This was a cute beach read. Can read in one sitting , light and enjoyable. The characters were a fun group mostly, with some interesting goings on. Altogether easy light reading.

I really hate when I can't finish a book. It makes me feel like somewhere in my heart I failed it. But, I made myself a promise a long time ago that if I just couldn't make it work, I would put myself and the poor book out of misery and move forward.

"Orange Blossom Days" is, regrettably, one of those books. The cover is fantastic leading the reader to believe that sunny reading days are ahead. But, I found it to be flawed.

One of the major problems is the prose itself seems stilted and much too formulaic to keep the reader (or at least, me) interested. It plods along at a slow pace. The other and the flaw that finally got me, is that the Texans (Sally-Ann and Cal) dialog drove me crazy. Admittedly, I am not a Texan, but I KNOW that Texans don't speak that way. It was obviously written without reading a novel written by a Texan or even watching Dallas. It didn't make any sense to me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books. I wish I could have liked it. The story could have been great!

This was a wonderful story full of well-written characters and a lovely setting. I had a hard time putting the book down. My only complaint was that the ending felt a teeny bit rushed, and I wouldn't have minded about 20 more pages to stretch it out just a bit. That said, I'd highly recommend this novel.

This is my review of an advanced reader's copy from the publisher.
Let me say, the cover of this book is amazing and it was what partially drew me in. I knew I wanted to drift away to where ever this way. I'm struggling with where to start. The book was not awful by any means. My rating more reflects how it was written. I was expecting, based on the description, to mainly read a story line in regards to the one place all of the characters had in common. The community of La Joya. And it started that way. But not even half way through the book, it relied to heavily on one set of characters, that I thought maybe I missed that this was the plot in the description. Until, yet again, the story line shifted to another set of characters and, while not as long, focused on that for yet more time than I expected. In the end, the story lines played out but oddly. I didn't feel any closure on the book. I couldn't understand why some characters were written about through out the entire book, and in the end there was a small chapter of wrapping up for them. Maybe it felt like a cliff hanger because there will be something after this one. But I was left feeling disappointed in general at the book. I really thought it would focus on just the happenings of the community in La Joya. Not the back and forth. It also, over half way through, began to play out over years. So you're in the moment, then you are however many years ahead. I always feel like that happens when there isn't enough content to fill the story of now. I couldn't get into the characters. They were from all over, but how they spoke made me read this much more slowly than it should have. I sometimes had to re-read things just to say it right in my head. I would have liked to get through this much quicker than I did, but the constant re-focus for me dragged it out.

I love the author's previous books but this one was just not for me. I felt it was too long and the story dragged. I still am interested in the author's future works though.

Several couples from various countries buy into their dreams of owning a condo in Spain. The book chronicles their lives both in Spain and their homes. The story spans several years so many changes occur.
This was not a favorite for me. I found myself putting it down and then coming back later so it took me a while to finish it I expected more interaction among the characters while in Spain but the book really is more focused on individual families. Each chapter is labeled with the names of characters who will be the focus of that chapter. Their stories are interesting but at times I found the back and forth from one family to another a bit confusing; like leaving one family in a crisis to move to the life of another faamily. The people only seem to interact with others at the annual meeting. There are many surprises at the end which is why it rated a 3 of 5 stars.