Title: Still the One
Author: Rachel D. Russell
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: #1 Deep Haven Collection
Publisher: Sunrise Publishing
Release date: 12 January 2021
Pages: 288
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About the Book
The last thing he wants to do is return home.
Cole Barrett, former Army Ranger, has a new mission objective. Sell his grandfather’s house and put Deep Haven in his rearview mirror as fast as possible. Deep Haven holds the hurts of physical abuse at the hands of his grandfather, a man now in a memory care facility with dementia. Recently divorced, single, and unattached, Cole just wants a new life as a US Marshal. One where he can forget the past and start new.
Unfortunately, there’s a tenant in the garage apartment who’s refusing to move. Even worse? It’s his childhood crush, Megan Carter, and her son.
She’s waited years for her first love to return.
Wedding planner and single mom Megan Carter is no stranger to Deep Haven. To her, it’s the place where she makes dreams come true—at least, everyone else’s. Her big dream is to purchase the Black Spruce Bed & Breakfast to turn it into a premier event venue and, if she can stay booked for enough weddings over winter, she’ll have enough money to buy the inn, move out of Grandpa Barrett’s garage apartment, and finally give her nine-year-old son, Josh, the life he deserves. After using part of her intended down payment to cover his hockey fees, she’s behind on her Black Spruce funds and only has thirty days to come up with four thousand dollars.
Still, she’s oh, so close…until her childhood friend-slash-crush, Cole Barrett, returns to Deep Haven. Unfortunately, he’s not back to fulfill a silly childhood promise to marry her, but she never expected him to evict her! The last thing she needs is more expenses. Or for another man to walk into her heart…and break it.
Maybe it’s never too late to finish a love story…
When a blizzard strikes Deep Haven, and Megan is overrun with wedding catastrophes, it takes a former Ranger to step in and help. But the more he comes to her rescue, the sooner she’ll be able to move out…and he can move on.
And that’s what they both want, right?
Return to Deep Haven with this magical tale about the one who got away…and came back.
Excerpt
The sight of a woman walking down the sidewalk caught his attention. She held a large box of ribbons in her arms, the wind toying with a few. She wore a long, gray winter dress coat over a floral skirt. It flapped against the tall brown boots that hit just below her knees. Behind the load she carried, her blonde, shoulder-length hair blew across her face.
She neared, her foot slipping on a patch of ice—”Oh!” She righted herself, but the sudden movement tossed blue flowers, bows, and a three-ring binder into the snow, the ribbons skittering away like mice.
He grabbed a couple, ran after a few more, and found himself chasing ribbons down the street.
“Thank you,” she said as he returned holding the runaway ribbons. She stood to face him, pushing tangles of hair from her face. Then, a wave of recognition seemed to wash over her. “Hi again.” A slight smile lit her face. “Hey. Are you here for the wedding?”
The wedding—wait. It was the woman from the side of the road.
Huh. She looked better without the massive parka. She was pretty, those eyes again reaching out to him, and something warm in them cut through the chill of the day. “Hi. Again. Uh, no. Definitely not here for a wedding.”
“Right. I’m a wedding coordinator. These are decorations for tonight,” she added, reaching for the ribbons he held. “This is so not my day.” He piled them into her box as she tried to hold them down. “Lucky you—you get to save me twice.”
Yes, lucky him. And he couldn’t help but smile back. Because she was smiling at him as if she wasn’t kidding. As if he actually might be her hero, and he hadn’t had a woman—including his wife—look at him like that in so long, well, he didn’t realize how much he hungered for it.
Silly. She was just some stranger…
And then he spotted her binder and read the laminated name badge stuck to the cover.
MEGAN CARTER
Megan. Carter?
He looked up, studied her for a moment. No way.
He stilled, a hitch catching his breath. What were the chances…
Review
Lovers of Susan May Warren and contemporary romance in general have much to look forward to with this new series that takes readers back to Deep Haven, stomping ground of the Christiansen family and a host of other beloved Warren characters. What’s more, author Rachel D. Russell writes in that engaging, conversational style that readers of Susan May Warren have long enjoyed.
Russell sets the stage for a story full of romantic tension as former childhood friends Megan Carter and Cole Barrett find themselves standing in direct opposition to one another’s goals. And that tension only ratchets up when Cole offers to help Megan with some last-minute wedding changes that have her a little under the pump. The more they work together, the more the romantic tension crackles and the less clear-cut their goals become.
I felt as though some of the complications toward the end of the story were a little contrived, but I loved the way Megan and Cole’s relationship developed as they worked together. The bonus is that their romance unfolds amidst cameos from several well-loved Deep Haven characters and a healthy dose of small-town charm and community spirit.
I’m looking forward to returning to Deep Haven with the next in the series.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.
About the Author
Rachel D. Russell is a member of Oregon Christian Writers and My Book Therapy’s Novel Academy, and is a regular contributor to the Learn How to Write a Novel blog. The mother of two teenagers, she often interrogates her husband on his own military and law enforcement experience to craft believable heroes in uniform. The rest of her time is spent cantering her horse down the Oregon trails.
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