Hope for the Holidays Finding New Hope Book 2
Contemporary Romance
The Wild Rose Press, Inc
April 21, 2021
177
To save New Hope, Jill Howell sold her family's legacy. As newly installed mayor, she's determined to strike her own path. If she wins a national magazine contest for America's favorite small town, she'll prove herself a worthy leader.
Business owner Rob Carroll faces eviction from the building housing his family business since the nineteenth century. With tightly held secrets under threat of public exposure, he finds himself on the opposite side of Jill in the fight for New Hope's future.
Can they find common ground, or will civic advancement end their chance at happily ever after?
Reviewed by Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
New Hope, Wisconsin has been on an upswing ever since child star, Danielle “Dani” Winters bought the old movie theater and turned it into a dinner theater called Holidays, Inc. The dinner theater only puts on shows for the holidays and it has re-energized a dying town. New businesses are springing up and old businesses are once again thriving. When we left off in book one Jill Howell the previous owner of the old movie theater and now best friends with Dani has run for the office of Mayor and won, now the shy unassuming woman has a full-time job trying to keep everything in New Hope going while keeping her relationship with Rob going as well.
Rob Carroll, is the owner of the hardware store and when everything should be looking up, he finds himself being served with an eviction notice. While helping Jill run for Mayor, he totally forgot to keep up with his lease and now a new owner will take over the property his family has had for years. Rob has kept his past Mayor a secret, a secret that led him to have to sell the property to the town and take out a lease. The old Mayor made a verbal agreement to always give him a chance to rebuy his property but since that agreement died with the old Mayor Rob is between a rock and a hard place.
As the new Mayor Jill was totally unaware of what was going on with the hardware store and was trying her best to find any loophole that would save Rob’s family business without exposing the reason, he sold it in the first place. All his life he has tried to keep the town from finding out the truth about his father but now that secret may finally have to see the light of day. Angry, hurt and feeling like a failure he begins to take out his anger on the one person he wants in his life, Jill. As the Mayor she is pulled between her personal feelings and her responsibility to the town she loves.
Rob’s high school sweetheart Nora has returned and is not subtle about her desire to rekindle what she and Rob had even though she was the one that left him heartbroken. Jill and Rob pull further and further apart while Nora and Rob seem to get closer, breaking Jill’s heart. When Nora accuses Jill in front of the town of being responsible for Rob losing his business and openly expresses her concern about all the other businesses in town and whether they are on the chopping block as well Jill fears losing the town’s people’s respect. If Nora can’t get Rob honestly, she won’t hesitate to throw Jill to the wolves.
Once again New Hope is in trouble and Jill has to do everything in her power to keep the town prosperous and it will take help from her brother Paul, Dani and hopefully Rob.
A sweet story about small town America where when the chips are down the town comes together for the good of all.