5 Smooches!
Synopsis
From New York Times Bestselling Author Charlotte Hughes
Can a Small Town Lawyer Get Lucky?
Atlanta’s billionaire heiress Annie Hartford has no desire to marry a man she does not love; but her controlling father has been calling the shots for his 29 year-old daughter her entire life. This time he has pushed Annie too far.
With minutes to spare before she is to walk down the aisle in front of 600 guests, Annie is forced to make a decision. She hijacks the family limo, only to have it break down in small town Pinckney, Georgia. Annie, who has never wanted for anything, suddenly finds herself homeless, penniless, with only the clothes on her back, a designer wedding gown and diamond tiara.
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Small town lawyer and restaurant owner Sam Ballard has been unlucky in love, and the last thing he needs is a red-hot blonde in a short waitress uniform who seems hell-bent on breaking every dish in his Dixieland Café. Still, he can’t very well fire her, she has won the hearts of everyone in town.
Can rich girl Annie find happiness living in a garage apartment, wearing second-hand clothes, and making her way around town on a borrowed bicycle? As for Sam, can he put his past behind him and trust that Annie won’t run home to daddy when her new life presents one obstacle after another?
Review
The whole charming and delightful story of See Bride Run- a story of second chances at life and over-coming insecurities to fall helplessly in love with someone you perceived as unattainable or unsuitable- literally played out like a truly brilliant romantic comedy from the very beginning to the last word of the prologue.
A witty and refreshing take on the runaway bride plot, it sees young Annie Hartford- a beautiful socialite who has been groomed from birth simply to be nothing more than the perfect housewife to a husband chosen by her domineering multi-millionaire father, a man so archaic in his misogynistic beliefs that he sent his daughter to finishing school to obtain skills in order to help her gain her MRS degree rather than to college to learn an actual skill. The tale starts with Annie deciding to take control of her life after suffering in silence for far too long and after a series of events she ends up in Pinckney, Georgia where small town community really means small town family, where looking after one another is just a way of life and where the locals take a down-on-her-luck Annie and show her what love and acceptance is all about.
Charlotte Hughes has managed to construct an entire town that immediately captivates you, the inhabitants, each individual personality and their unique and quirky traits reels you in like a wide mouth bass. The interaction with one another and the constant bickering and jesting and cajoling had me in stitches. It’s such a wonderful tale and utterly refreshing because there isn’t a mountain of prosaic graphic sex scenes, it’s sweet and soft and for once you have to get off your perverted and sex scene saturated mind and actually use your imagination when it comes to the love play. Sam, the multi-tasking cafe owner, lawyer and car salesman takes an instant dislike to our unfortunate and intrepid heroine Annie and that alone makes for some of the best and most hilarious scenes I’ve had the good fortune to encounter, the dialogue between the two sparkles and shimmers with great comedic timing and biting sarcasm.
‘Sam shook his head as if to clear it. “Holy hell Buster she knocked me off my feet.” He glared at Annie, who looked quite pleased with herself. “She sure did,” Buster said. “That’s assault and battery if I ever saw it. You want to press charges? ‘Course, you know folks are gonna tease you something fierce about being beat up by a girl.”’
It might be a gentle and unfurling love story between Annie and Sam and about them over-coming adversity to get to the HEA point but I do feel that Annie’s independence and striking out on her own was the real focal point. She’s an absolute gem of a character to read about with a Bambi like innocence that seems to draw the locals and Sam to her but under that seemingly naive exterior she’s the strongest and most considerate person you could probably have in your corner, strong and just utterly likable. So together the initial meeting, the growing closer and the gorgeous prologue Annie and Sam combined make this a winning romance in my eyes.
~Nicole
BUY IT NOW
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