Can't Hurry Love: Includes a bonus novella

by Melinda Curtis

Overview

From a USA Today bestselling author comes a heartwarming romance about a city girl who finds herself widowed in a quirky small town and the new target of the town's relentless matchmaking Widows Club.
Head-over-heels in love, Lola Williams gave up everything to marry Randy, including a promising career in New York City. Now, after one year of marriage and one year of widowhood, Lola finds herself stranded in Sunshine, Colorado, reeling from the revelation that Randy had secrets she never could have imagined. She swears she's done with love forever but the matchmaking ladies of the Sunshine Valley Widows Club have different plans...

Sheriff Drew Taylor also knows what it feels like to be unlucky in love. So when Lola comes to him for help uncovering Randy's hidden life, Drew finds himself saying yes against his better judgment - especially with the Widows Club eyeing them both. Soon enough, Lola is upending Drew's peaceful, predictable world...and he kind of likes it! But will this big-city girl ever give her heart to a small-town guy again?

Includes the bonus novella "Kiss Me in Sweetwater Springs" by Annie Rains!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538733424
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	03/31/2020
Series:	Sunshine Valley , #1
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	NOOK Book
Sales rank:	16,376
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Melinda Curtis is the USA Today bestselling author of light-hearted contemporary romance. In addition to her Sunshine Valley series from Forever, she's published independently and with Harlequin Heartwarming, including her book Dandelion Wishes, which is currently being made into a TV movie. She lives in California's hot central valley with her hot husband - her basketball-playing college sweetheart. While raising three kids, the couple did the soccer thing, the karate thing, the dance thing, the Little League thing and, of course, the basketball thing. Between books, Melinda spends time with her husband remodeling their home by swinging a hammer, grouting tile, and wielding a paintbrush with other family members.

Editorial Reviews

02/10/2020

The quirky members of the Sunshine Valley Widows Club play matchmaker in this leisurely paced and entertaining series debut from Curtis (Dandelion Wishes). Lola Williams left her career as a makeup artist to move with her new husband, Randy, to his Colorado hometown. Lola struggles to break into the tight-knit community, which only gets harder after Randy’s sudden death. Cleaning out his things, Lola discovers evidence that Randy was having multiple affairs, sending her on a quest to uncover the women’s identities as the town’s Widows Club, a support group for women who’ve lost their husbands, rallies around her. Sheriff Drew Taylor finds Lola’s impulsive antics endearing (burning Randy’s underwear in a bonfire, setting up his blow-up dolls in his former shop windows) but believes he has no room for her chaos in his life. Drew’s ex-wife, who abandoned him and their six-year-old daughter, is moving back to town, and he’s convinced he needs a stable woman to counterbalance his ex’s influence on his daughter. Drew’s slow realization of his love for Lola, nudged along by the Widows Club, sweetly parallels the townsfolk’s gradual embrace of her as part of their community. Readers who enjoy relaxed stories of acceptance will be gratified. The edition includes a bonus story by Annie Rains. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"Nobody does emotional, heartwarming small-town romance like Melinda Curtis. This is a wonderful tonic of a book."—Jayne Ann Krentz, New York Times bestselling author

"Curtis weaves laugh-out-loud comic scenes with heartfelt emotions, delivering an endearing, wholesome romance."—Kathleen Gerard, ShelfAwareness.com

"A fun and heartwarming cozy romance read that gave me hours of entertainment!"—TheGenreMinx.com

"A small town brought to life with wit and charm."—Sheila Roberts, New York Times bestselling author

"You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll want to visit again soon!"—Brenda Novak, New York Times bestselling author

"Despite the heaviness of a spouse's death and the bitterness that may come with such intense heartbreaks suffered by both main characters, there's warm and pleasant goofiness to the town of Sunshine and the gentle romance between Drew and Lola. The Sunshine Valley Widows Club probably deserves most of the credit. They steal every scene and have perfect timing with comedic relief or a meaningful word."—KirkusReviews.com

From the Publisher

2020-01-13
A widow burned by love gets tangled up with a small-town sheriff in this contemporary romance series starter.

Lola Williams' first real encounter with Sheriff Drew Taylor is when he catches her burning her late husband's underwear in a front-yard bonfire. The spectacle even attracts the very curious Sunshine Valley Widows Club, who soon adopt the mission to get the two unlucky-in-love people together. Lola gave up her dreams and lucrative career in New York City to move to her husband Randy's small hometown of Sunshine, Colorado. It's only after his death that she discovers he was quite the philanderer. Meanwhile, Drew's wife had no problem leaving him and their daughter high and dry. It's understandable why both Lola and Drew would feel jaded and cynical at the prospect of dating, especially since the small-town atmosphere lends itself to plenty of gossip. Lola's discoveries about her husband, though, are just the tip of the iceberg, and it's Drew to whom she turns to find out more about Randy's double life. Despite the heaviness of a spouse's death and the bitterness that may come with such intense heartbreaks suffered by both main characters, there's warm and pleasant goofiness to the town of Sunshine and the gentle romance between Drew and Lola. The Sunshine Valley Widows Club probably deserves most of the credit. They steal every scene and have perfect timing with comedic relief or a meaningful word. The biggest hurdles for readers' patience will be Lola's constant doubting of her own agency, even when it means admitting she made bad decisions, and how the slow-burn romance truly stretches the definition and nearly puts this into cozy women's fiction territory.

An average romance that makes up for it with a lively, comedic cast.

Kirkus Reviews