2.5 stars (rounded up)

This was my first book by this author and although I didn't hate it, I didn't love it either. I enjoyed the overall story--the small town ambiance, the characters and the slow burn romance--but I also had a hard time connecting it all together. I just think there was a lot going on and the romance, especially the connection between Wes and Sarah, got lost in it all. These two had a history from their high school days, not as lovers but not as friends either, so it was a little hard for me to become invested in their romance without more of an established connection. But ultimately, this is more of a case of "it's not you, it's me".

That little nuisance aside, I think A LOT LIKE LOVE worked well as the first book in a series since it introduced the reader to Blue Moon Bay and some of its residents. it also gave set the overall tone for the other books in the series. I've read great things about this author and enjoyed the overall feel of this story, so I will definitely be giving another chance to the series.

All in all, a good start to a series and an enjoyable small town read (if you're not as nit-picky as me!).

A Lot Like Love is the first book in the new Blue Moon Bay series by Jennifer Snow. I loved it. I simply loved everything about the book. It has all the elements that one can expect from a contemporary romance novel with the potential to be turned into a lovely Hallmark movie--charm, humour, a cozy, idyllic seaside town, a second chance romance between beautiful, smart & quirky heroine Sarah Lewis and gorgeous & somewhat goofy hero Wes Sharrun who has a precocious and genius nine year old daughter acting like a matchmaker of sorts, interesting side characters and a B&B which becomes a major setting for the whole story to play out--simply put a sweet, charming and heartwarming book.

I have read another contemporary book by the author (a different series) and also her thrillers and have enjoyed them. A Lot Like Love is a strong start to this new series and I look forward to reading more.

My thanks to NetGalley, the publisher Entangled Publishing LLC/Entangled Amara and the author for providing me with an e-Arc of the book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A cute, but unmemorable, story about reconnecting and finding what you really want in life. A classic small town, single dad tale.

Sarah Lewis has just inherited a run-down B&B from her grandmother. But she has a whole life in L.A. and a career that definitely takes up all of her time and energy right now. However, knowing anyone that might buy the B&B is just going to tear it down to make a fancy resort, she decides that she has to honor her grandmother’s dreams and fix up the B&B to show its potential to sellers who would appreciate its charms. Wes Sharrun shows up and offers to help out with the renovations. His construction company could use the work and he thinks the B&B project could help. His daughter also takes an immediate liking to Sarah, forcing them to spend even more time together. Sparks start to fly and they both have to figure out what they really want in life.

To me, a 3-star read is one that’s enjoyable while I read it, but ultimately not going to be something I go back and think about a lot in the future. That’s exactly what this book is. There were a few funny moments, a few heartbreaking moments, and definitely some cute moments, but there was nothing that stuck out to make this story particularly unique. First of all, it’s a small beach town and Sarah inherited an old B&B plus Wes has the construction know-how to fix it. Right off the bat, this isn’t a unique premise and it feels exactly like a other books with a similar storyline. The secondary plot is about how Wes can’t relate to his daughter Marissa; she’s too brainy and he’s into sports, so they can’t possibly have anything to talk about. Of course, Marissa is exactly like Sarah and they instantly connect. Again, definitely not a unique story line. Overall, I think these two ideas combine in a way that’s fun to read, but I won’t be going back to anytime soon. If you ask me 6 months from now about this book, I will have to look back at my review to be able to tell you anything at all because I’ll have forgotten this story.

I do have a couple of gripes though. First of all, how is it possible that Wes is a 32-year-old man in modern times and has never heard of coding? Especially when you consider that that’s his daughter’s big passion. Do 9-year-olds know how to code completely independently? Unlikely at the level that Marissa could in this book, but I’ll ignore that part completely for the sake of this story. However, Wes making absolutely no effort to have learned about anything technology-related and refusing to use the app his daughter designed just for him? Unbelievable and definitely unforgiveable. The reason given in the book just doesn’t feel like enough for me. Additionally, there’s another subplot of Sarah finding out some of her grandmother’s secrets. Definitely could have given us more there, as I really wanted to get to know Jack and see how this history impacted Sarah.

Overall, if you love small town beach romances, I think you would enjoy this story. It’s perfect as a beach read, given both the setting and the predictable nature of plot. Marissa is a real highlight, since she’s very precocious and sometimes feels like the most adult person in the whole book.

Sweet romance, a perfect beach read. This was a first for me by this author but I expect I will read more by her in the future

This was an enjoyable romance to start a new series by Jennifer Snow. It has a great small-town vibe with believable characters I want to see again. I liked the romance between the romance between Sarah and Wes, as well as the realistic struggles they faced in figuring out life, love, and everything in between. This was a wonderful book and I can't wait to read the next romance in Blue Moon Bay.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

~~~ I received a copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review ~~~

This is the first book by Jennifer Snow that I have read- and it won't be the last! I really liked her writing style, the book's characters, and setting. This is the story of Sarah and Wes. Sarah is a smart, successful city girl (LA); Wes is a single father (widower) and builder living in their hometown of Blue Moon Bay along California's coast. They are reunited after Sarah's grandmother passes away and leaves a dilapidated B&B to Sarah. This is a story of trust, believing in yourself, romance, and second chances. It is a cute story, not terribly original, but good none the less. It's a great summer vacation-beach read. It does have some pretty detailed and steamy scenes, which may bother some. Overall, this is a great book and I look forward to reading the next installment in the Blue Moon Bay series (A Lot Like Christmas).

A romance book set in a small town in coastal California. This book was less about the B&B renovation and more about Sarah connecting with Wes and Marissa. I did wish there were more scenes with her friends and more about Jack’s connection to Dove. Overall a cute book that is very easy to read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the arc.

A Lot Like Love is a very well written romance. I enjoyed the plot and dynamics. If you enjoy reading a good romance I recommend this book.

This novel is perfect for all of us binge watching Christmas in July movies on the Hallmark channel. Snow provides the perfect low-angst, second chance, small town summer romance.

New author for me and didn't want to put the book down. What a wonderful read. If you haven't read it yet I highly recommend doing so.

A Lot Like Love by Jennifer Snow
Blue Moon Bay #1

Sweet simple story about two high school friends that meet again when Sarah returns home for her grandmother’s funeral. This time both are “free” but is it the right time for them to find a HEA together?

What I liked:
* The setting and small town vibe
* The meet-cute and reaction when Sarah and Wes realize they are face to face again fifteen years after Sarah left town.
* Marissa: 9 year old daughter of Wes although she seemed much older than the nine years she was supposed to be.
* Wes’s love of his deceased wife Kelly
* That Wes was able to move on after his football career was kaput
* Wes’s generous nature
* Sarah’s relationship with Marissa – they were two peas in a pod in many ways
* The B&B – it almost had a personality of its own
* The introduction of other characters that will play a part in the series
* That there was a happy ending

What I didn’t like:
* I didn’t feel as invested in Sarah and Wes as I would have liked to so it was hard to care about their relationship growing.
* The feeling that Sarah’s grandmother’s story was unnecessary to the contemporary romance…and it was a bit of a downer.
* Trying to figure out the purpose of Lia in the story – the frenemy.

Did I like this book? It was okay
Would I read more in this series? Maybe

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3 Stars

Well written romance ( warning:some light sex scenes ) Loved the characters. They are likeable and engaging.
4 stars

The storyline starts off slowly, but building the backstory is important to the plot of the main characters. Sarah Lewis inherits her grandmothers run down B&B. Instead of immediately selling it off for whatever she can recover, she decides to renovate the B&B in order to get top dollar.

But in order to get the renovations compete, Sarah must enlist the local general contractor, Wes Sharrun, her former high school crush and the football jock she tutored in math.

Wes, a widow and now single dad to nine year old Marissa, is a force Sarah is not ready to deal with, but she must in order to get the renovations done and return to her career.

Many obstacles are thrown in the way. But in the end, after misunderstandings and hurt feelings, Wes and Sarah make their relationship work and Wes’s daughter and Sarah clicked from the first meeting solidifying the reunion and making for their happy ending.

Sarah Lewis inherits a B&B from her grandmother in Blue Moon Bay. It is so rundown that Sarah decides to sell it . But she feels that she should restore it to the landmark it is before selling it. She hires Wes Sharron to do the work. He is her high school crush and a widower with a nine year old daughter. As they start falling for each other, Sarah must decide if she wants to run the B&B and take a chance on love. Easy reading!


Thanks to Jennifer Snow and Entangled Publishing LLC

Thanks to Jennifer Snow, Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book; I very much appreciate it.

There were a lot of things I liked about this book -- the second chance romance, the internal conflict about the heroine's job, the STEM example the heroine set for the young girl, the mystery unveiled in grandma's journal, how caring the hero was toward his daughter, the frenemy who came back into the heroine's life. All these items combined to make an enjoyable story. However, there were two items that bothered me a bit. First, the young girl was 9 years old but was much more mature intellectually and emotionally than her age and I had trouble getting past that. Second, the heroine and hero went skinny dipping, but when she had second thoughts due to others who came on the beach, she ran out of the water and stole his clothes, leaving him naked and stranded; that was incredibly immature for a woman of her age and it seemed unbelievable that he forgave her seemingly instantaneously. Overall, the plusses far outweighed the minuses and I'll look forward to the next book in this series.

