Love, Alabama

First impressions can be deceiving. That is something I learned from life and Love, Alabama reiterated that lesson. I received an ARC of Love, Alabama by Susan Sands in exchange for an honest review. As a whole this story did not appeal to me AT FIRST. A girl judged on her looks. A guy distancing himself from his past. All that has been done before. As I continued to read, it started to become obvious that there were hidden truths, traumatic events and inner struggles that plagued Emma and Matthew. Love, Alabama is a story about rebuilding trust, learning to forgive and moving forward despite all the baggage trailing behind. Emma has to learn to forgive herself and take a chance on stepping into the light. I admired Emma's strength and that was what ultimately turned this story around for me. More than a pretty face, she was a courageous woman.

A sweet small town romance and while on the surface it seems like there is a lot of fluff to the story, the secrets both the H/h have been keeping made this a much deeper story than it originally appeared to be. Emma is a former beauty queen who now works as a coach for current contestants. Emma's sister has landed a cooking show and Matthew Pope is sent to Alabama from NY to produce the show. He's not sure why fate has landed him back in Alabama only two hours from the town he worked so hard to escape but here he is and he'll do what it takes to make the show a success. As soon as Matthew sees Emma he immediately knows she is the beautiful girl he helped out of a bad situation years ago. Emma has no idea who is he though. These two hit it off immediately but Emma doesn't trust in men easily but as their relationship grows she knows that if she is ever going to trust Matthew is the man to believe in. Yet she doesn't know everything about that long ago night. Will she give him the chance to explain?? A good read I would recommend.

Love, Alabama by Susan Sands is a wonderful sweet small town love story, that must be read. The author does a great job at grabbing our attention through this story, it is very well written. I am looking forward to the next book by Susan Sands. I received a complimentary book by publisher for an honest review.