Sandra's Book Club: Blog Tour: RELUCTANT HEARTS by Linda Griffin

Reluctant Hearts

by Linda Griffin

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GENRE: Contemporary Romance

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BLURB:

Four couples, four stories: Darien Francis and Richard Li meet during a bank robbery, but she's afraid to love again. Shane Kenniston and Beth Parker are reacquainted years after she had a crush on him, but she is a recent widow, and Shane's life was upended by a false accusation. David Early and Kate Howard meet in the laundromat, but her life is consumed by the needs of her disabled child, and David isn't ready for the responsibility. Realtor Frank Ellison meets Kayla Barnes at an open house, but a mistaken first impression derails any chance of romance. Can they all overcome the obstacles to love?

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Excerpt Two:

“So, you don’t smoke, you don’t drink, and you don’t do Halloween? What do you do?”

“Whatever you’ll let me do, I guess,” he said. He hadn’t used that old line since college.

She was surprised, but she didn’t seem upset. She gazed at him speculatively for a few seconds and then leaned towards him. He didn’t want to take anything for granted, so he waited for her to kiss him first, but he responded without hesitation. She tasted of beer and cherry-flavored lip gloss. “Oh, gosh,” she said. “Wait till I tell Patty I kissed Mr. Kenniston.”

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Review: What could be worse than a bad Monday? How about a really bad Monday with being caught in the middle of a bank robbery? But this may not have been so bad because the woman that was held hostage ended up connecting with the security guard that saved her. This is just one of the stories you will find in Reluctant Hearts. It actually took me a while to realize this. The book is actually comprised of four different stories. Four stories. Four couples. All reluctant to love again.

Overall, this were fairly nice reads. The narrative was nice and easy, but the length and pace were much too slow for my taste. To me, the stories felt more literary than anything. Each story had its moments and the characters generally had good comraderies; however, I felt that each story was not sustainable on its own. It felt like it needed more. I honestly thought the four stories would combine in some unique twist of fate.

Stories did not really engage me all the way, but they’re suitable reads. All in all, the book was a fair read.

Rating: 3 stars

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I was born and raised in San Diego, California and earned a BA in English from San Diego State University and an MLS from UCLA. I began my career as a reference and collection development librarian in the Art and Music Section of the San Diego Public Library and then transferred to the Literature and Languages Section, where I had the pleasure of managing the Central Library’s Fiction collection. Although I also enjoy reading biography, memoir, and history, fiction remains my first love. In addition to the three R’s—reading, writing, and research—I enjoy Scrabble, movies, and travel.

My earliest ambition was to be a “book maker” and I wrote my first story, “Judy and the Fairies,” with a plot stolen from a comic book, at the age of six. I broke into print in college with a story in the San Diego State University literary journal, The Phoenix, but most of my magazine publications came after I left the library to spend more time on my writing

My stories, in every length from short shorts to novellas, have been published in numerous journals, including Eclectica, The Binnacle, The Nassau Review, Orbis, and Thema Literary Journal, and I have six novels available from the Wild Rose Press.

Social media links:

https://www.lindagriffinauthor.com/

https://www.facebook.com/lindagriffin.author

https://twitter.com/LindaGriffinA

https://www.instagram.com/lindagriffinauthor/

https://www.pinterest.com/lgriffin08392487

Buy links:

https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Hearts-Linda-Griffin-ebook/dp/B0BW2FQXNW

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/reluctant-hearts-linda-griffin/1143041313

https://books.apple.com/us/book/reluctant-hearts/id6445743648

https://bookshop.org/p/books/reluctant-hearts-linda-griffin/19721906

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781509248827