I enjoyed reading A Lot Like Love.
The characters are likeable and engaging.
Definitely a great summer, second chance romance read.
Jennifer Snow writes a slow burn romance with steamy moments.
Im really looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed Jennifer Snow's Wild River series, set in Alaska, so I was excited to see her publishing another small town romance series, this one in a much sunnier state on the West Coast. A Lot Like Love is the first in the Blue Moon Bay series, which is set in a small town in California. The town is super cute, the people are great, but, at the end of it all, the overall story didn't wow me. Was it bad? Definitely not! I just don't think it was as good as it could have been.

Here's the book's description:
They have different ideas about the fate of an old inn...until it brings them together.
When Sarah Lewis inherits a run-down B&B from her late grandmother in coastal Blue Moon Bay, the logical thing to do is sell it and focus on her life in L.A. But when she learns that interested buyers will only tear it down in its current state, she feels a sense of obligation to her grandmother to get it back to the landmark tourist destination it once was...even if that means hiring the best contractor for the job, who happens to be her old high school crush.
Wes Sharrun’s life has continued to unravel since the death of his wife three years before. Now with a struggling construction company and a nine-year-old daughter, he sees the B&B as an opportunity to get back on his feet. Unfortunately, despite trying to keep his distance, his daughter has taken a liking to Sarah, and his own feelings are tough to deny.
As they spend more time together painting, exploring a forgotten treasure trove of wine in a basement cellar, and arguing over balcony placement, the more the spark between them ignites. But will saving the B&B be enough to convince them both to take a second chance at love?
In a case of really unfortunate timing, I had recently read Mermaid Inn by Jenny Holiday (another Canadian romance author, like Snow). There were, at first glance, far too many similarities between the two and it took a little bit for me to shake it off. Really, it was a small town and a woman had been willed a B&B that she wasn't expecting from an elderly relative and was thrust together with a guy from her past. All the other little nuances were quite different, which I could see by the end of the story.

I found the character development to be a bit...lacking. Not too much with Sarah and Wes but the secondary characters did not stand out and I don't find myself wanting to get back to Blue Moon Bay immediately. Marissa, Wes' daughter, was the liveliest character in the whole story. I also struggled with a lot of the connections between them. Everyone seemed to have different memories of high school (don't ask me how long ago it was because there seemed to be conflicting timelines that I could not figure out) and I couldn't really understand, at times, why any of them interacted with the others. The whole Lia storyline seemed shoehorned in, even though the event was the catalyst for Sarah deciding what she wanted to do.

Despite all of the above, there were some great points to this romance. I loved that Sarah worked in the tech sector and that she could be a great role model for Marissa, who was obsessed with all things STEM. Wes was a great dad who wanted to support his daughter, even more so after his wife's death, but he's super old school and couldn't understand why his daughter would be into all that, even if he was trying. I appreciated that Sarah's final decision didn't really have anything to do with Wes (and Marissa). He played a part, for sure, but she knew what she needed to do from a career and personal (not romantic) perspective.

All in all, A Lot Like Love was...fine. I have a strong feeling this could have been a case of right book, wrong time because I really enjoyed Jennifer Snow's other romances. If you're a sucker for small town romances, you might really enjoy this one.

*An egalley was provided by the publisher, Entangled, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

A Lot like love was a captivating read. I loved the story line and just loved the characters.
Of course, I was hocked from the page one, and just couldn't put it down. Just a perfect summer read

This is the first book I've read by the author. And it is such a sweet and fun second chance at love story. I couldn't put it down. It's a perfect summer read. I loved all the characters, Sarah, Wes and Marissa. I loved Sarah and Marissa's relationship. They just connect immediately. I really enjoyed this book. I'm going to have to re-read this one.

Sarah has been so focused on forging her career in technology that her personal life has taken a back seat. After her grandmother passed away she returned to Blue Moon Bay for a couple of days to finalize her estate only to find out that she has inherited a Bed & Breakfast. She doesn’t want to dishonor her grandmother by selling it to a developer so with the help of Wes she decides to renovate it before selling.

After Wes’s wife passed away a few years earlier he is trying to balance his construction company and his nine year old daughter Marissa. This job is very important for both his and his daughter’s future however he didn’t expect her to inspire feelings in him that he never expected to feel again especially since her life is back in LA.

I really enjoyed seeing the relationship develop not only between Sarah and Wes but Sarah and Marissa as well. As an added bonus Sarah learns more about her grandmother’s past which gives her a new perspective on the woman and life.