Lily Barlow: The Mystery of Jane Dough

MYSTERY/ROMANTIC. COMEDY:  Lily leaves her college life behind at the University of Virginia to head home to her small town to help her dad try to reopen his bakery. Lily’s father suffered a heart attack and cannot return to work anytime soon. Lily finds a local room to rent from Miss Delphine, and it turns out to be a great match up, all except for the chicken feeding at the crack of dawn she's required to do. Lily and her best friend, Mercedes, pick up where they left off. Then there’s Jack, who has been Lily’s side kick and other best friend most of their lives. Now that she is home trying to find a new manager for the bakery, Jack has professed his love and wants more than the friend zone that she has been accustomed to. Can they make this work, or will she lose her best friend? 

Readers will not be able to put this book down! There is laughter, crazy quirky sayings, small-town characters and the boy next door who wants to raise the bar and have a new kind of relationship. The banter back and forth is fun and keeps the story moving quickly. Although the rehashing of how Jack feels and the tug of war between him and Lily is a bit drawn out, readers will still enjoy the saga and the relationship between the two. Her super sleuthing and fixation with unsolved mysteries is an original addition to this delightful tale. This is part of a series and readers should definitely be on the lookout for more in this series and from this author!

Viola Robins