Hope Springs Series by Alison Kent
Hope Springs #1
The Second Chance Café
Alison Kent
Growing up, Kaylie Flynn was shuffled from foster home to foster home before being welcomed into Winton and May Wise’s family. It was May who taught Kaylie the comfort of home, and the healing power of baking the perfect brownie. Years later, May leaves Kaylie the money she needs to open her own café in the charming Victorian house they once shared. Now back in Hope Springs, Kaylie’s determined to finally make all her dreams a reality—and unearth answers to lingering questions about her past. Soon, however, Kaylie’s carefully laid plans take an unexpected turn. The house needs far more work than she realized, and Tennessee Keller, the carpenter Kaylie hires, is proving to be a very handsome and very unneeded distraction from her quest to uncover the truth about her parents. When a crisis threatens to destroy everything she’s worked so hard to build, Kaylie must decide where her heart lies: with the ghosts of her past or the love and promise of her future.From Publishers WeeklyVeteran romance author Kent (Undeniable) inaugurates a small-town series set in Hope Springs, Tex., the kind of place where people remember Kaylie Flynn by name when she comes back after 10 years away. She left as a newly emancipated foster child; now she's a college-educated woman with one successful business built and another taking shape in her mind. The gorgeous but deteriorating Victorian house that was her refuge in childhood will be renovated and opened to the town as a lunch café – if the surprises in those old walls and Kaylie's own secrets don't bring her plans crashing down. Shoring up the dream is building contractor Tennessee Keller, a man with a troubled family history of his own and a determination not to mix business and pleasure. Girl talk, brownie recipes and a goofy dog named Magoo complete this pleasant confection with the right balance of hope and memory, tears and sizzle. From BooklistFans of womanly romances set in small communities where outsiders become family, as in Robyn Carr's Virgin River series or Cathie Linz's Serenity Falls series, will enjoy this first installment in the Hope Springs series. Kaylie Flynn returns to Hope Springs, Texas, where she had lived with a wonderful fosterfamily from age 10 to 18. After success in Austin as a baker, Kaylie, accompanied by her enormous dog, Magoo, moves into the only real home she had growing up, intent on turning it into a unique lunch place. The huge, old Victorian house needs work, so she hires Tennessee "Ten" Keller, who is committed to family but estranged from his own. Her new friend, Luna, a celebrity weaver, sends a potential chef to her door but doesn’t reveal a secret he has involving Kaylie. The prolific Kent introduces a cast of good-hearted folks with interesting, practical, and unusual talents, who readers will enjoy getting to know and visiting in future titles. Luna's story is slated for a fall release. — Diana Tixier Herald
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