Book Review: Carolina Breeze

Denise Hunter
Thomas Nelson, 2020
336 pages

Amazon Description:

A jilted bride. A struggling innkeeper. And a romantic mountain getaway that changes everything

Rising Hollywood star Mia Emerson is looking for a safe place to land in the wake of a public breakup and celebrity scandal, and she finds it in the lake town of Bluebell, North Carolina—the location of her canceled honeymoon. She wants nothing more than to hide and wait for the tabloids to die down.

Soon after her arrival at the Bluebell Inn, Mia meets Levi Bennett, who runs the inn along with his two younger sisters. Drawn to one another from the start, Mia trusts Levi to keep her location from the press, and Levi confides in Mia about the precarious financial state of the inn—a secret he’s been keeping from his sisters.

When Mia and Levi discover an old journal that hints at a rare diamond necklace hidden in the inn, they set off on a treasure hunt to find the long-lost heirloom. What they don’t expect to surface are feelings they thought were safely locked away. Mia and Levi must decide if falling in love again is too big a risk—or if it will uncover a treasure of its own instead.

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Thanks to TLC Book Tours for sending me a copy of Carolina Breeze so that I could participate in the tour.

When I’m in the mood for a sweet romance that keeps me turning pages from the first word to the last, Denise Hunter is one of the first authors I reach for. I always fly through her books and enjoy the real, relatable characters and love stories that have plenty of chemistry but don’t venture into the bedroom.

Carolina Breeze is the second in a planned three book series set in the Blue Ridge Mountains at the Bluebell Inn, a recently restored inn run by a trio of siblings trying to keep the dream their parents had for the place alive. It’s a charming setting that lends itself to romance because the protagonists all are technically living under the same roof, so they are always in close proximity to each other. Actually the whole town of Bluebell, North Carolina feels cozy and welcoming, which contributes to the overall feel of the story.

While there are some returning characters from Lake Season, the first book in the series, Carolina Breeze really focuses on Levi and Mia. Both of them are great characters and really complement each other because they are both people who have more going on inside than what people see on the surface. As an actress, most people assume Mia is shallow and spoiled, but she is just dealing with her own issues like everyone else, only with the world watching. Levi’s sisters see him as a bossy kill-joy, but that’s because they don’t know about the promise he made to their dying father. I love that Denise Hunter is able to portray these deep characters with real issues in way that is hopeful and highly readable.

Two thumbs up for Carolina Breeze, and I can’t wait for the third book, Autumn Skies, to come out later this fall! I think it will be a great close to a wonderful series, though I think I’ll be sad to say goodbye to Bluebell when it’s all over.

Other books I love from Denise Hunter:

• Lake Season
• Honeysuckle Dreams
• On Magnolia Lane