Hooked on You

 Title: Hooked on You

Series: Maple Falls #1

Author: Kathleen Fuller

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Genre: Contemporary fiction/Christian Fiction/Romance

Synopsis:

When her grandmother injures herself sliding into third base, Riley McAllister must return to her small hometown to help run the family yarn store in this sweet, lighthearted romantic comedy.

Riley McAllister left the small Arkansas town of Maple Falls after graduating high school, hoping to make it big in New York as a mixed media artist. She’s still pursuing her dream when her grandmother begs her to come home and help her manage the store while she recovers from a broken leg she got after sliding into third base during a church softball game (she was safe, by the way). Riley agrees, planning to convince her grandmother to sell the old shop and retire so Riley can get back to the big city. New York is where she belongs, not some hick town that doesn’t even have a decent coffee shop.

Hayden Price’s life hasn’t turned out as he expected either. He still works in the hardware store his family has owned for several generations after his chance to make it out of Maple Falls ended when he blew out his pitching arm during a minor league game. Stuck with debt from college and a broken engagement, he decides to make the best of things when he comes back to Maple Falls and puts together the town’s first church softball team--with him as coach, of course.

Riley and Hayden went to high school together but ran in totally different circles. In fact, it’s safe to say they hated each other. Will that change when the softball team unexpectedly brings them together? Or will the pain and disappointment of their past failures keep them from discovering love in Maple Falls?

My Review:

Riley is a complex character who struggles with perfectionist tendencies. In some ways her behavior annoys me at the beginning of the book, but as the story develops you understand Riley's struggles and why she is the way she is. Riley grows into her own person as the story develops and also resolves some things. However, at the end of the story, there is still a bit unresolved.

Hayden seems like the perfect cool, calm, collected guy. It comes as a surprise that he has had his own issues that he struggled with. It is also refreshing since no one is perfect.

I enjoyed this book but did not perceive it as the light-hearted romantic comedy that it was intended to be. I think it missed the mark. It did have some light-hearted moments, but no laugh-out-loud moments. A very tender scene made me connect to the story in a way that I had not up until that moment, I just wish it had happened sooner.

All things considered, I think Hooked on You is worth a read. Especially for those who love romance stories with swoon-worthy scenes. Fans of Denise Hunter, Pepper Basham, and Becky Wade will also enjoy this author. I look forward to the second book in Kathleen Fuller's Maple Falls series set to release early next year.

Special thanks to Thomas Nelson and Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book. I was not required to provide a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.