Small Town Girl Book Tour Giveaway & Review

Welcome to Reader Girls. We are hosting the Small Town Girl Tour today. This adult novel by Linda Cunningham was recently released by Omnific Publishing and is the first in an adult contemporary romance series.

Blurb: When Lauren Smith begrudgingly returns to the small Vermont town where she grew up to arrange for the sale of her late grandmother's old farmhouse, she has everything she's always worked for. Lauren drives a Mercedes. She's engaged to one of the most powerful businessmen in the country and wears a three carat diamond ring to prove it. She lives in a penthouse on Central Park West. Yes, Lauren has everything she considers important. She is smugly prepared for any eventuality in dealing with these country people so Lauren isn't surprised when the hot water isn't working at the old house. No problem. She simply looks in the phone book and calls the local plumber.

The moment Caleb Cochran steps through the old screen door to fix the hot water, the glittery facade that masquerades as Lauren's life begins to crumble around her. Though she tries hard to deny their mutual, magnetic attraction, Lauren is finally forced to reevaluate her focus and come face to face with her true self. “Small Town Girl” is a story of emotional maturation and the recognition and triumph of true love even in the face of repeated denial and awkward timing.

Find the book at Amazon

My review: We've read stories about the small town girl growing up and moving to the big city only to discover she really belongs back home. Linda Cunningham has taken this tried-and-true formula and imbued her version with intriguing characters and a huge amount of heart. Lauren is an independent woman, a curator at a New York City museum, and engaged to a wealthy, twice-divorced successful businessman twenty-five years older her senior. She is caught up in the idea of what her life should be and her role in society. Busy planning a monumental wedding, she believes this is the life for her. It takes an impromptu trip out of state to learn she's wrong.

Learning she has inherited her grandmother's estate in Vermont, Lauren heads back to the place where she spent childhood summers while her hippie parents traveled for some cause, with the sole intent of selling the old house. Shortly after arriving, she discovers there's no hot water and calls a plumber. When a smoldering man walks through the door to help, they both feel an immediate attraction to each other but can't help saying the wrong thing. Besides, Lauren is engaged so whatever she may feel is not important.

Small Town Girl is a sweet story about finding true love when you least expect it and not giving up on it. Both Lauren and Caleb show us what they go through in a realistic manner and having the male and female perspectives helped me understand them better. I wasn't a fan of Lauren's in the beginning but by the time Caleb walked into the kitchen, I found myself enjoying her outlook on things. Her candid responses were refreshing and she was a total fashionista. As the story progressed, I liked both characters. Their journey had plenty of bumps and while their sizzling love affair came across as believable, there were some occasions I found the wording slightly flowery. The author painted lovely snapshots of life in a Vermont town from all of the different senses which made me enjoy the tale even more. Another character I liked was Lauren's college best friend, Joan and her boyfriend, Brian. 

Small Town Girl is a fast, satisfying tale about knowing when you've found the right one and how to reclaim that special love once you've given it up. This is a perfect story to snuggle up with on a cold night and let Lauren and Caleb's love story warm your soul.

About the author: Linda has written steadily throughout the years, but usually other people’s papers, speeches, or articles for agricultural trade magazines. Her only published work of fiction was a children’s book, “The Copper Angel of Piper’s Mill”, written in 1988 when her children were still small. Now that the kids are out of the house, Linda is writing fiction again, and this time it’s personal! She writes full time and it’s Romance! Her first romance novel, “Small Town Girl” is being published by Omnific Publishing and should be available late summer/early fall of this year.

Linda lives in a romantic stone house in the green mountains of Vermont surrounded by her gardens and her animals who include horses, sheep, cats, dogs, chickens, a parakeet and various wildlife visitors who wander in and out at will. When time permits, she also enjoys sketching and painting. (author website)

Giveaway!

Grand Prize: Print copy of Small Town Girl and a tote bag. To enter the Grand Prize each participant needs to comment on every blog post on the tour.

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Click here to view the Small Town Girl Tour Schedule... An * means an eBook giveaway at that blog. A ** means Grand Prize giveaway stop.

We thank Linda Cunningham and A Tale of Many Reviews tours.