The Scent of White Lilacs
Jessie Salisbury
Contemporary Romance

Charlotte has been left alone. She spent years waiting for Kevin to propose marriage, but then Kevin died in a car crash. Now she has nothing left but her position as manager of an art supply store, and that may soon be for sale. What will she do then?

Malcolm, a well-respected attorney, buried his heart when his wife Rosalie died a lingering death from cancer. Now he has to cope with his teenage daughter, Leah, who blames him for her mother’s death, convinced he could have done more for her.

When Leah’s need for art supplies takes Malcolm to Charlotte’s shop, the attraction between them is obvious from the beginning. But there are many obstacles, including Charlotte’s need for a lawyer to deal with a lease, the purchase of the store, and vandalism. 

But if she retains Malcolm, what are the ethical questions that arise if they develop a relationship?

Uncaged Review: Charlotte FitzRoberts is a 36 year old manager of an art store. She had spent years waiting for Kevin to marry her only to for him to die in a car accident as he was speeding. In the opening she is staring at the ruined lilac bushes in her yard, comparing the damage a late winter storm did to the bushes to her life which has been torn apart with Kevin’s death. She had planned on using the lilacs as part of her wedding bouquet, only now there would be no wedding.
She realizes the chances of her marrying Kevin had decreased over the years. He had enjoyed being free, living his own life, never sharing her dreams, only good times where he made no promises. Being realistic, she knows he never would have married her, no matter how long she waited for him. The dream now dead, like her lilacs.
Charlotte gave up her dreams of being a painter to manage the art store for the past ten years. She loves what she does and thinks of the store as hers even though she is only the manager for an absentee owner.
Malcolm Carlsmythe is a lawyer whose wife died two years ago from cancer. His teenage daughter, Leah, still blames him for not keeping her mother alive, not understanding Rosalie had made the choice, not him, as to what treatment she was willing to accept. He meets Charlotte when he goes to get art supplies for Leah which a new art program has ordered for them. Some of the supplies aren’t in and he’ll need to come back for them. He finds himself attracted to Charlotte.
Leah is 17. She loves art, having learned to draw and paint from her mother. She is friends with her lab partner, Jeffery Short who helps her understand the lab work. The extra art class she is taking is offered a trip to Italy to visit various museums. She has her father pick up the supplies she needs at the Artist’s Loft where Charlotte works
A things move along, Malcolm becomes more attracted to Charlotte, Leah resists his moving forward while she and Jeffery embark on a science project for the science fair where she will do the drawings for his research. It isn’t until the owner of the store, Peggy Martell offers to sell the store to Charlotte things get more interesting. Malcom agrees to handle the sale for her. He finally admits his attraction to her. When the store is vandalized, he shunts the case off to a friend to purse her romantically.
Leah meets Charlotte and isn’t sure what to say to her about her father. She asks for help in contacting a local artist for help with the science project in painting feathers for the drawing of some ducks. She questions her father as to his intent where Charlotte is concerned, not fully understanding his answer.
As the book moves forward, the author continues to weave the various plot lines skillfully together until the end. It was a great book of second chances and coming of age for his daughter. Each chapter gave you a good reason to keep reading as you delve into their lives, watching Leah go from angry to accepting and Malcom and Charlotte moving into a relationship neither expected to find.
I loved this book and give it 5 stars with a recommendation to savor the well written story. Reviewed by Barbara

5 Stars

No Tomorrow
Carian Cole
Rockstar Romance

The people we love are thieves.
They steal our hearts. They steal our breath.
They steal our sanity.
And we let them.
Over and over and over again.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

They say you never forget your first love.
Mine was a homeless musician who wandered straight into my soul.

He was my first everything. And fourteen years later, I still can’t get him out of my head.

He broke all my rules.
He also broke my heart.

I watched him climb to stardom, cheering him on from afar.
But I was never a fan; just a girl in love.

Like a tornado, he spiraled, leaving a path of destruction in his wake.

But love conquers all, right? It has to. Because here I stand, ravaged and ruined, needing it to be true.

You can’t go back, but I want to. Back to the park. Back to when he sang only for me. Before he was famous. Before he shattered my heart.

I thought I knew everything about him.
But I could not have been more wrong.

He promised me every tomorrow. And here I am, waiting.
And hoping.
Again. 

Uncaged Review: I have a love/dislike relationship with this book. It will break you. It will rebuild. It will break you. It will rebuild. And this is the mantra throughout the book. The story itself is heartbreaking, but it’s not all angst. There are some wonderful moments that keep you going. The downside, the book is a bit long and drawn out, with situations repeating themselves or overly explained – to almost the point of boredom. But then it will draw you back into the story – but a lot could have been edited out – to make this one of the best reads of the year, but it didn’t quite make it. The love part – I loved both our characters, and specially Blue/Evan. What he was going through and how he tried to fix himself and gain control of his life, is heartbreaking and beautiful and believable. Piper is a strong woman, but also quite self-destructive in her own way, the way she lets Blue treat her over and over. It’s not that he doesn’t love her, it’s just he can’t stop himself. Most women would have bailed out long ago, and maybe that’s why Blue calls her his “warrior.” The story of his and Piper’s relationship is both inspirational and disappointing. The dislike – the “disappointing” started pretty fast. The first time these two come together for sex, is almost forced, and it’s unaspiring to say the least. And a bit unbelievable. But if you hang in there, it gets better. One example of the drawn out part for me was when one character said something, you might not see the answer from the other until a few paragraphs later, and then I felt a little dropped out of the conversation a bit and almost forgot what was said.

On a whole, I liked the book. I like that the author tackled mental illness in a way that is both respectable and realistic and didn’t sugar coat it. So my love/dislike relationship with the book still kept me turning the pages to read, even though I had to set it down and come back to it at times to clear my head before it drew me back in.

Even with all that said, this book is compelling – when a book can make you feel as much as this one does, it’s like a drug in itself – you can’t force yourself to stop reading. Reviewed by Cyrene

4 1/2 Stars