Title: Make It Real, book 2 in the Walkers of River’s Edge series
Author: Nan Reinhardt
Genre: Sweet Contemporary Romance
Book Blurb:
They were only faking it….
A landscape designer for his family’s construction firm, Joe Walker, is nearing completion on one of the most important projects of his career—gardens for spec homes that if they wow, Walker Construction will survive. When a freak accident sidelines him with a broken leg, the firm hires a competitor. Her ideas are radically different, but his stalker ex arrives to play nurse, and Joe needs more than gardening help.
After six-years working in English manor gardens, horticulturist Kara Sudbury returns to River’s Edge to help in her grandparents’ struggling garden center. She’s thrilled when Jackson Walker hires her to execute his injured cousin’s designs. Ignoring Joe is difficult because he’s as sexy now as he was in high school and even more stubborn. But when Joe asks Kara to play the role of girlfriend, they strike a deal that will help Joe handle his tenacious ex and put Sudbury’s Nursery back in the black. Kara’s up for the subterfuge…for a price, but then the pretense feels real, and Kara is reminded that every rose has its thorns.
My Review:
Joe has a stalker ex who won’t leave him alone. Joe and Kara agree to be in a fake relationship but what happens when emotions turn to love? There isn’t one thing I don’t love about Make It Real. This trope is quite popular, but Nan Reinhardt makes it her own. The descriptive narration, plot progression, characters, romantic tension, and more combine to make Make It Real a memorable read.
Let’s chat about the characters. Both Joe and Kara have had some setbacks but their love for their families keeps them motivated. Neither is looking for love, but their fake relationship turns all too real. I related to Kara on so many levels. Joe is a wonderful hero with a great personality. The characters are realistically drawn and are easy to connect with. You’ll be rooting for this couple as they navigate from fake to real.
The romance is fake dating and while it’s a common trope these days, Nan Reinhardt adds her own spin on it. This romance is full of emotion and tension. ‘Will they or won’t they’ propels this story and had me whipping through the pages. The writing is exquisite and everything I expect from this author. You will fall in love with this couple, this town, this book.
My Rating: 5 stars
Buy it Now:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/make-it-real-nan-reinhardt/1144709641 (eBook and Print)
Author Biography:
Nan Reinhardt is a USA Today bestselling author of sweet, small-town romantic fiction for Tule Publishing. Her day job is working as a freelance copyeditor and proofreader, however, writing is Nan’s first and most enduring passion. She can’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t writing—she wrote her first romance novel at the age of ten and is still writing, but now from the viewpoint of a wiser, slightly rumpled, woman in her prime. Nan lives in the Midwest with her husband of 51 years, where they split their time between a house in the city and a cottage on a lake.
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Reviewed by: Nancy