Review: Not So New In Town by Michele Summers

Title: Not So New In Town by Michele Summers
Harmony Homecomings Series Book Two
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 352 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

You can’t go back, and you can’t stand still…
Lucy Doolan is a marketing genius. She can sell rain to a frog and snow to a polar bear. Newly single and unemployed, she’s lured back to her hometown of Harmony, North Carolina to help out her pregnant evil stepsister…only to find former crush heartthrob Brogan Reese has returned too, to open a new business in town. To add insult to injury, he’s still hot.

If the thunder don’t get you, then the lightning will…
Brogan never noticed Lucy much when they were young, but seventeen people have recommended her to help him. She’s got his attention now. With her sweet personality, brilliant imagination, and penchant for doing the completely unpredictable, Brogan is finding a whole lot of excuses to spend his days-and nights-with Lucy.

Review:

Not So New In Town by Michele Summers is a super cute and zany small town novel. With a cast of wacky but loveable characters, an appealing storyline and a steamy romance, this second installment in the Harmony Homecomings series is a delightfully charming read.

Lucy Doolan’s homecoming is off to an discouraging beginning when her car breaks down outside of town and the good Samaritan who stops to assist her is none other than her one time crush (and her stepsister’s ex-boyfriend) Brogan Reese. She has returned home temporarily to concentrate on reviving her career while taking care of her evil stepsister Julia and teenage nephew Parker. The last thing she needs is to reconnect with Brogan but when Parker needs a mentor, she finds herself spending quite a bit of time with the sexy entrepreneur. Lucy is dismayed to discover her long ago crush has morphed into a serious case of lust, but given the history between them, she has no intention of acting on her attraction.

Lucy is funny, vivacious and incredibly smart. She has high hopes that her short stay in Harmony will give her the opportunity to mend her relationship with her stepsister, but Julia does not make things easy on her. She is looking forward to spending time with Parker, but her sweet nephew has turned into a surly teen who cannot seem to stay out of trouble. Having recently ended a bad relationship with a loser who took advantage of her sweet nature, Lucy is not interested in beginning another one, but when she accepts a lucrative job offer from Brogan, the sexual tension between them continues to grow.

Brogan is a really nice man but he has more than his fair share of emotional baggage. His unresolved past continues to haunt him and he has serious commitment issues. While he was once the town’s golden boy, old gossip about him and Julia is still swirling around so he is having trouble getting customers into his new health food store. Desperate to save the business so he can move on, Brogan finally convinces Lucy to accept his job offer and her creative marketing strategy quickly pays off.

Brogan and Lucy work well together and the lines between their personal and professional lives soon blur. Brogan is a frequent visitor at Lucy’s house and they also spend long hours together at the health food store. Their friends have easily picked up on their interest in one another and they devise some pretty inventive schemes to throw them together. Brogan and Lucy finally give in to their attraction, and they agree to a no strings fling. Their interludes are very steamy and while both begin to realize their feelings run deeper than lust, neither is willing to admit it to the other. An unexpected complication arises at the same Brogan comes face to face with his past and the future of their relationship is soon in jeopardy.

Not So New In Town is a marvelous addition to the Harmony Homecomings series. Lucy and Brogan are wonderfully developed, three-dimensional protagonists with realistic issues to overcome. The secondary cast of characters is quite colorful and their quirkiness adds to the story’s appeal. The storyline is quite engaging and although mostly light-hearted, there are also real problems to solve. Michele Summers brings the setting vibrantly to life and she fully captures all the nuances of small town living.  All in all, it is a witty romance that old and fans of the series are sure to love.