The first forty pages of this book were awesome! Then it all went downhill from there. I found Samantha to be incredibly self centered and heartless. I really wanted to like this story but so much of the middle of the book was useless dialogue that pushed the main plot point too close to the end. Not only was the conclusion rushed but so was the development of the romantic relationship. I mean Samantha and Blake didn't even kiss for the first time until halfway through, then their relationship stalled until the last 30 pages. This was definitely not my kind of romance. My one suggestion would be to cut out some of the waiting for the Festival permits, and add some more romantic development. Just with that change I would have liked the book so much more. Honestly I would not recommend this book to anyone. And I would not read another book in this series. I’ve never read anything by Sheila Roberts before but the blurb for this one had me curious so I thought I’d give it a try. This book follows Sam and Blake on their romantic adventure to true love. Or well, that’s what I thought but this story was more about the love that you have for your family and for your town and the people that live in it. I was kind of disappointed that there wasn’t very much to Sam and Blake’s romance, I felt that Sam’s grieving Mom and the town got in the way of all of that.Sam’s step father just died and with him gone, Sam needs to get to work to fix the family business that her step father flubbed up while he was at the head of the company (thanks to her spineless mother who got on my hot damn nerves a lot). Sam doesn’t have much time to fix the company but with the help of the town and a festival to prepare for, Sam is hoping that things will turn around…especially since the bank wants their loan payments and their suppliers want their money too.My main complaint with the story was that as much as I liked the town, I wanted more from the romance between Blake and Sam. I wanted more Blake. There’s history there but their story takes a back seat to everything else that is happening in the town and in Sam’s family. Sam’s Mom just buried her second husband and has sunk into a depression that got on my nerves. Her sisters are trying to help Sam as best they can but they’ve got their own stuff to shuffle through. We’re definitely going to be seeing more of them in future books though, I’m sure of that.I would say that had I gone into the reading of this book thinking that it was a women’s fiction story then I probably would have enjoyed it more than I did. I thought it was a romance and when I didn’t get that, I was disappointed. There’s a lot going on but I spent a good portion of the book annoyed at first Sam and then her Mom and even Blake that I didn’t enjoy this book quite as much as I hoped. There were times in the beginning of the book that were slow to get through but I was glad when I finally closed this book because it was an enjoyable read, just not what I was hoping for. The town of Icicle Falls reminded me of my favorite small towns in other series by other authors and while that was good and dandy, I’m not sure that I would want to continue this series for more than a couple more books.I will say that I want to give the next book a go since I know what to expect from this author now and with what I know now, I’m sure I’ll enjoy the next book a lot more with this new knowledge. Don’t expect a contemporary romance because this story is more women’s fiction than romance but aside from the issues that I had with the book, I’m not mad that I read this one. I’d recommend this book to fans of women’s fiction and chick lit.
