Seeing You was a fun, distracting read--as in just what the doctor ordered to forget about other things for a bit! Samantha Chase has been chronicling the (large!) Donovan family from Sweetbriar Ridge, Virginia for a few years now, but you do not need to have read all or any of the previous novels to enjoy the story of Billie Donovan and her head-in-the-sand former fiancé Marcus Calloway. He likes the good life in the city and refused to listen when Billie spoke of yearnings for a different pace. And so she left. When circumstances bring them together again ten years later, his head is still stuck way too deeply in the sand for any real rapprochement -- even though the physical attraction between them is a sizzling as ever. The delightful cast of secondary characters and the delicious descriptions of the pastries baked daily in Billie's shop will keep you smiling and yearning to pay a visit to this lovely town. The narration of the audiobook was perfect. And this is a romance, so don't worry overly much about Marcus's obstinacy!

Seeing You (The Donovans: Sweetbriar Ridge #4) is financial advisor Marcus Calloway and bakery owner Billie Donovan’s second chance at love. Sometimes we need closure or sometimes we just need a second chance……..
Carly Robins did a great hon bringing the characters and their story to life. She was spot on with the love and the emotions that run through this book.
Marcus and Billie were a couple a few years ago in fact they both though they were each others future until Billie walked away from the world of finance and went back home to Sweetbriar Ridge to open a bakery. Max hasn’t seen her since she walked away but now he is home trying to sort his fathers house out and when he is sent to the bakery for his fathers weekly treat he can’t believe who he comes face to face with.
This is a beautifully written love story that ticked all my boxes. The characters touched my heart and their journey captivated from the first chapter to the last line. Seeing You can be read and enjoyed as a standalone but I’m sure one visit to Sweetbriar Ridge will never be enough and you will want more from the Donovans.

Back in Sweetbriar Ridge for the fourth installment of the Donovan’s series! 🎉 Billie and Marcus are getting a second chance at love, and I can’t wait to see how their journey unfolds. With Billie running the local bakery and Marcus returning home, the sparks are sure to fly! Will they overcome their past and find their way back to each other? 💖 Huge thanks to the author for the advanced copy—this story had me hooked from the start!

📚🎧Audio & eBook Review🎧📚

I had the privilege of reading this story as an ARC and listening to it as an ALC. Both formats were sent to me at a bit of a last minute situation, but I persevered and here I am not too far off from release day (January 28Th), so obviously I’m #winning! LOL

However, Seeing You isn’t #winning by too much.

Le sigh … Marcus Marcus Marcus, what am I to do with you?! Do I like you or do I want to slap you silly? #twichy I mean #JesusTakeTheWheel for the love of all that is holy! LOL <<< I laugh because, seeeeeeriously?! I was tested kids! Thank goodness I read and listened sorta simultaneously because one would not have happened after the first go around. #sorrynotsorry

#RealTalk: “Conflict” like the one that Marcus and Billie faced is not uncommon. It’s realistic and relatable and true to life. I like my fiction to be realistic. However, and this is a huge however, if conflict such as this is a main source of contention throughout most of the story, you don’t leave enough room for growth outside of the conflict unless you write the next Great American Novel. Feel me? Because that “room” wasn’t created, you end up with a story where one or both main characters are not easily liked, the reader could care less about the outcome of their journey and a story that causes too much twitchiness. BTW, I’m the reader in this scenario. #sendhelp

I will never understand why stories like these are written. Honestly, why? I mostly listened to this story, and I really learned to love third person narration due to Carly’s exceptional performances with Samatha’s stories, so that part was no hardship, but I chose to listen more than read so I could scream profanities whenever Marcus continuously acted a fool and showed his complete lack of growupness. It’s a word. I just made it up. Hush. His character and his storyline took a lot of the joy that Billie brought to the story, and I’m really bummed about that. But it’s done, so enough about that and I shall see you guys on the next Samantha Chase release! :)

ARC provided via Samantha Chase's review team and ALC provided by Dreamscape Media via Netgalley for an honest review.

