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Three Reasons You Should Read This Sweet Contemporary Romance:
- Love & Joy by Elsie Davis is a sweet contemporary romance starring an old-fashioned ice cream shop – yummy!
- Zoe and Blake’s romance isn’t really an enemies-to-lovers trope, but it is definitely and highly competitive start to a relationship.
- The theme of past nostalgia and memories versus progress, efficiency, and the future was an interesting one – and both had great arguments for their point of view.
About Love & Joy by Elsie Davis
Title: Love & Joy
Author: Elsie Davis
Series: Holidays in Hallbrook #8
Genre: Sweet, Contemporary Romance
Let the battle begin…
A thirtieth birthday is a landmark, but Zoe is crushed when everyone – including her nine-year-old son – seems to forget it. Of course, she has no idea about the surprise party, or the even more surprising birthday kiss from her best friend’s brother and secret high school crush, Blake Peterson.
Zoe doesn’t have time to dwell on it, though. She’s worked hard to rebuild her life after a divorce, and she fully expects the promotion dangled in front of her. Her boss has other ideas, however: A contest to renovate Peterson’s Ice Creamery, and may the best man–or woman–win. What’s worse, her competition is none other than Blake himself, Old Man Peterson’s grandson.
Blake’s ready to join the family business, but his grandfather says he has to prove himself first. Now, he has to work side-by-side with the beautiful Zoe, and the two butt heads right away. It’s a battle between Zoe’s nostalgic style and Blake’s beliefs that high-tech modernization is crucial to the bottom line of a company.
They’re both stubbornly sure that they’re right, but the more time they spend together, the more difficult it is to deny there’s something growing between them that has nothing to do with business. Can these two put their differences aside long enough to discover what’s really important?
My review of Love & Joy:
In Love & Joy by Elsie Davis, Zoe and Blake don’t seem to be a very likely couple. Pitted against each other to redesign an ice cream shop, their ideas couldn’t be more different. There is lot of push and pull between them, and even though the chemistry is strong, they both have serious, and legitimate, reservations.
Zoe has a son who is still hurting from when his father left, and she won’t get involved with a man known for his love-em and leave-em attitude. While Blake loves his fast city life and isn’t interested in settling down with a country girl. But there are a few people in town who know better.
I felt like a lot of the story centered around Zoe’s son and Blake’s dog. And while they were incredibly important in the push and pull of the story, at times they took over and pushed our couple into the background. I didn’t mind too much because they were adorable.
There’s the big misunderstanding moment that I’m not a huge fan of. I wish people (real and in books) would just ask each other what’s going on instead of making huge assumptions all the time. Overall, this was a cute read, and I’d definitely come back to Hallbrook for another romance.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
