TEST
Looking for Leroy is a well-written, sweet inspy romance that trips up a bit as it tries hard to keep our hero and heroine from meeting too soon. Unfortunately it takes so much time for them to get together that not enough time is given to their rekindled, adult romance. Once you get past that, however, the end result, however, is a nice novel that ultimately works.
Oregon-based Brynna Phillips is a third grade teacher who has given up on love in the wake of her divorce from her cheating husband Dirk, who has since remarried a woman half his age. Her plans to stay home all summer and work on the garden are ruined when she bumps into Dirk’s now very-pregnant wife. Subsequently, she allows her friend Jan, a former sergeant and current vice principal at her school, to talk her into a camping trip up in Sonoma Valley, California.
Leroy Sorrentino is a vintner with a twenty-year-old daughter named Gina. Gina wants to quit college to start her own vineyard. Leroy is reluctant to affirm Gina’s ambitions, having skipped college himself, but Gina talks him into giving her a chance to prove herself as a manager over the summer. In light of recent fire damage to some of the vineyard’s fields, the winery can use all the help it can get. It’s been years since Leroy’s thought of romance at all; he’s been so busy raising Gina and her sisters and taking care of the vineyards since the death of his wife.
Conversation between Brynna and Jan on the road leads Brynna to remember something – her summer camp romance with Leroy when they were seventeen, and while Brynna hasn’t thought of Leroy for a long time, she remembers how polite and gentlemanly he was, and how he helped her over her first major heartbreak following her split with her boyfriend. They wrote to each other for a while before Brynna broke off contact to get back with said former boyfriend. Brynna regrets stopping communication with Leroy, and when Jan hears her story, she and Mike, a motorcyclist they add to their journey, make it their mission to reunite Brynna with Leroy. They do some research and find the vineyard.
Soon enough, Mike and Jan drop Brynna at the winery. She poses as an applicant for an open position there and she finds herself staying in Leroy’s guest cottage while working on the land. Now if they can only meet up again.
As if you haven’t guessed, it takes a lot time for Leroy and Brynna to reunite. Looking for Leroy spends a lot of time spinning its wheels keeping the pair from encountering each other, which they don’t do until the last quarter of the story. Since much of the book is about Leroy learning to let his daughters trust their own judgement and much of Brynna’s arc is about fully coming to accept her husband’s new happy life, this makes sense – yet doesn’t give us enough time with our central couple.
Leroy is a wonderful hero; a nice guy trying to get beyond his heartbreak. Brynna is a decent heroine – suffering much more than she lets on, and ready for a change if unaware of how to restart her life. They clearly belong together and have been drawn back together by God, but it takes some time for them to accept this and get used to this notion.
Carlson’s style distinguishes itself as a completely unique and is what makes the book worth reading in the end. You can feel the golden Sonoma sunshine in her prose, and taste the ripe grapes fresh from the vine.
Looking for Leroy is a nice, pleasant, faith-laced read that’s ultimately well worth a look.
Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local independent retailer
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Grade: B+
Book Type: Inspirational Romance
Sensuality: Kisses
Review Date: 06/05/22
Publication Date: 03/2022
Lisa Fernandes is a writer, reviewer and recapper who lives somewhere on the East Coast. Formerly employed by Firefox.org and Next Projection, she also currently contributes to Women Write About Comics. Read her blog at http://thatbouviergirl.blogspot.com/, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thatbouviergirl or contribute to her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissyvsEvilDead or her Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/missmelbouvier
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.