Genre: Contemporary Romance

Rating: ♥♥ Two out of five hearts= okay

Book one in the Restoring Heritage series

About: 

Ever since they were kids, Hannah Thornton and Luke Johnson have always been there for each other. Through Hannah's mom's disappearance and Luke's struggles with being a foster child, they know they can rely on each other. However, each is now grappling with navigating adulthood- and their mutual (if also mutually unknown) attraction for each other. 

Real estate agent Hannah loves this little town of Heritage she calls home, with all its quirks and historic features. A history lover, she is horrified when a prominent member of the community starts to buy out property in a historic area of town, in order to build a strip mall. If nobody will stand up to him and save their town, it's up to Hannah (with help from Luke, of course). 

As Luke assists Hannah in her preservation schemes, he begins to question who he is- where he came from, where he's going... and if he really ever will have a shot with Hannah. 

My Review:

Okay, so there's no denying- the cover on this book is just beautiful! I had never heard of the author before, but the cover did an amazing job of attracting me to the story and drawing me in, so I just had to own it. It's just so gorgeous!

  

Now, cover aside, I had a problem getting into this book. As soon as I started reading, I felt as if I was thrust into a world I had never been in, and yet I was being pummeled with information from all sides. It took me a bit to understand what was going on, and once I had pieced it all together, the writing style bothered me. Things were just- said, and I feel like there should have been more "show, not tell". Plus I feel that as an author, you need to develop your voice and your own unique turn of phrase, and while Mrs. Faris definitely has talent, I just didn't see that special way of wording here. 

Hannah and Luke were a couple you hoped would succeed, and I was rooting for them (as well as for the side characters, whose POV was also shown frequently throughout). Hannah was bubbly and slightly naive, while Luke tended to be more grounded and a realist, making them perfect together. I was actually more invested in the secondary characters' love story, but that might just have been a personality difference thing. Pastor Nate was kind of cool, but as a pastor's daughter, I tend to closely examine these characters. He was different from your usual literary pastor, but still typically the same, as he tended to bring up everything to a spiritual lesson, something I'm pretty sure my dad, as well as most other pastors, don't do during all social settings. (Sorry, pastor's kid pet peeves!)

Don't get me wrong- I really, really wanted to like this book. Its cover was just so alluring, and I'm proud to own it. However, I'm only giving it two stars because it just seemed too predictable. 

I received this book from Revell in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.