The Corner of Forever and Always by Lia Riley
Series: Everland, Georgia #2
Contemporary Romance
September 26, 2017
Forever
Reviewed by Kini
Favorite Quote:
“Fuck the necklace. You’re the magic.”
This is the second in a series that takes place in a small town in Georgia. The town and its various residents are pretty much characters in their own right. I think that small town can be run the risk of being too cutesy or too much time spent on the other inhabitants. This book had a few pages devoted to other characters that I wish weren’t there, but I did enjoy this book.
This is a take on flighty girl meets an uptight guy and so essentially opposites attract story. Tuesday is the sister of the heroine and Beau is the best friend of the hero from the previous book and we got some introduction to each in the first book, but nothing that is vital. This book can be read as a stand-alone.
Beau is kind of a loner. His wife died several years ago and their relationship was on the fritz right before she died. He has convinced himself he was to blame and he is not worthy of loving and being loved. He has been celibate for seven years since she passed. Beau is also the mayor of the town.
Tuesday left New York rather abruptly amidst her own personal scandal and has a lot of self-doubt on her worthiness to love and be loved. Tuesday works at the local amusement park as a princess.
So naturally, these two fall for each other. At first, they try to act like they dislike each other, but it is just their attraction for each other sizzling over. Tuesday starts lobbying to save the amusement park to help with the town’s tourism. Beau finds her aggravating and magical. Once they give in to their attraction, the romance isn’t easy. They hit some snags in the road, but of course are able to overcome them. They both have some emotional baggage that they need to work through.
Some of the things I didn’t like centered around the secondary characters. A few characters get page time that felt unnecessary and once I started reading I remembered I didn’t like that from book one. In my opinion, it brought little to no value to the story. There is also a side plot of a teenage girl in the town that Tuesday takes under her wing. I get why the girl was introduced, in my mind, it felt like a weak plot point and kind of easy.
If you are a fan of small, close-knit towns featured in stories by Jill Shalvis or Susan Mallery, I think you will enjoy this. The issues I had weren’t enough to make me hate this book but also didn’t help elevate it to fantastic status. I am not sure if there are more planned in this series, but I will continue to read books from this author.
I have one other quote that really resonated with me. I think with all the things happening in the world this was a great reminder of why I read and how important reading is. It doesn’t matter what genre of fiction you read, it helps expand your views on the world.
“Stories are how we learn who we are, our place in the world, how people live, and how they react. We find our truths in them, figure out the world.”
Grade: C
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