🎧Narration: Carly Robins ~ 4.5 STARS
📚Story: 2 STARS *sigh*

I have read all of the books in this series, and of course I am a huge fan of Samantha Chase. Seeing You brought us Billie Donovan’s story. She’s always putting others needs before her own, but when she puts herself first, she lost the love of her life - Marcus. When we meet Marcus, he is the epitome of cantankerous! He’s probably my least favorite male lead in a book because he’s so off-putting. But with the magic that the author weaves throughout the story, Marcus sees the light and where he went wrong all those years ago.

The fourth book in the The Donovans series which shows strong women supporting each other and having love find them. Billie and Marcus are childhook sweethearts that were close to marriage once but something was not quite right. Marcus has returned home to help his family and is surprised to find Billie is running the local bakery. Billie is equally surprised as she is finally in a good place after she and Marcus fell apart years ago. The story and the characters had me hooked early, I enjoyed the story and did not want to put it down. While the characters are stubborn, their families are supportive, and emotions do run high throughout. Enjoyed the characters the story line and the women being there for each other. Thank you to negalley the author and publisher for the opportunity.

Book 4 in the The Donovans: Sweetbriar Ridge series. Would work as a stand alone, but recommend reading other books in the connected series. Series is a spinoff from The Donovans series, which is also a spinoff of Magnolia Sound.

A second chance romance for Billie, the last single Donovan sibling.

This was painful. Marcus might be the worse book boyfriend that ever existed. Well, not likely as he isn't abusive. Just stubborn, dumb, and an all around idiot.

This book was entirely Billie trying to tell Marcus why she made her choices and that she is happy. And Marcus not understanding why she doesn't want to be a corporate shark. Literally the entire plot.

I've enjoyed Samantha Chase's work in the past, but these last couple have been rough.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Samantha Chase does a great job writing simple realistic romance stories. This was a fun story that quickly had me engrossed. The narrator was excellent.

I want to start off stating that if you love romantic books this is one to check out. The narrator of the book really made you feel like you were listening to several people speaking even though it was just one person. I felt the real connection between characters and felt compelled to keep listening to see what ends up happening.

With small town folks there is always lots of people who know what is going on. With the love story of Billy and Marcus that was an understatement.
When Billy decides to leave Marcus on their wedding day, to go back home to try to find her happiness, you never imagined Marcus ever returning to their small town. Marcus is so fool of himself and arrogant that he can't understand how Billy can leave their more extravagant life in DC for this small town place.

Things start changing when he spends more time there and with her and just maybe he isn't as happy as he thinks. I felt that the author must have written this book off of a true store because it felt like this could have happened in real life. Samantha had me laughing and angry at times during readying this book because of how real the characters felt.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
🌶️🌶️

I have never wanted to barter an MMC over the head so much in my life. I have a feeling this man was based off most of the fellas in my life because they too listen but don’t actually HEAR ME!! 🤬🤬🤬

The fact that Marcus seriously thought she hid a CHILD from him, oh that had me fumming!

Even with all that, this is so much fun. The remediation on Marcus part had me swooning for him. And the names he picked for the dogs 🥹 stop it.

Marcus and Billy have been broken up for 10 years but when Marcus farther needs help around the house, he return to the small town he said he would never set foot in again.

Billy, finance expert turned baker, has had trouble finding the big love since her split from Marcus, but when Marcus waltzed into Books and Beans, Billy not quite sure she got the closer she always wanted.

So what happens when these two swear they can’t be together but they can’t stay away!

Such an amazing book.

Absolutely Banger

DNF at 80%. Which is very unlike me because at this point you may as well just finish the book, right?
I found myself drifting out of focus with this one, and while it's not a bad book, it just didn't grip me. I didn't love the MMC, and was actually hoping they didn't end up back together.
The narration was one of the best parts of this, and what kept me listening for as long as I did

Was this romance realistic? Absolutely not. Did it help me escape the problems of the world for a little bit? Sure. This is exactly the type of book I like to listen to before bed. It’s cozy, and it helps me relax and calm down for the night. There is some sexual tension, but it fades to black.

Billie and Marcus were high school sweethearts who wanted different things in life. Billie left Marcus the day before their wedding. Ten years later, Marcus returns to town and he wants answers. The unrealistic part? He hasn’t changed AT ALL. They STILL want/value different things. He suddenly has this epiphany where he realizes he may have been placing value in all the wrong places(This is a big pet peeve of mine. I call it the “late bloomer” trope, where the MMC doesn’t mature until it’s too late or almost too late. Why are we always expected to wait for them to get their shit together? Ugh!)

I’m not the biggest fan of second chance romance, as you can probably tell. There needs to be some extreme groveling OR the mistaken party needs to do their self reflecting/ working on themselves BEFORE they show back up. That was my biggest qualm with this book. I don’t feel like he actually resolved his issues. And then their relationship progressed SO FAST after that. I visibly rolled my eyes, and said “of course” at the ending. I haven’t read the other books in this series, but based on their tropes, I think I would enjoy them better. Second chances are not my thing.

Tropes: small town, second chance, fade to black, he values work and money/she values family and community

Audiobook review: Carly Robins can do no wrong. She is a perfect, go-to, romance narrator

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very touching love story and I really enjoyed all the characters! I think it would have been an amazing duel narration with a male voice but the narrator did a great job. I can't wait to dive into the rest of this series.

This was so incredibly angsty.
Billie & Marcus have an emotional past, and have both changed, but they both still have unresolved feelings. So when Marcus comes back to town, the opportunity for closure seems to be needed.
There are a lot of emotions, a lot of angst & frustrations, hurt feelings, and self reflection.

A second chance, small-town romance between selfless Billie and red flag Marcus. A strong FMC who will not settle for a man and life that isn’t right for her, which we LOVE. Marcus needs to work on himself (and maybe go to therapy), but of course came around in the end. This was a cute little romance with a strong family theme throughout. Even as the 4th book in the series it can be read as a stand alone. Very enjoyable, lighthearted read.

If you like characters that come back in a series, this is for you - I haven’t read the previous books in this series and managed without. The cast was large! With audio, it was a bit tough to keep track of the dialogue at times but overall easy read.

Marcus and Billie struggle with seeing each other again after a long gap, there is tension and unaligned values that are a huge barrier to being together. The back and forth between the main characters became a bit tedious for me, I was rooting for them most of the way but at one point, was rolling my eyes at the MC.

Narration was good! I’m not sure I would have liked dual narration in this one. Thanks for the sneak peak NetGalley!

This is the 4th in the series and can be read as a standalone. This is a small town second chance romance between Billie and Marcus.

We have Billie who helps with Books and Beans as their baker and Marcus, an ex that hasn't been back in town in 10 years. We see how they are still so drawn to each other not the main rub is Marcus does not want
To stay in this hick town.

We learn more about their past as well as Marcus' reason for staying away. I was rooting for them and wanted to knock some sense into Marcus with his attitude about his home town.

The supporting characters added depth to the story and I was happy for their HEA. Now I need to go and read the rest of the series.

Carly Robins did a great job on pacing and narration and bringing the story to life.

Thank you @dreamscape_media for a copy of the audiobook.

I was looking for a light easy listen and this book and narrator delivered. It was very easy to listen to and I enjoyed the characters story. There wasn’t to much to this book but sometimes that’s just what you need! There is some character growth, although predictable. This would be a good book to listen to while walking or laying in the sun.

Okay, so I started this audiobook and honestly, I was so mad at first. The characters were making all the wrong moves, and I was just sitting there thinking, "Why are you doing this to yourselves?!" But then, as the story picked up, something clicked. Watching them both grow and actually start dealing with their baggage—made me realize why they deserved that second chance. The way they started opening up to each other? It was so real and raw.

By the end, I was totally hooked. The chemistry between them was chef’s kiss and honestly, I was a little bit melted. It’s crazy how a good second-chance romance can make you feel all the feels. They weren’t perfect, but that’s what made it even better. It was like watching them learn to trust each other again, and that felt pretty amazing.

First book I read in this series and works well as a standalone, but you get "updates" on people/couples you don't know ;)
Baking and second chances romance in a smalltown with spice and lot's of banter.
I liked how she moved to a smalltown AND did'nt fel in love with some handsome guy. But instead the past came knocking and with that, so did the second chance of love.
The story was nicely done and I enjoyed the maincharcters.
A cozy audiobook and a sweet story.