AS GOOD AS THE FIRST TIME

A New Yorker down on her luck travels to the Georgia town where she spent her summers growing up.

Olivia Gale is a high-strung marketing specialist who has just lost her job. To make matters worse, her boyfriend has abandoned her and taken her TV with him. When she learns at a family gathering that her favorite aunt has broken her hip, she sets off to Sugar Lake, Georgia, to help run the family bakery. What she doesn’t expect is to be joined by her younger sister, with whom she doesn’t get along. When the pair arrive in the town that has greatly changed since they spent summers playing with the local children, the last thing Olivia expects is to run into her first flame. Clayton Morris left Sugar Lake without a word to Olivia when they were teenagers, and the last she’d heard, he had a wife and child. He’s moved back to Sugar Lake with the daughter, Hope, but without the wife and spends his days as the local fire chief. Olivia is hesitant to revive their acquaintanceship, but small towns have a way of throwing people together. In the first book of a new series, Jackson (The Betting Vow, 2017, etc.) introduces readers to a family and community that really care about each other. Unfortunately, though the book is billed as a "wholesome romance," the romantic plot takes a back seat to all the other elements of Olivia’s story. Her need to revisit her goals and desires, along with her relationship with her sister and aunts, are well-thought-out and brought to fruition, while her history with Clayton and their lackluster reunion seem like afterthoughts.

A cute but uninspiring story of self-discovery that does not live up to its romantic potential.