Sherryl Woods - Flowers on Main

When her last two plays are dismal failures and her relationship with her temperamental mentor falls apart, writer Bree O'Brien abandons Chicago and the regional theater where she hoped to make a name for herself to return home. Opening Flowers on Main promises to bring her a new challenge and a new kind of fulfillment.
But not all is peaceful and serene in Chesapeake Shores, with her estranged mother on the scene and her ex-lover on the warpath. Jake Collins has plenty of reasons to want Bree out of his life, but none of those are a match for the one reason he wants her to stay: he's still in love with her.
Jake might be able to get past that old hurt if he knew Bree was home to stay, but is she? The only way to know for sure is to take a dangerous leap of faith.

Comment: I had this book to read for 7 years. At the time, I read the first book in the Chesapeake Shore series, The Inn at Eagle Point, and I was not impressed by it but then I already had this one too. I just put it off for all this time, not hoping for much with this book. 

Because I'm trying to go through some long standing books in my pile, I added up this one for my February reads.

In this book we have Bree O'Brien's story, she is a play-writer who has had some bad reviews on her plays and is reconsidering giving up and doing something else. While debating things, she does open a flower shop in her hometown, she is going to be near her family, re connect with some friends and maybe with Jake, her ex boyfriend, who she left when she went ahead to work in Chicago.

Although facing some inner struggles and some decisions in her past, Bree finds courage and determination to succeed in her new business and regaining the roots she lost, including her relationship with her mother. Will Bree just let go her doubts and embrace the new possibilities in front of her?

This book is labeled contemporary romance by most readers but it has a very strong vibe of woman's fiction, to be honest, because it doesn't have enough romance to balance all the drama.

In fact, this is the biggest problem I find with the author: her stories - if are all in the same lines as the two books I've read so far - are simply too elaborate and not in a complex situation kind of way, everything just takes forever to be dealt with and most situations go o an on and we barely see a moving on forward. It can become a bit annoying when you read about an issue, they don't solve it, they get back to it again and still go on until you get to the end and the whole thing wasn't dealt with properly. What's the point? I was not convinced by this book's resolution so...

Can the problem be that the stories are too analytic? For me it looked like it because the main characters, Bree and Jake, think and do things and think some more and say they need to solve this and that but they talk endlessly about everything. I don't think this was very romantic either. They had history, some bad stuff to deal with emotionally but those things lost importance by all the talking and thinking. It got boring.

The interactions with secondary characters might make this easier to read and some things were interesting, I did like Jake's relationship with his best friends, Will and Mack.

But all family relationships that mattered to this plot were explored to the point and not always in a positive way. In real life, it's obviously positive if you talk and communicate with your family but in a romance, to add a drama layer to every single interaction can become tiresome. I often asked myself while reading if real people really behave like this but if so, no wonder we prefer fiction. 

The plot isn't complicated and of course it's good things are properly mentioned and discussed. But I found the problems repetitive and without closure. I see some things are supposed to be dealt with as the series advances, as many things relate to other characters, other siblings as well. But the "community" in this book wasn't always appealing to spend some time with. The pace doesn't always match the same situation happening and being discussed.

The romance felt flat to me. Bree is an interesting character but I didn't find her likable in every aspect. Jake I liked more, but for him to give in to a situation they didn't truly solved, despite all the conversations they had...the end was positive but certainly not romantic and I still didn't get the feeling all their issues were solved, which means a lot after so many pages around the same.

The fact this is, at its base, a lovers reunited plot, same as with the first book, certainly didn't help me in wanting to like their story.

I probably won't read another book so soon. I do feel intrigued by the next sibling's story and romance, but to go again through all the complicated relationships and its dramas makes me tired.

I think I'll stop here with this author unless one day I'm very desperate or some emergency makes me want to try again. I still feel bad, though...what a pity, such beautiful covers, I love landscape covers!, but the content isn't as appealing. This could be a wonderful and sweet series but I think it isn't presented the best way.

Grade: 5/10