backstories of the four to add depth to the story.
I loved how protective both Lawson and Oliver were. Their physical descriptions were mouth watering. Heck, I’ll move just for the men in Cemetery!
Make sure to add this book to your summer reading list.

The Love Shack is the third novel in Lori Foster's Cemetery, Indiana series, and having read and enjoyed the first two novels, this one is my least favorite thus far for a number of reasons, and it gets 3 stars from this reader.

First, what I enjoyed about this book: It is, for the most part, a lighthearted rom-com with few, if any, laugh-out-loud moments. The romance aspect is clean, and I prefer some more steam with my romances. It features two couples, the main one between Lawson and Berkley, who knew each other by sight, years before in their original, unnamed home town, a rather unsavory and dangerous one. They have secrets in their pasts, and both decided to make new lives for themselves in Cemetery, Indiana--but the how and why of choosing this small town in the middle of nowhere out of everywhere else in the U.S. is never explained. Berkley, odd name for a child, loves animals and decides to open an animal shelter--something I'm totally in tune with, and she does so via donations. Lawson, has done construction work all over the world, and he's the first one to admit to recognizing Berkley. He lives on the other side of woods between the shelter, called The Love Shack and Berkley's small house next to the shelter. Personally, The Love Shack sounds more like a shop that sells adult toys, rather than one that rescues abandoned and injured animals. Lawson and Berkley share a love of animals, are attracted to one another and soon develop feelings for one another. While Lawson's childhood issues relate to his parents' lifestyles, Berkley left town after unknowingly having an affair with a married man.

I also liked meeting up with Betty Cemetery again, the town matriarch, whose family founded the town. She was in tough cookie in the previous novels, but Ms. Foster lightened her up considerably in this novel, becoming a friend of Berkley's and falling in love with a dog in the animal shelter. The second couple Oliver, a shopkeeper, and Lark, a hairdresser and cockeyed optimist are the secondary couple in this novel, but we don't learn nearly enough about Oliver as we do about Lark.

And then there's Kathleen, the town mascot, a mannequin that people dress up and move from place to place at will, making a game of her outfits and the little signs she carries.

My main issue with the novel is that aside from relationships forming, not a lot happens in this novel until we learn that Chad, the man with whom Berkley had the affair, has been nosing around Cemetery, trying to find her. For this reader, what happens when he does find her was just too little, too late. And Berkley fleeing her home town in shame because this man lied to her about his marital status, and his newscaster wife made her seem like a slut, was his fault not hers. Why do women always get the blame when it's the man who lies? That scenario always ticks me off.

If you're looking for a slow-paced, sweet summer beach read, with lots of lovable critters, mostly likeable characters, but without much character development or conflict, my guess is that you'll enjoy this novel more than I did.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions stated are my own.

Another fun book in the Cemetery, Indiana series! Berkley and Lawson have each come from pasts they'd like to forget and are suprised to find each other in their 'do over' town of Cemetery. But they slowly open up to each other- both about the past and the present- and the connection is magnetic.

Berkley didn't think she'd let anyone past her walls again, but since Lawson grew up in her neighborhood and already knows her horrible past, she finds it easier to let him in. Between Lawson, the powerhouse Betty Cemetery, and an animal shelter of dogs and cats to love, Berkley finds herself becoming a part of the town in ways she hadn't expected, and letting Lawson into her life as well. I enjoyed watching her slowly letting down her guard with him, and watching Lawson work out how best to move forward to have a chance with her- while not being quite sure what he was doing!

Lark and Oliver were the other couple in the book and I enjoyed them a bit too much for them to be the side couple. They could have been a book all on their own. Both had complicated back stories we only glimpsed and hard pasts that could have easily been a stand alone book of another couple coming to Cemetery to start over and finding love along with their new start.

As with all Lori Foster's book, there is heart and humor here, and a good read.

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Thank you Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC. Publish date: June 11, 2024.
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This story follows Berkeley Carr and Lawson Salder as they operate as business owners in a small town of Cemetery, Indiana. Berkeley runs an animal shelter which is how we get the name, “The Love Shack”. Both characters grew up on the same street in a different city that was full of crime, drugs and scandal. They leave their town in hopes of starting fresh and hope to leave their old lives behind. Berkeley and Lawson are both surprised to see each other in this new small town; they have intentions of staying far away from each other, and they end up becoming close. Berkeley starts to feel like she can start over in Cemetery when her old life’s scandal comes around again.

This story has multiple POV lines, which I usually like, but here it kind of felt like a lot of filler. It was extremely predictable, not in a typical romance novel way either. The characters didn’t get a ton of development and if I’m being honest, I would have DNF this book if it wasn’t an ARC.

Sometimes the format of this e-book made it a little tough to differentiate who was saying what, typos and repeat sentences.

Closed door romance which I like. All the other story line relationships in this book just felt forced.