Author Kelly Collins takes you back to Aspen Cove where life is sweet, the tea is sweeter, and love is the sweetest of all.

Marina Caswell didn’t expect to find herself broken and alone with a four-year-old daughter. She could offer a hundred excuses as to why her marriage failed, but the truth was she’d chosen poorly. After a painful marriage and an ugly divorce, she flees with her little girl to Aspen Cove looking for a place to heal their wounded spirits and mend their broken hearts. What she doesn’t expect to find in the quirky little town is love in the form of Sheriff Cooper, a man who insists that everything including trust, love, and respect is grown like a garden. All it needs is a bit of attention and care, something Marina has never experienced.

As the local sheriff, Aiden Cooper can recognize trouble at a glance. It usually looks pretty, smells nice, and wears heels. After his last relationship failure, Aiden doesn’t expect love to bloom when single mom Marina Caswell plants roots next door, but when he sees the sadness in her eyes, he makes it his mission to plant seeds of hope and happiness in her heart.

The tiniest kernel of love can grow when the conditions are right, but a weed from Marina’s past threatens to choke out what they’ve cultivated together. Can Aiden and Marina’s love grow and thrive, or will the past seek its revenge causing their love to wilt and die before it can ever take root?

Find out in One Hundred Excuses

My Rating:

 

 

Favorite Quotes:

I’ve found few things grow without care—not a garden and not friendship. Anything worth having is worth cultivating.

He’d stood there staring at the drinks for minutes until the owner, Marge, asked him what the problem was. He explained that he didn’t know what a four-year-old liked. She handed him a six-pack of fruit punch and told him he couldn’t go wrong with sugar and red dye. Two things all kids seemed to love.

She leaned into Sage and whispered, “She doesn’t talk.” Sage smiled. “Sure she does, she just doesn’t use words.”

There were three flavors available. Honeycomb Your Hair, which was bits of honeycombs in vanilla ice cream served in a bowl of cotton candy. Beds Bugs, which was chocolate ice cream with chocolate covered peanuts, drizzled with caramel syrup. Princess and the Pooper, which was rainbow sherbet sprinkled with Pop Rocks and a dollop of fudge.

“I went to prom. I lost my virginity to Roxanne Belvedere under the bleachers at homecoming. I had game.” “Roxanne Belvedere? Sounds like a porn star.”

My Review:

 

Every time I have read one of these sweet and engaging Aspen Cove novels, I wistfully sigh and wish I knew of such a gentle and supportive community, as small-town living certainly wasn’t anything like that in the tiny inbred hillbilly enclave where I, unfortunately, spent my formative years. But isn’t that why most of us chose to read fiction? As with the other books in the series, the writing was easy to follow, observantly descriptive, deliciously steamy, and soul-satisfying.

I have adored each quirky character featured in this series and am now completely enamored with their swoon-worthy sheriff. Aiden was the consummate BBF and was uncommonly patient, insightful, thoughtful, and tender for a lawman. He was also the perfect match for the skittish Marina and her traumatized daughter. I appreciate the care and consideration Ms. Collins takes in establishing her uniquely appealing characters. Her storytelling never fails to hold my attention or interest. I especially admired and applauded the endowment of Marina’s affirmation and credo of “victor, not a victim,” words we should all live by.