Architect Jessica Blackwood is hired to design a home for a very wealthy bachelor. That wealthy bachelor turns out to be Christopher Martin, a former classmate who used to torment her in high school. After an accident which has left him with noticeable injuries, Topher becomes a recluse and longs for a home to hide away in.

There’s quite a lot to unpack in this story from rumor mills, to abusive men, to the town’s local history and so much more. The beauty and the beast aspect of this story appealed to me most—both the romance and the “don’t judge a book by its cover” sentiment implied. There is a lot more to Topher than Jessica realizes.

But I feel like Jessica’s ability to remain a strong, rebellious woman in the face of adversity (an entire town judging her since she was a teenager) was constantly overshadowed by Topher’s development as a “town hero.”

By the end of the story, everyone knows that Topher is a good guy deep down who has never sought out praise for doing good deeds. But Jessica, who has been lied to, torn down, and gossiped about at every turn, is never truly celebrated for standing up for herself.

Important lessons on forgiveness are Christian-inspired, but still universal.

The mystery of the town’s history is definitely interesting, but I haven’t been paying enough attention to it throughout the series to understand it well.

Ramsay seems to bring out the worst of small towns in this series with hurtful gossip and irritating side characters. Will Colton and Kerri get another story? Theirs sort of blew up here. Ashley is hard to love—she doesn’t know what to make of Jackie believing in ghosts, but she’s also a big pain in the ass.

Magnolia Harbor is a wonderful series by an incredibly talented writer. Set in the low country of South Carolina, it’s a small-town seaside community rich with culture and history, and includes the anticipated quirky characters and meddling neighbors.

Jessica Blackwood returns to her hometown upon starting her own architectural firm, and the townsfolk have long memories, never forgetting the scandal that happened when she originally left town. She has the chance to design a mansion-sized home for Topher Martin, one of the guys she felt bullied by in high school.

Returning home after a disfiguring accident, Topher wants nothing more than to be left alone. He wants to get away from his over-protective family and meddling neighbors and build a house on the island his grandfather had planned to build on.

With secrets, betrayal, and misunderstandings, Jessica and Topher's story easily kept my attention. Add in pirates, ghosts, a precocious adolescent and an antagonist I couldn’t wait to see get his comeuppance, and I flew through the pages devouring the story.

While I adore this series, I fell a little out of love with Magnolia Harbor. We see an uglier side to the meddling and gossip, taking off some of the shine and polish off of this quaint town. However, the impeccable writing, captivating storyline, and complex, relatable main characters won me over quickly and made this a compelling, fascinating read that I was unable to put down.

Beauty and the beast trope set in a small beach-town is a perfectly heartwarming read. Both the lead characters have gone through some traumatic circumstances in their lives and need some love to thrive in life. How they find each other when the whole town seems to be intruding in their lives and constantly gossiping is a beautiful journey that is pretty endearing.

It was a really quick read! I also liked the little kid who is obsessed with pirates and treasure hunting. The main theme of forgiveness and moving on is really well-written! This is perfect for those looking for non-steamy and emotional small town love stories.

I wanted to love this one, enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes. Unfortunately I didn’t feel like this one was fast paced enough for my liking. I have mixed feelings about most small town romances I read, but I might try this one again in the future. For now I decided to DNF at 18%

This story is about Topher who has been recently injured and Jessica, a small-town girl who has returned to Magnolia Harbor to reconnect with her mother and grandmother and go it on her own as an architect. I'm a fan of a small-town romance but this one didn't work for me. I had a hard time with a lot of the characters' behavior, the gossiping and just the non-contemporary feel of it. The writing was good but felt dated to me. While the book just didn't appeal to me for various reasons I did like the concept and feel that others may enjoy this story, especially those who are looking for something with an older feel to it.

I'm rounding up to two stars because frankly, I don't want to come off as a troll. I wanted to like this book. Being someone from a small town, with southern roots in my family tree, the concept of adorable Magnolia Harbor was appealing. And let's face it--that cover is flipping gorgeous.
However, this book was difficult to get through. For one thing, I don't think I am the target market. My mother's generation? Probably. No sex (one scene fades to black). No swearing. Not even colorful euphemisms for swear words (which given the fact that it's set in the south was a huge missed opportunity). I detest the terms clean and sweet, but this fit the bill. Fans of Debbie Macomber would probably like it. So in general, I discovered that this author is not for me.
Beyond that, there were a few specific things that had me literally ranting. RANTING.
Settle in, kids. This is gonna get ugly...
1- poor research. One character is a gold star widow. Her husband died during a deployment. She has worries about financial concerns, and how her son's therapy bills are crippling. Ummm no. Sorry. That's not how it works. As a military brat and military wife of a man who served for over 20 years, I can tell you that when a service member dies, the life insurance policy is several hundred thousand dollars. And as a gold star widow, her medical coverage would make the average civilian weep in envy. Children's mental health bills? Please. She spends more at Starbucks.
2: there's a scene where the heroine's landlady is worried about the heroine being alone in her office with a man who 'makes her skin crawl' and she considers bringing a cup of coffee up to casually check in and make sure the heroine is safe. HOWEVER she doesn't because 'discretion is the better part of valor'. Literally, WTF. NO. This book was clearly written by a woman from the generation who excuses themselves from helping women out of bad situations by saying they don't want to get involved in someone else's business. If you see something, you say something. If you are worried for a woman's safety, you check on them. Period. That character's Sisterhood card is hereby revoked.
3: the hero is injured. Has a limp and facial scarring. The heroine stops herself from telling the hero about the visit from the above mentioned creepy dude because he'd probably want to go all he-man on the guy, and then thinks "not that Topher classified as he-man these days. But he probably still thought of himself that way." Wow. Okay. One, you ableist harpy. And two...you ableist harpy. Because he has a limp he's not man enough to defend her? (I warned about the ranting, right?)
4: The hero has no internal conflict. It's all ego about feeling ugly. Which means we are supposed to pity the elite white billionaire because he was in a car accident with his Ferrari? Please. At one point he tells the heroine that he can handle whatever hard thing she's thinking, because "I've already experienced the worst that life can hand out". I'm sorry, what now? You're literally standing on your private island with your 40ft yacht moored at the dock and billions in the bank, and you think you've experienced the worst that life can hand out?
Where was this author's Oh Honey, No friend? Because this book? Oh, honey. No.

This book was okay but just did not quite do it for me. There was so much time spent on the alternating storylines that I felt like our hero and heroine did not spend that much time together and it didn't seem realistic that they were in love by the end of the book, it just didn't seem like they had enough time.

I also wasn't a huge of fan of some the side characters and the gossiping or manipulation that took place.

The writing wasn't bad, the storyline and the characters, particularly the side characters, just did not work for me.

Book three in Moonlight Bay series by Hope Ramsay.
Jessica Blackwood is an architect and trying to start her own firm.
Christopher Martin, Top her, has come to make amends for past wrongs.
They face many problems coming up with a plan and getting it approved.
Also a cantankerous grandmother that is always on Jessica case.
I love Hope's stories cause they always make me feel a rainbow of emotions.

This was a fun read. It’s a Beauty and the Beast story, but it also deals with rumors and the damage they can do, forgiveness, moving on and being open to change, family dynamics, friendship, and love. I enjoyed the book.

Jessica is living in the town she was raised in. She is a successful architect who came back to care for her Mother before she passed. Jessica has been trying to live down untrue gossip about her for years, but no one believes her side of the story. This is a story about a small town where everyone thinks they know other people’s business and are happy to spread gossip even if the stories aren’t true. This essentially a book about forgiveness. I loved reading the story and meeting the characters. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

This story was kinda different. I think its more chick lit than romance. There is really very little sex scenes or romance in this story and the I love You's near the end were kinda out of nowhere and sorta vague. That said I did enjoy this story ALOT in fact it was one of those where you couldnt put it down. It just was very different and not really centered on romance.

This is a bully story about two people in their thirties who were never friends but who went to high school together. Christopher/Topher was a rich kid, came from a good family and was the captain of the football team. Jessica was a sweet and kind kid who wanted to be friends with the troubled black teen, and it ended up with nasty rumors and lies and that ended up estranging her from her family for 14 years. She blames Topher for causing the rumors that ended up destroying her life.

Topher is back in town and not the same kid. He ended up in a car accident that shattered his leg and destroyed his pretty face and all he wants is to be left alone. He hires Jessica to design him a home on a solidary island and the people in his family and town try and destoy that for him.

This is a story about the rumors that destroy whether true, lies or using those rumors to stop people from doing the things they want or building themeselves up with rumors It has 4 view points in this story. We hear from Jessica, Topher, Jessica's landlady and Ashley (Topher's cousin). It also is about bigotry/prejudice from the town who does not want the white girl with the blackboy, the black girl who doesn't want the black guy with the white girl and the blackboy who sees a white girl as a prize rather than a person.

It also features a pirate booty hunt of Ashley's son and Tipher and Micah help him while his mother tries to stop him. Its about a a small town where they have lots of rumors and secrets and the sevrets that come out. The author states its a beauty and the beast storyline but I rather saw it as more of a Rapunzel storyline where the characters were very isolated and in a tower by all the rumors and lies and what the town people feel about them.

It was extremely well written and truly Jessica is the hero of the story and the girl has had a very hard life. The other scene stealer was Jackie, Ashley's son who goes Pirate hunting and finds out some big secrets and does not understand why its a secret to begin with.

**** Return to Magnolia Harbor. Hope Ramsey has created a small southern coastal town on Magnolia Harbor populated with busybodies, gossips and secrets. There are those who actively participate and those who just stand by but never protest against untruths. There are those who interfere in the lives of others by convincing themselves that their motives are pure...that they know the better way. Secrets also have a way of being found out...especially when a young boy, enamored with pirates, especially one rumored to be one of the town’s founders, gets involved. This well plotted story moves along a fairly rapid pace toward a conclusion with a message about forgiveness. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Highly recommend.