Find Your Way Home (Small Town Dreams 1) by Jackie Ashenden-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 26, 2022

He’s hell-bent on telling her what to do.
She’s determined to make it on her own.
They’re both going to learn a thing or two about first impressions.

Brightwater Valley, New Zealand, is beautiful, rugged, and home to those who love adventure. But it’s also isolated and on the verge of becoming a ghost town.

When the town puts out a call to its sister city of Deep River, Alaska, hoping to entice people to build homes and businesses in Brightwater, ex paratrooper Chase Kelly is all for it. He sees the benefits of building the economy, but only if those who come to Brightwater are ready for its challenges. Former oil executive Isabella Montgomery and her plan to open an art gallery don’t seem up to the test. Now Chase is determined to help her learn the ways of his formidable hometown.

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REVIEW:FIND YOUR WAY HOME is the first instalment in Jackie Ashenden’s contemporary, adult SMALL TOWN DREAM romance series-a spin off from the author’s ALASKA HOMECOMING SERIES. This is thirty-five year old, New Zealander, ex paratrooper and single father Chase Kelly, and American, former oil executive Isabella ‘Izzy’ Montgomery’s story line. Isabella is Zeke Montgomery’s sister (THAT DEEP RIVER FEELING-Alaska Homecoming #3).

Told from dual third person perspectives ( Chase and Izzy) FIND YOUR WAY HOME follows the building romance and relationship between thirty-five year old, New Zealander, ex paratrooper and single father Chase Kelly, and American, former oil executive Isabella ‘Izzy’ Montgomery. In the wake of losing her job, and a failed engagement with an attorney back home in Texas, Isabella Montgomery , along with her two friends, Bethany and Indigo, head to New Zealand to start a new business venture in Brightwater Valley, a small town that is slowly dying without some much needed start up entrepreneurs but the trio’s welcome to Brightwater is questionable at best including the less than welcoming attitude of the town’s so-called mayor Chase Kelly, a man who stirs something deep within our story line heroine. As Izzy, Indigo and Beth set out to uncover what is needed in Brightwater Valley, our heroine finds herself in a friends with benefits relationship with Chase Kelly, a man whose past is mired in abandonment and loss. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Izzy and Chase, and the potential fall-out as Chase doesn’t do romance, and refuses to accept anything long term with our story line heroine.

Chase Kelly is a single father whose ex-wife abandoned their family leaving Chase to raise his now twelve year old daughter, alone. Trying to keep his private life separate from family and the Brightwater Valley busybodies at home, Chase offers Isabella a friends with benefits only relationship fearing another abandonment when Isabella decides it’s time to go home. Izzy Montgomery had no plans to leave Texas but losing her job, and without the support of family or friends, Izzy finds herself in Brightwater Valley, New Zealand, on the precipice of starting over. Having lost both her fiance and her job within a matter of days, Izzy convinced herself she didn’t want a permanent relationship only to discover that her heart wanted something more. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

We are introduced to Izzy’s friends Beth and Indigo, as well as Chase’s daughter ‘Gus’, his brother Finn, and friend Levi, all of whom are partnered with the Pure Adventure NZ. Finn and Beth’s story is next.

FIND YOUR WAY HOME is a story of love and loss, acceptance and new beginnings. The character driven premise is engaging and captivating; the characters are broken but healing; the romance is seductive.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy