I also read the book just before this one in this series (but by a different author). I still like the town of Bygones. I would love to buy a book at Happy Endings and sit at the coffee shop enjoying a cup of tea and a pastry while reading it. Though I didn't like this book quite as much as I liked the previous book in the series.

This book focuses on Vivian Duncan, assistant at the Happy Endings bookstore, and Chase Rollins, owner of the pet store. As with most romances, I feel like if the two would just honestly talk to each other, they'd have solved the problems keeping them apart much sooner than they did. Vivian is discouraged because the last two men she dated dropped her when they learned she couldn't have kids of her own; Chase doesn't want to have kids of his own because he's afraid he'll pass on genes for abuse. He's also afraid he'll be the kind of father he had--a valid concern based on what I know of the subject (which isn't much). Vivian, meanwhile, is determined to adopt a child (something she decided before she and Chase started to spend so much time together).

I wish the book talked a bit more about trusting God and how Chase came to his realizations about his fears--but that's probably too much to hope for in a formulaic romance book. ( )