The Lemon Sisters: Two Sisters Return to Wildstone, Where Secrets and a Sexy Past Await (The Wildstone Series, 3)

ALL THE SWOONS! No, seriously! This book is a new favorite by Jill Shalvis. I keep waiting for my girl crush on this author to wear off but she keeps delivering the best romance with the swooniest heroes and the sassiest heroines. On that note, I know this has been tagged as women's fiction but it has all the makings of a contemporary romance. So don't let that category turn you off! In THE LEMON SISTERS, the third in Ms. Shalvis's Wildstone series, we meet, surprise, the Lemon sisters. Brooke lives in LA and only goes home sporadically. A surprise visit by her sister, Mindy, and her three kids, takes her back to her hometown, Wildstone. She's determined to find her old self, make amends with her estranged sister, apologize to the man she left without a word, and return to LA as a new/old Brooke. Running into Garrett, the only man she ever loved, goes as expected - where Brooke is concerned he is distant, sometimes even unfriendly and not amicable at all. Over the course of the story we learn about the tragedy that happened to Brooke and how that affected her future. I think many women will sympathize with her. The reasons she left Wildstone made sense to me, although I'm not a fan of characters keeping secrets. I know it's an often used plot device - I trusted Jill Shalvis because she has never let me down. She didn't this time either. After the helicopter accident, that not only wrecked her body but also her confidence and spirit, the reckless love for life she'd always…

WOW!!!! This book is full of complicated relationships. They all center around Brooke Lemon who hasn't been home in seven years. She left her family in Wildstone years before but after a tragedy she all but disappeared from her family. She didn't talk to her parents but occasionally on the phone. She rarely contacted her sister, Mindy, and was a terrible aunt to three adorable children. The most devastating was that she blocked Garrett, her perfect man, from her life. Brooke was safe hiding in L.A until she wasn't. Mindy shows up at her front door falling apart, needing a break forcing Brooke to head home to Wildstone and all of her issues. What I really liked about Brooke was that she was amazing at solving other peoples problems. However, she was crappy at figuring out her own life. It really benefits the reader. There are so many emotions. There are a bunch of great laughs. And the book is filled with life lessons.

When Brooke's older sister, Mindy, shows up on her doorstep with her three children and looking like she's about to breakdown, there's nothing for Brooke to do but step in and offer help. This offer of help leads Brooke back to Wildstone, a place she left seven years ago with barely a glance back. But things in Brooke's life have been not feeling quite right not since an on-the-job accident nearly took Brooke's life. Much like Mindy, Brooke knows something has to change and she figures going back home will start her on the path to healing and moving forward. When she runs into her former love Garrett, Brooke begins to realize that moving on may be harder than she previously thought. But facing the past will come with revelations in love and in sisterhood. For me, The Lemon Sisters was a perfect stay-up-all-night second-chance romance. I'm a sucker for the second chance romances and Jill Shalvis certainly delivered. The chemistry and attraction between Brooke and Garrett just leaps off the page and I found myself feeling giddy with every interaction they had. I really liked the way Jill Shalvis slowly builds up the past hurts and issues between them, but with the realization that it doesn't matter as much because the feelings they have for each other are still there. Despite the feelings, however, is the fact that they do have to work through the issues before they can happily move on. Brooke's leaving hurt Garrett on a fundamental level which brings up things in his past…

Brooke and Mindy Lemon both grew up in Wildstone and while Mindy stayed in Wildstone, Brooke left and headed out to explore the world. Although they are sisters, they are worlds apart in how they view things. Mindy was the golden child who could do no wrong ever, Brooke had a spirit of adventure that could not be contained by the mere boundaries of Wildstone. Brooke had an innate need to be a wanderer. But something happened to Brooke during one of her globe trotting adventures that left her broke. Brooke nearly died during an adventure and it left her broken on the inside as well but she refused to talk to anyone about it. Mindy has followed her path to being the perfect daughter and got married and had three lovely spirited children and a husband who adored her. Except that sometimes perfection isn’t all it is cracked up to be and you end up cracked. Mindy arriving on Brooke’s doorstep in Los Angles with all three children in tow is the start of this romp through the boundaries of sisterhood, life and love. Mindy is on the verge of a complete and total breakdown when she shows up on Mindy’s doorstep. Brooke steps up and takes over by telling her sister to stay at her place in Los Angles while she takes the children back to Wildstone and that she will stay with them while Mindy tries to pull herself together. Going back to Wildstone is hard on Brooke since Garrett is there. Garrett is the love of her life even though she can’t admit to that plus she left him behind…

I have my best ideas in the shower, and again, I found the answer. The reason why I love Jill Shalvis’s romance stories is that her characters are looking for their happy place. That’s it. The heroine isn’t looking for a billionaire to drape her in diamonds. She’s not looking for a superstar to guide her into the spotlight. A biker…mafia man…hitman isn’t called for to show her a bit of the dark side. Jill Shalvis creates heroine’s that are just looking for someone to share their happy place. Someone to share the good times with the bad. The person who will put them first and expects the same. These women just want to love and be loved, put first and not forgotten about. I get it because it’s realistic and, in some ways, that is what we should all be hoping to attain. I LOVED meeting and getting to know Brooke and her sister Mindy, Linc, Mindy’s husband, and Garrett, Brooke’s first love. These four people were awesome in their own way but completely flawed. They all have outstanding attributes that made them shine, alongside characteristics that, while negative, also made them themselves. No one is perfect, they realise this and they know expecting perfection is unrealistic. What made them even better characters was their ability to acknowledge their flaws and accept that they needed to work on them. The Lemon Sisters took me on an emotional journey and left me extremely satisfied. I laughed, cried, squirmed and sighed. While the main four characters were riveting, we were…