Restoring Fairhaven

GIVEAWAY

MILLER, CAROLYN

RESTORING FAIRHAVEN

Taking her ailing father's gardening business on Merriweather Island, Samantha Green only wants to escape her ex and to make her father proud. But Sam gets more than she bargained for when Greener Gardens accepts the job of restoring the garden of a reclusive writer, Max Fairhaven, whose historical novels about romance and unrequited love litter bookstore shelves and movie marquees all over the world.

Max much prefers the fictional world to the real, and the gardening girl's interruptions means he's driven from his writing cave far too often for his liking.

How's he supposed to craft stories with her distracting him all the time? Things change when he learns something of Sam's family challenges, and his admiration slowly kindles. With his secretary's goading, he's forced to confront the past, while facing the fact that he needs to change in order to avoid a lonely future. Gentle pruning and a whole lot of banter forges a friendship between this not-so-Southern belle landscaper and the half-British author. But is their budding attraction enough to grow into a flourishing happily-ever-after?

Love hurts, or so the songs say, so who wants it?

My Review:

I've enjoyed Carolyn Miller's Regency romances so I was curious to see what she'd do with a contemporary timeline. The same storytelling magic, that's what! 

I'm not sure if it was intentional, but Restoring Fairhaven reads like a Beauty and the Beast adaptation for me. There's the shaggy haired, surly-to-the-nth-degree hero for starters. Max is positively beastly in the beginning hurling poison darts in word and deed at whim. Quick to judge without all (or any) of the facts, especially where 'the gardening terrorist' is concerned. Gah, if I didn't know his backstory I'd have purse-whomped him but good with a tote bag full of a week's worth of library returns. :-) But Miller gives us measured glances into the roiling hurt and seething wounds that have kept Max cut off from the world.

Enter Samantha Green on a mission to keep her ailing father's gardening business afloat. The substantial job at Fairhaven manor will go along way towards making that happen which means she will put up with pretty much anything in order to keep the contract. Even a cantankerous beast.

Sam carries her own wounds as well, and it is inevitable that she and Max are drawn together in sympathetic unspoken understanding of wounded hearts...when they aren't sniping at each other that is! There's plenty of zippy banter and laugh-out-loud moments in this unusual courtship. As well as tender, heart-stirring ones not to mention the toe-curls. And the way Sam leads Max back into the world is as magical as any fairy tale. The double meaning in the title isn't lost on me, because Samantha is instrumental in restoring the property and the man.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is for a gently read paperback 

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Restoring Fairhaven, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add your email to a comment, remember to use AT AND DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday July 24 2021. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck!