Grace Falls by HP Munro

Doctor Madeleine Marinelli, (Maddie)has decided it’s time for a change. After being dumped by her partner, Joanna, of twelve years, she has no reason to stay in Atlanta. Maddie lines up a prestigious job as head of an ER in San Francisco. Unfortunately, or may be fortunately, Maddie didn’t make it to San Francisco. Her beloved T-Bird broke down en route, just outside of the tiny town of Grace Falls. Her car is going to take a while to repair due to some shenanigans by the mechanics at the garage. Meanwhile, Maddie gets caught up in the laid back way of life in a small town and meeting some of it’s quirky residents.

 

Alex Milne has spent most of her life caring for others, now she’s raising her young daughter, Jessica, while running her own coffee shop. When Alex meets Maddie, she is immediately attracted to her. But she can’t chance getting involved with her. Maddie will not be staying in town. She’ll be leaving as soon as her car is fixed. Alex simply can’t risk her heart, can she?

 

This is the first book I’ve read by H.P. Munro. I have to say, it won’t be the last as I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story is a true delight to read. The two main characters, Maddie and Alex are so obviously made for each other. Both are multi-faceted with a fantastic back up cast of secondary characters all interacting wonderfully well together to progress the story forward. Alex’s daughter, Jessica, was the star of this book. She’s humorous and years older than her actual biological age. In fact, she had me literally laughing out loud at some of her antics.

 

I loved that this book was set in a small American town where everyone knew everyone else’s business. In some cases, even before they knew it themselves. It all added to the closeness of the characters, although it in turn caused some problems. Which added to the entertainment value.

 

The one thing I would have liked to know was ‘what happened to the Grace family that Grace Falls is named after’. They were alluded to and I kept waiting for them to either put in an appearance or for some sort of explanation. There was a small mention of Alex and Charlotte Grace, but that was all. Just a minor point and it didn’t spoil the story one bit. There was so much going on at all times.

 

There were a few typos and grammatical errors, but nothing that pulled me out of the story.

 

I would love to meet these characters again. A sequel would be more than welcome.