Dori Grant is a teenage mother who works in a local restaurant. As an unwed mother in a small southern town, the gossip mill runs wild while the disappointment of her life choices is clear. She is lucky to have her grandfather to support her and her son.

One evening, Dori wakes in the middle of the night to her house on fire and the entire family is able to safely escape, though the house burned to the ground as a total loss. While this is happening, Dori's grandfather suffers a fatal heart attack and passes away. Suddenly losing her home and her support system, Dori is abandoned by her neighbors, who leave her standing in the road near her former home. Luckily Johnny Pine, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, comes by and offers Dori and her baby a place to stay.

Johnny is no stranger to the town gossip, as he has custody of his two younger siblings after his drug addicted mother passed away and his dad was in prison. His heart went out to Dori after her dramatic loss and he wanted to help.

I love Blessings, Georgia. All of the characters in this series are fantastic and you just can't help to love them in one way or another.

4 out of 5 stars.

Thought I would try reading this author again. First of all, I didn’t realize this book was #2 in the Blessings, Georgia Series of which I had read #0.5 previously. Second, I again couldn’t connect with the characters and did not enjoy what I read.

I'LL STAND BY YOU takes place in a small Southern town where gossip is everyone's hobby. While Dori and Johnny both have more than their share of bad luck and heartache they are oh so good together even if one comes from the wrong side of the tracks and the other comes from the good part of town.

Sala's I'LL STAND BY YOU had a lot of complex characters that what you see isn't always what you get. While Dori and Johnny lived in the same town they had very different lives although they both had patchwork families. It was heartbreaking to hear of their plights even as we get to know them more deeply. Johnny's brothers, Beep and Marshall, were always on their best behavior and didn't want to cause any trouble. He was their sole provider and both mother and father to them and he took such good care of them even though he was only twenty. Dori, a single unwed mother, who lived with her grandfather initially until bad luck hit again, was a good mother to her baby, Luther Joe, always putting his needs first. While both were hard workers and forces to reckon with they were stronger when together and each filled a void in the other's life. Some of the townspeople were good souls and couldn't do enough to help one or the other of them. Some were outright cruel even when in positions of authority like the school principal and the DCF worker. When the town rallies around them over and over again neither knows what to think. There was laughter, tears, heartache, pain, sorrow, fear, anger, caring, charity, goodness and love. There were some twists and turns to the storyline but it flowed smoothly and kept me turning the pages long past my bedtime since I didn't want to put it down and always wanted to see what came next. There were several happy moments and lots of surprises along the way which always seemed to solidify Dori and Johnny's plans for all of them. There was some closure but several loose ends that I'm hoping means there will be additional connected books so I can find out more.

Sala is a new to me author and I will be adding some of her other books to my always growing TBR pile! I need to read the first book set in Blessings, CURL UP AND DYE, and hope there are more connected stories to come especially with the cliffhanger ending that we were just handed that left me wanting more!

I rated the book 4.5 stars but rounded up to 5 stars for this site and others.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Dori Grant is no stranger to hardship. As a young single mother in the gossip-fueled town of Blessings, Georgia, she’s weathered the storm of small-town disapproval most of her life. But when Dori loses everything within the span of an evening, she realizes she has no choice but to turn to her neighbors.
Everyone says the Pine boys are no good, but Johnny Pine has been proving the gossips wrong ever since his mother died and he took over raising his brothers. His heart goes out to the young mother and child abandoned by the good people of Blessings. Maybe he can be the one to change all that…

*3.5 stars*

This is the second book, set in Blessings, Georgia. I don't think you have to read the previous book to understand what is happening.

Small town romances are always an interesting way to gauge an author's feel for character and place. Also whether or not they understand relationships in small towns. But first, let's address character and place.

The MC's of this story - Dori and Johnny - were excellent. I felt for Dori, I could only admire her strength and resilience with becoming a parent. She was adorable to boot - which made her even more attractive as a character. Johnny was more than I expected too - sometimes the handsome hero has a smugness/arrogance about him in these kinds of books, but not so Johnny. Generous, selfless, and kind-of-heart, he stood out as a character that could have further stories built around.
However, the supporting cast felt a little one-dimensional / clichéd and that was a little off-putting - almost trying too hard to make them quirky. Didn't really need to do that.

As for the romance, well, it all happened pretty quickly (roughly within the span of a week from "Hi" to "I love you") which was a little disappointing but the trip getting there was worth it. These two are just a really nice fit for each other and the author has done a tremendous job putting them on the page.

Normally, I don't like relationships taking precedence over plot but in this example, I will make an exception.


Paul
ARH

There is something both heartwarming and sinister about Southern small towns. Everyone is in your business, either watching your back or judging you. Pride takes precedence over neighborly love with terrible results. Blessings, Georgia is just such a place.
Johnny’s father and mother were not the people anyone would choose as one’s parents, but they are the parents Johnny and his younger brothers got. Their father is in jail, apparently permanently, and their mother OD’d, choosing the false euphoria of mind dulling drugs over her family. At the age of 18 Johnny had to take on the whole town and the authorities to keep his two brothers with him, and for the past two years they have managed to make a go of it. Johnny’s insistence on the behavior, grammar, and appearance of his now 10 year old and 7 year old brothers is unwavering, and now at the age of 20 he is a stellar parent to these little boys. When the youngest, Brooks, or Beep, as he is called, is brutally attacked and injured by a group of older bullies, Johnny goes all out to bring justice to his family. It seems the town is looking at the Pine boys and finds them wanting in every way, because their father is in prison, their mother dead of an overdose, and they are poor, living on the wrong side of the tracks.
Dori lives on the “right” side of the tracks in Blessing, with her grandfather, who adores her and has raised her. She and her granddaddy don’t have much but they are good people. Dori is what is politely called an “unwed mother” to little Luther Joe and is attending college online to develop the skills to give him a good life. She is also being judged by small minded small town folks who think that if they can make Dori look bad it somehow improves how they themselves are seen. Then one night everything goes the wrongest way possible. The house burns down, her grandfather has a heart attack, and Dori’s neighbors turn their backs on 17 year old Dori standing in the driveway of her burned out home, holding her baby, with nothing else left. Everyone had an excuse, from expecting someone else to help her to being unable to bring a crying baby into their homes. The one person who tries to reach out is Johnny, and he and his brothers take Dori home with them until she can figure out what she’s going to do.
So, that’s the setup for this novel. Everything is going badly for these two young people. However, when their cruelty and selfishness is pointed out, many realize the error of their ways and begin to make amends. Things begin to turn around for Dori and Johnny. They are still having a hard go of it but the timeline of this novel is very short, only about a week. A few good hearted people can make a tremendous difference to someone who has had nothing but the worst that life can throw at them.
For quite a while, things seem to go along better, even fabulously, but there is a fly in the ointment and before this book ends things will turn the wrong way again.
I loved this book and could not put it down until I finished it. It’s sweet, full of good things and bad, but we get our HEA in the end and it could not be more deserving than for these two young people. This is a character-driven book, with great backstories and a setting that is perfect for the smooth-flowing plot. The final three paragraphs set up the next book in the series, without leaving us with a cliff-hanger, and I for one can hardly wait to find out who just got off the bus!