I’ll Stand by You by Sharon Sala – a Review

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Description:
No one is alone
Dori Grant is no stranger to hardship. As a young single mother in the gossip-fueled town of Blessings, Georgia, she’s weathered the storm of small-town disapproval most of her life. But when Dori loses everything within the span of an evening, she realizes she has no choice but to turn to her neighbors.

As long as there is love to give
Everyone says the Pine boys are no good, but Johnny Pine has been proving the gossips wrong ever since his mother died and he took over raising his brothers. His heart goes out to the young mother and child abandoned by the good people of Blessings. Maybe he can be the one to change all that…

Review:

I’ll Stand by You by Sharon Sala is a wonderful story that takes place in a small town in Georgia. This is a sweet romance, but it is really story driven about two young people having a hard time in their lives due to terrible circumstances.

Dori Grant is our heroine, and I thought she was great. Dori, who is only 18, is a single mother who lives with her grandfather and baby boy. She works as a dishwasher in the local restaurant to help pay the bills. Though Dori lives on the nice side of the town, she is looked at with disapproval from her uppity neighbors.

Johnny Pine is our hero, who takes care of his younger brothers, since their mother died. He has a steady job for a contractor, but ends are hard to meet, and he lives on the bad side of town. The story more or less begins when Johnny is called to rescue his youngest brother, Beep, who was beaten up by a small gang of children at school.

The town of Blessings stands by Johnny, as he puts in a complaint to the school, and the parents of the children. Beep suffered serious injuries, but will recover. Almost at the same time, Dori suffers a major setback, as her house is on fire. When it is over, the house is destroyed and her grandfather is dead.   Dori’s uppity neighbors offer her sympathy, but leave her and her boy standing alone, with nowhere to go. It is Johnny who drives by the fire with his brothers, who will come to the rescue to help Dori.

What follows is a story of a town split apart by prejudice and one person, in particular who thinks nothing of destroying lives.   But there were some really nice people that helped both Dori and Johnny fight the stigma, and the town joins hands to help them.

While that is going on, Dori, who is now staying in Johnny’s house, takes care of the boys, cleans, and cooks. But Dori’s life will change for the better, as the local lawyer who helps her pro-bono, will discover some surprises for her. As each day passes, Johnny and his two young brothers find themselves caring for Dori and her son.

Just when you think that things will get better for them, they get thrown another bombshell. The nasty neighbor, afraid of backlash will create more havoc with false lies, causing more trouble for both Johnny and Dori. There is another villain, who will get his just due, some with humor With the lawyer’s advice, Johnny and Dori will commit to each other to protect their family from social services in order to protect the children, and a sweet romance truly begins.

This was a different type of story that I thoroughly enjoyed. The two main characters, Johnny and Dori were great. It was nice to see some really nice secondary characters that brought the town together to help those in need. Very nice writing by Sharon Sala, and a wonderful uplifting story.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher