Ami's Hoard

“When you find someone you want to walk it with, though, it can change everything. We’ve got to carry one other through the hard parts. Every little kiss matters ...”

The book opens with Emma Henry being intoxicated after having a little too much tequila at her sister’s bachelorette party. Newly plated Harvest Cove police officer, Seth Andersen, comes to rescue her. I remembered Emma from the first book being a little too uptight so to imagine this brunette party planner lying in the middle of walkway ready to sleep the drink away was quite amusing.

Emma has her own reason for acting like she is. She wants to be the “normal” one from all the Henrys – since Henrys have their own names usually attached to something scandalous. But being with Seth disrupts her orderly life and that scares the hell out of her. In addition, Emma is afraid of the pain from losing someone. Losing her father at the age of twelve makes Emma want to choose “safe” options, and Seth, being a police officer with risky jobs, definitely is not safe.

Seth, on the other hand, has his own emotional scars. He survived a few years in the Army on tours in Iraq, but he comes to Harvest Cove after experiencing PTSD. He came from a dark place, and he is not sure if he is ready to share anything about his life to someone. Even if he starts to feel things for Emma.

I really enjoyed this second installment of Leigh Castle’s small-town romance series. Somehow, Emma is very relatable for me. She keeps her distance from people, she described herself as boring because she doesn’t go socialize much. I know how that is *grin*. Of course, I am an introvert through and through, so I usually stay away from the party scene and prefer to be at home, tucked in my bed with my reading. While Emma, her being so is more because she prefers to be like that. She needs to be seen as competent. It seems like she works harder compared to her sister or mother. But still, I understand her and I feel for her very much.

I like how Emma’s pain feels real. Usually when I read a romance about two people scared of commitment, some of the reasons feel lame to me. But Emma’s somehow feel real and understandable. Her being scared is written vividly, the pain of losing someone she loves so much in early age.

While Seth, despite him not sharing a lot with Emma, also feels very grounded. I loved how he made Emma lose her footing. Seth is a solid kind of hero, and I loved him so much. Even more than Jake, the hero in the first book – because Jake was an idiot when it came to his friends *lol*. Seth is likeable and dependable.

So I loved Emma and Seth together – their chemistry felt lovely, and I loved how Seth chipped down Emma’s defense shield brick by brick. Seth held himself off, but somehow I knew that his feelings for Emma ran deep, so it was just a matter of time for him. The last two chapters were a bit emotional for me – again because Castle painted Emma’s pain vividly. I admit that I had my eyes a bit teary during the emotional love declaration.

In addition to these two, Leigh Castle introduced new secondary characters – aside from Zoe, who would be the star of her own book – which made me happy for new possible couplings. I really hope that there will be more books coming from this series, because this is a series I can see myself being attached to for quite a while.


PS: Leigh Castle announced there would be book 4 and 5 in this series via her Twitter. That made me VERY happy indeed!!