Unforgettable by Melanie Harlow Review

5 SMOOCHES!

    

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SYNOPSIS:

Back then, I had it all.

Wicked fastball. Killer instinct. Cocky grin. Full package.

(And believe me, I knew how to score.)

My senior year, I was a first round draft pick with a two-million-dollar signing bonus. Before I could even legally buy myself a beer, I made my Major League debut.

Point is, I was invincible.

Until one day I wasn’t.

After tanking my career—during the World Series, no less—the last thing I want to do is return to my hometown, where every jerk in a ball cap has an opinion about what went wrong with my arm. So when my sister drags me back to town for her wedding, I vow to get in and out of there as quickly as possible.

Then I run into April Sawyer.

In high school we were just friends, but I’d always wanted her, and I’d never forgotten her—the red hair, the incredible smile, the crazy, reckless thing we did in the back of my truck the night we said goodbye. It’s been eighteen years, but one look at her and I feel like my old self again. I can still make her laugh, she can still take me down a notch, and when the chemistry between us explodes, it’s even hotter this time around—and I don’t want it to end.

But just when I think I’m ready to let go of the past and get back in the game, life throws me a curveball I never saw coming.

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REVIEW:

I’ve read each of the books in the Cloverleigh Farms series, and I’ve loved them all. A large-family-based small-town romance series is one of my favorite things to read, and Melanie Harlow’s Cloverleigh Farms series was a fantastic one. I’ve been looking forward to April’s story because she was the sister readers knew the least about, the one with the most secrets. Unforgettable is her story, and Harlow did a wonderful job telling April and Tyler’s heart-tugging, heat-filled friends-to-lovers, second-chance, small town romance by taking readers through the rekindling of their youthful friendship and setting it on fire.

April and Tyler have a complicated and painful history, although not for the reasons one might think. They didn’t part on bad terms, with terse words or anger between them—they just… went their separate ways. Faced with a difficult choice at a young age, April made the most selfless and mature decision she could have made at the time. She moved forward with her life, but the emotional consequences of that decision lingered with her. As an adult, she’s trying to move beyond them by finally dealing with them head on when Tyler walks back into her life. Tyler, a gifted pitcher, left to follow his dream of playing professional baseball. He was well into a remarkable career when it all fell apart. Humiliated and ashamed, he was forced to leave the sport he loved and is living a very solitary life. In town for his sister’s wedding, he runs into April, and they both get caught up in the nostalgia of the easy, carefree friendship they shared in their youth.

This was such an intensely emotional story as both Tyler and April had baggage to deal with before either was truly ready for what the other had to offer. My heart ached for both of them as they sifted through the wreckage of their painful lives and histories. While they tried to ignore the attraction they both were feeling, time wasn’t exactly on their side, so they didn’t fight too hard before they gave in to it. Tyler and April’s relationship, while fast-paced, was right for them. Sometimes love sneaks up on you when and where you least expect it, and this couple came to the table with a strong friendship, albeit dormant for many years, as their foundation. Just when they get to the point where plans are changing, feelings are involved and opportunities arise, difficult and painful choices suddenly had to be made, and in the heat of those moments, it’s not always easy to see through haze to the sunny sky beyond. Harlow did an amazing job getting these emotions down on the page, and I felt the crushing disappointment and soul-deep longing right along with this couple.

Unforgettable by Melanie Harlow was the perfect finale to this heart-warming, family-based, small town romance series. A passionate and emotional journey to love that was a bit bittersweet and angsty at times, April and Tyler’s happily-ever-after was all the more rewarding for the trials they faced, the tests they endured, and the love they found on the other side of them. Melanie Harlow gave her readers something truly special this family and their love stories, and I’m sad to see the Cloverleigh Farms series end. Unforgettable by Melanie Harlow gets 5 smooches from me!

~Danielle Palumbo

 

 


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