Liz Flaherty is, hands down, one of my favorite authors. She has an amazing ability to weave together stories that touch the heart as her characters overcome tragic losses and find happiness. Her latest release, Jar of Dreams is a poignant yet humorous novel that is heartwarming and sweetly romantic. To read my review in its entirety, please click HERE. ( )

While The Debutante's second chance isn't my favorite Liz Flaherty novel, I fell in love with the fictive small town Taft, so when I discovered this was another Taft novel, I requested it on the spot.

It was nice to revisit Taft, and see it from the perspective of someone who hadn't grown up there. I really enjoyed how Lucy became friends, and slowly got a part of Taft. I also liked that Taft wasn't perfect, that the downturn of the economy also affected Taft.

I enjoyed how Taft accepted Lucy. But, I also liked the fact that it wasn't perfect. I liked the old pain between Boone and Crockett, the suspicion Boone and Kelsey showed Lucy when she showed up.

I'll admit it, at first I was a bit sceptical if Boone and Lucy's relationship would work out, since Boone was only visiting over the summer. I am happy to say that I was wrong. Following Boone and Lucy's relationship from wariness to their happy ever after was a delight. I liked how Lucy and Boone slowly got to know each other to talk about their past scars. It was touching when Lucy first gathered the courage to tell Boone what had happened to her father.

Boone struggled with death of his wife, and I ached for him. It was touching to follow him through the stages of grief, until he could move on. As he did, he too, was tugged back into the folds of Taft.

The secondary romance between Gert and Sims were sweet and touching, and I loved it. They deserved a bit of happiness.

That said, there were a couple of things I didn't like with the books. Occasionally, I had trouble with connecting to Boone and Lucy. It didn't happen often, though. Also, I wish that how the arsonist thought had been shown through out the story, instead of being blurted out at the end. [b:The Debutante's Second Chance|3269584|The Debutante's Second Chance|Liz Flaherty|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1267899561s/3269584.jpg|3304923] ( )

I liked this.

I think it's the way this author writes - it has this calming effect, if that even makes sense - that works so well with the setting of the book, a fictional small-town of Taft where time seems to run at its own pace.

There is absolutely no drama in this book. Not that it's boring, though, even if it is a bit slow, things are happening and it kept me turning the pages.

The build up of the relationship between Lucy and Boone is slow too, but it works, it's realistic that neither of them would just jump into something with everything they have on their plates. And even when they get together it's not the explosive can't-live-without-you passion, but again, it works really well with this book.

That being said, the two main characters could sometimes be real downers. Whenever things would get good, they would go back to their woes and dampen the mood. I know they found comfort in talking about it to each other, so I get it, but it would just ruin the mood.

Liz Flaherty has a peculiar style of writing, like I said. It worked with the story well, she creates this close knit community of lovable characters that all bring something to the story and there's this peacefulness to their lives in Taft. The romance is not the main focus of the story. There's a bit of a mystery, too, and although I kind of guessed what was going on, but not why - it was still fun seeing if I was right. She slowly reveals it, and no questions are left unanswered in the end.

There are no graphic sex scenes, it's all fade to black. It suits the story, I think.

I see there's a companion book to this that I didn't read, but it's not necessary to read it because you get some back story that explains a few things I may have wondered about.

If you are looking for a sweet love story, two people finding love and comfort in each other and starting over, and all that without a lot of drama, this is definitely your book.

**Free copy of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )