The three couples that this book follows are interesting. At the beginning I felt like the book was discussing more about Andi and Danny, but as the storyline continued, you get to learn more about the other two couples - Cora Lee and Noah | Bear and Eliza. I think the only couple who was denying their feelings for each other were Danny and Andi, well it was mainly Andi who was denying it. I can see from her perspective of why she didn't want to be tied down - because she didn't want to endanger those she loved. But I think Andi also forgot what career Danny is in as well. I just adored Eliza and Bear, who are the oldest of the couples. Listening to their history and their current story made me root for them. The way Bear treats her is, what I believe all people should treat someone they have feelings for. Cora Lee and Noah's story was cute, once they admitted how they felt for each other, I felt like it was end game. This was really a great read.

Thanks to #netgalley, Jodi Thomas and RB Media for this arc.

Follows several characters in Someday Valley, Texas.

Each of these characters has some relationship they are developing. The story was sweet. The romance felt a little rushed to me. The blurb said slow burn, but I did not find it slow burn and some was pretty quick and the connections did not feel genuine to me.

The Wild Lavender Bookshop as a setting itself seemed like it was lacking. I was hoping that it would maybe be more of a center of the story.

I really liked Andy Delane part of the story, but the suspense threw me for a loop since I figured this would be just a contemporary romance.

Regardless, it was an easy read and a good palette cleanser.

This romance itself is pretty clean, I did not find any offensive content.

I got a copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange of a review.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the audio version.
I did not know this was part of a series. I felt like this book just starts and you are instantly lost. But I really didn't like any of the characters and the plot was just okay. The narrator did a good job but I was just not hooked.

This is the second book in this series, but it can be read as a standalone. I haven’t read the first book, but this did not feel like the story was connected to other books.

The book features three different couples that are also in different stages of their life and the story accumulates when all three couples come together at the end.

I really enjoyed the small town setting. However, for such a short book, there was just a bit too much going on. I sometimes had a hard time keeping the stories of the two younger couples apart, specifically the background story of Noah and the deputy, this might also be because I listened to this on audiobook. I am also not too sure if the storyline actually made any sense either. Especially, Andy’s background story and her way of ‚protecting‘ the family she didn’t know about by coming to their town made very little sense to me. Bear’s storyline was sweet in the present, but I could not get over the fact that he showed interest in his significant other when she was still a child. Given that he has children of his own, the age gap made me feel uncomfortable.

Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for gifting me this ALC of the audiobook to review.

cozy books are typically my go to. but I just couldn't sink into this book. the vibes were just off. There's a certain balance needed in these books and something was just askew with this one.

I recently had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook "The Wild Lavender Bookshop" by Jodi Thomas, narrated by Jeanine Bartel. While I was excited to listen to this story, I must admit that I couldn't get invested enough to connect with the characters or the storyline. I felt that too many characters were introduced too early in the book, making it difficult to keep track of their individual storylines. DNF only completed 25% before realizing it wasn't for me.

There is a full cast of characters. Each interwoven with each other. They all have big personalities that comes out in the story. There is a mystery feel to it throughout with romance. Noah the bookshop owner. Cora Lee who is a teacher living in the same building. Bear the town fix it person and the father of Cora Lee. Eliza who keeps to herself and has an unexpected secret behind her. Dan the town deputy assigned to protect Andi who’s a detective from Dallas who shows up in town to find her long lost brothers that she just learned about and is hiding away in this small town for other reasons. You will enjoy these characters as they develop in the story. It has that small town feeling to it! There are twist and turns and some surprising developments and loads of romance. If you like Robyn Carr and Susan Mallery’s stories you will love Jodi Thomas! Definitely enjoyed this audiobook! Narrator did a good job! Enjoyed her voice! You can listen to this as a stand alone like I did. Don’t pass this one up! I always enjoy Jodi Thomas! A must read!

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers in letting me read this book and allowing me to leave an honest review.

This Austin girlie really enjoyed the world building in this book. I recognized a lot of the settings in the book. In addition to the great scenery, I thoroughly enjoyed the relationships, and there are many relationships to keep track of. There was steamy love, sweet love, and strained love.

Adventure from start to finish, you go on the run with these wild characters. Running from a family members haunting past, you go on the journey with each character as they find themselves.

Take a stroll through the Texas Bluebonnets and fall in love at The Wild Lavender Bookshop.

Thank You to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book. The thoughts and opinions on this book are my own.

This one felt too chaotic for me. There were just too many plotlines and they honestly didn’t weave together very well. It felt like I should have been reading three different stories for most of the book and none of them were really that great either. Definitely didn’t hold my interest well.

I'm not sure what I was expecting from a "comfort romance," but I guess it wasn't blatant misogyny and cringey pet names like "fairy" and "honey" every five seconds. I know this series is set in small-town Texas, and I appreciate that not every female character is a damsel in distress, but the way even the tough one is portrayed as a ball buster was not what I expected from a novel written in 2024. Gross. Also, the dialogue is incredibly juvenile and derivative.

The audiobook narration was ok, but I thought the accents were pretty hokey.

I'll pass on the rest of this series. I think you need to read it in order to really understand what's going on. I wouldn't recommend this as a stand-alone.

This was a great audiobook! I loved the small-town story! This is the second novel in the Someday Valley series. I have not yet read the first book in the series and had no problem reading this as a standalone novel.

The story is about a woman named Andy Delane, a law enforcement officer whose recent undercover mission may have put family she didn't know she had in danger. Andy never knew her father and was informed that she was named in his will along with her three half-brothers, who live in Honey Creek, part of the Someday Valley. This story follows savvy, hardened Andy through the small town with her local law enforcement "tail" who is easily recognizable due to his size and lack of ability to be covert. This romance was just what I needed for a feel-good, slow burn romance. This was a very cute story.

The narration was great and I really enjoyed the book. I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a small town romance.

Book two of the series was such a heartwarming story of love and family. Andi comes to town to find out about her father and what comes next is three love stories at that were a little hard to distinguish at times. I listened to this on an audiobook and the narrator was good as well. So many parts of the story made you want to cheer for the characters. Thank you #NetGalley for the ARc.

Short, quick read. Fast moving love story. Themes include moving on, finding love and family, all while dealing with a cartel boss wanting to kill you.

I was almost two-thirds of the way through "The Wild Lavender Bookshop" before I realized that it was the sequel to a book I'd really enjoyed previously. So I wish I'd made that connection much sooner. There's something to be said for a series installment that can be read as a standalone. Yet had I made the connection earlier, I think it would have been more satisfying.

While I enjoyed this story, I felt like both the title and marketing copy were a bit misleading. The way I read things Andi and Danny were the main characters, and everyone else seemed secondary to their storyline. Yet, the book is named after the bookshop Noah owns and that he and Cora live above (even though that's most of the role the shop plays). And the book description makes them seem like more significant characters (along with Cora's sister Katherine and their father Bear) than they really were. So I found that all confusing.

Despite all that, I did enjoy the story overall, and it was nice to see Andi finally get to meet two of her brothers (who were featured in the first book of the series). Given that there's one more brother to locate, I'm hoping there will be a third book in the series to look forward to.

Thank you to Jodi Thomas, Kensington Books, and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

The Wild Lavender Bookshop by Jodi Thomas
Someday Valley series #2. Contemporary small town romance with a touch of suspense. Can be read as a stand-alone. Multiple romance storylines.
Bear and Eliza: he’s been alone a long time and his family push him to get out more. Little do they know that Bear hasn’t been as lonely as they believe.
Andy and Dan: Andy is in town hide, but gets more involved with family than expected.
Cora Lee and Noah: Cora Lee is in love for the first time and bookstore owner Noah will convince her that together, their happiness will outshine the difficulties.

🎧 I listened to an audiobook copy of this book narrated by Jeannie Bartel. Because there are three couples in this book, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish one from the other so it’s important to know a bit of background or at least the storyline of each of the women in particular. The performance is well done and at a good pace but I believe would be easier to follow as a print copy. To prevent losing all inflection, I kept the speed slightly slower than my usual and listened at 1.3.
Touching and heartfelt. Family.
3.5

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and publisher RB Media.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wild-lavender-bookshop-jodi-thomas/1143247749?ean=9781420155105&bvnotificationId=aedb0c02-01f9-11ef-beec-0ef04077cbd5&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=aol.com#review/279439061

This book was really good! It would’ve been better by separating the 3 different characters into different books to give a deeper insight into their stories. I finished this one pretty quickly!

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for this ARC!
I really loved this sweet small town romance, it moved really quickly and I managed to finish it in a single sitting.
I think I would’ve preferred that each of the three couples have their own books to flesh out their stories a bit more, there was definitely potential especially for Danny and Andi.
The narrator also has such a strong voice it really worked well for this audiobook!

The Wild Lavender Bookshop AUDIO by Jodi Thomas is much like her other books. It is set in Someday Valley, Texas, and it is the unlikely romances of three very unlikely couples. Cora and Noah, who is an outsider and owns the bookstore above which Cora has an apartment. She teaches first grade. Her father, Bear, and his fairy, with whom he has been in love for many years and they have cherished their secret. The third couple is Danny, the deputy who is assigned to guard Andy Delane who is in town for two purposes: to hide out from people who what to stop her from testifying against a big-time criminal, and to find her brothers, whom she has just recently discovered she has. She is tough and ready to take care of herself and doesn’t appreciate Danny hovering. He doesn’t appreciate her standing naked in the window at night, after her shower.

Thomas specialized in unlikely romances and she hits the jackpot here. Noah has run away from home to escape his overbearing parents, and Cora is simply too shy. Bear got his nickname based on his looks and has for years has been escaping to spend at least part of his weekend with a woman he saw as he was leaving for the service, sitting on a fencepost. She kept to herself so no one ever discovered them until Danny asked Bear for help in keeping Andy safe. The fairy knew a place, but it was a secret, from everyone. Andy won her confidence with a special gift and was saved. This is such a lovely book. It is not all that exciting, mostly, but it is true romance. It is always good when folks who would not otherwise find love, find it in the mostly unlikely place. Yes, it is a feel-good novel. Don’t we all need to feel good? Thanks Jodi Thomas for continuing to write books that make me feel good.

The book’s narrator is Jeanine Bartel. This is the first of Thomas’ books I’ve listened to and I have to say, I thought Jeanine did an exceptional job. At first she was hard to listen to, a little too much staccato, which suited Andy, but not the others, but as the book wore on she slowed down and I adjusted so it ended well.

I was invited to listen to the Wild Lavender Bookshop by RB Media. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #RBMedia #JodiThomas #JeanineBartel #TheWildLavenderBookshop

I have been trying to listen to this but keep losing interest and then I have to rewind the audiobook to catch what I missed. I think it is the narrator. I have placed a Hold for this at my library and will review it when my copy comes in and I finish it.

I thought this book was a bit confusing - the characters were all over the place for me and hard to follow. It all felt a bit forced. I listened to this as an audio book and really liked the narrator though so where the story lacked a little bit for me she made up for with story telling!

3 stars - Publish date 04/23/2024

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reader!