Love is Grand, Rachel Blaufeld

Love Is Grand (Grand Love Book 2) by [Rachel Blaufeld , Pam Berehulke]

Genre: Romance, women's fiction

aannd once more, its 2022, not 1922. We don't need to segregate books into male and female fiction....

I've read several of Rachel's books, and enjoyed the stories she creates. ( how do authors do that? Create a story just from nothing? It always astonishes me) I'd not read first book of this series but they are each complete stories with connected characters so it didn't affect this book.

Shell was a great lead but....I understood her reasons for the no commitment stuff, but didn't feel her heart was really made that way. If I'm honest, as the story went on it began to feel she was a bit of a doormat for Cal, there when he wanted sex on the island, along with Sophia waiting for him in the City. That jarred with me a bit, although it did lead to some of my favourite scenes in stories like this, where Sophia's claws come out! And of course some great drama and heartbreak.
It took me a long while to warm up to Cal, to be honest it wasn't until I understood more of his background, and how his mind worked that I began to like him. I still could give him a good kick in the rear for what he put Shell through. Even when he was telling himself Shell set the boundaries in their relationship, he wouldn't acknowledge that her limits were because she knew where his were...that if he wasn't such a well known, no commitments playboy she might have felt differently, but she needed to protect her heart. ( As if that ever works!)

The supporting characters were great, from Shell's parents, her lovely, funny daughter, to her good friends. I enjoyed meeting them and seeing how they all pulled to support Shell, and by the three quarters mark she needed that.
Its was a fun read, full of Rachael's attention to detail, solid plots, and realistic characters. That's what I look for in a good story, one where I'm not rolling my eyes at scenes and thinking "as if!" I'd like to go back and read the first book, and will look out for more in this series.

Stars: 4.5. A great read, loved the drama, Sophia and her scenes were a real draw, the heartbreak, that played out so well. I love it when the sad parts are properly drawn out. Those make a romance for me, balance out the sweet, and the love feels stronger for it.

ARC supplied by Netgalley and publishers