Magnolia Storms

When Maggie Marovich gets the news that her sister is in intensive care and her family needs her, she hurries back to her childhood home. With a hurricane on the horizon and Katrina’s devastation fresh in her mind, Maggie is scared of losing everything again. To make matters worse, she finds her childhood sweetheart, Josh, now living next door — and he brings a whole new layer of complicated circumstances. With a firestorm of emotions inside and a hurricane of events bearing down on her, Maggie will have to decide if she can risk everything once more to take a second chance on love.

 This small-town romance has all the feels of lost love during Mother Nature’s fury. Maggie is believable, as she has cocooned herself away from relationships and hurt, unable to process the damage of Hurricane Katrina. The author draws a relatable fictional family, effectively giving the reasons for their emotions, but becomes repetitive in describing their feelings and fears. However, readers will enjoy the family dynamic and the children in the family steal the scenes they are in. There is also an inspirational thread that adds another facet to the plot without overpowering it. It is a book about events in recent history and starts out well, drawing readers in, but then the pacing drags throughout the middle before picking up again. Beyond that, though, the ending is sweet and poignant. It will definitely satisfy all those who love a good second-chance romance.

 Kate Campbell