Synopsis

Twenty-nine-year-old Nina Abrahams is not in a good place. She’s been fired from her restaurant manager job after she stands up to her bully of a boss, her motivational speaker mother is helping other people get their lives on track and ignoring the derailing of her daughter’s, and her best friend, Lucas Wilson, the guy she’s loved since she was eighteen, can’t seem to look beyond the girl in braces to the woman she is now.

When a new opportunity comes up, Nina decides it’s the perfect time to start over. The restaurant needs a reinvention and so does she. Unfortunately for Nina, the restaurant comes with hostile servers, a belligerent chef, and an owner averse to change.

But if Nina’s brave enough to take on the restaurant and tackle the people out to sabotage her, perhaps she can find the courage to tell Lucas how she really feels, even if it means risking the most important relationship in her life.

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Review

This story was a surprise. It is well crafted. I felt like the characters had depth, there were issues to resolve, and love to find.

Nina has a lot going for her – a supportive brother, good friends, and a love for the hospitality industry. Her mother is supportive but in her own way. I suppose that comes from being a motivational or inspirational speaker. But even they resolve their issues that have kept them apart and do not truly know one another. There is even her good friend Lucas whom she loves but doesn’t say anything for fear of messing up the friendship. But we all know how that goes…unrequited love is hard to dismiss.

I liked that Nina has some issues to work through, from her job to friends and family. It is a time for her to grow and stretch herself, become the best person she can be, and follow her dreams.

There is romance in the story too, but it is very clean, and I appreciated that aspect. The crux of the story doesn’t get lost in scenes between the characters. It is very much a G-rated book.

This was a fun book to read, and I will look for more books by this author. We give it 5 paws up.

About the Author

Lara Martin writes books about imperfect people living messy lives, falling in love and getting their perfect happily-ever-after. She’s lived in South Africa and Australia and now calls a cozy village in England her home. She’s tried a variety of amazing and awful jobs: video game reviewer, graphic designer, insurance claims agent (she has no idea how she landed this one), proof reader, feature writer, and magazine editor. She lives with her husband (always the first reader of her novels), two slightly terrifying teenagers, and the requisite psychotic cat. When she’s not writing, she can be found haunting local coffee shops.

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