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Review of Walking Among the Cherry Trees (the Cook Brothers #1) by H. D’Agostino @hdagostino001

Title: Walking Among the Cherry Trees
Series: The Cook Brothers Series #1
Author: H. D’Agostino
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: November 1, 2015
Photographer: Kelsey Keeton of K. Keeton Designs
Cover Designer: Cassy Roop of Pink Ink Design
Cover Models: Laura Deal and Dustin Adams
Taylor Cook was the last thing Morgan McGregor expected to find when she stepped off the train at Cherryville station to spend the summer with her grandmother, Virginia. She didn’t know that the boy who befriended her would one day fill her heart with both joy and pain. 

 

First love can be magical. It can reach inside you and grip your heart with a force that you never see coming, and can’t deny. It’s powerful and sometimes debilitating, but most of all… it can break you in ways you never thought possible.
How do you recover when the one the person you thought would always be there, pushes you away at the time they’re needed the most? How do you move on with your life and forget the boy who stole your heart all those years ago? How do you go back to that place knowing that seeing him will cause your careful façade to crack into a million pieces? It’s simple you can’t, but sometimes you have to.
When Morgan gets the news that her grandmother’s passed away and she’s the heir to her estate, she hardens heart in preparation of going back to face him. What happens when she steps off that train again? Will the feelings she’s worked so hard to forget come rushing back and threaten to drown her? Will he even still be there?

 

Walking Among the Cherry Trees is the first book in The Cook Brothers Series.
review
Okay, so most people know that 1.  I’m a sucker for a second chance romance 2.  Love that its set in a small town 3.  There are children involved 4.  My heroine to be slightly “hard” and 5.  The hero to be sexy as all get out.  This book delivers on all that and more.  I have never read the author before and I will be going back and reading her back list.
What truly sets this apart from the other second chance romances is the use of family as a back drop.  Oh yes, there is one person in particular that is so nasty and vile that when the comeuppance happens, I cheered for Morgan but at the same time wept for her.  Having a parent do what her father did is unforgivable and vile.  I’m not sure if I would ever overcome it.  Morgan was told one thing from her father and believed that Taylor left her.  It’s a long story but trust me, it will make your blood boil.  Plus, it’s a plot device that I didn’t see coming.
From the opening of the book until the end, I cheered for Morgan.  I wanted her happy ending.  What a got was a woman who was so NOT in control of her own life that she didn’t know anything else.  Going back to Cherryville is her “growing up and taking charge of her life for once” that is bittersweet in the beginning but heartwarming in the end.  CJ is a revelation and I will leave it at that.  😉
Taylor is the boy who never stopped loving Morgan but for reasons that were put in front of him as a teenager, you tend to hate in the beginning.  Once the whole plot opens up, my heart melted for him.  I understood the decision he made and why.  Did that make the hurt go away for him?  No and he lived with it every day of his life.  Seeing Morgan again only brought back the bitterness and ugly memories that still haunted him.
I read this book over a week ago and some of it still haunts me today.  Why didn’t Virginia step in?  We will never know and I’m sad that I will never get her side of the story.  I feel as if Morgan should know that.  The “feels” for the book is still there.  I highly recommend this book as one of the better second chance romances that I have read in a while.  The plot is complex but easy to follow.  The characters are rich and nicely developed, including the secondary ones.  But more importantly, you can see the love and affection that Morgan and Taylor have for each other as they did when they were teenagers.
I’m looking forward to Tyler’s story next.  He’s gonna be a hoot to read.
5harlies
recommend-harlies- new


Amazon bestselling author of the Second Chances series and the Shattered Trilogy, Heather D’Agostino writes contemporary and new adult romance set in Boston, New York, and North Carolina. Heather has always enjoyed creative writing, but never pursued it as a career option. Born and raised in Harrisburg, NC she received a BA in Elementary Education from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. After teaching for six years, she decided to leave the profession to be a stay-at-home mom. After finding the world of Fan Fiction, Heather decided to “get her feet wet” in the literary world. With much encouragement and inspiration from the Fan Fiction world, she made the decision to publish her work. Heather prides herself in the fact that her books have real life situations with believable characters. These characters could be your best friend or your next door neighbor. Her first book, Unbreak Me, has been welcomed with open arms into the self-published community giving her the encouragement needed to continue to pursue this dream. Heather currently lives in Syracuse, NY with her husband, two children, two dogs, and three cats. She enjoys spending time with her family, watching sports, and playing chauffeur for all her children’s activities. You can follow Heather at www.facebook.com/H.DAgostino.Author or follow her on twitter @hdagostino001. Wanna make sure you don’t miss any news? Sign up for H. D’Agostino’s newsletter at http://hdagostinobooks.weebly.com/



Unbreak Me-book one
The Boy Next Door- book two
The One That Got Away-book three
Inside Out- book 3.5 a Second Chances Novella
Fallen From Grace- book 4
The Family Next Door –book 5

Destined (Shattered #0.5)
Shattered (Shattered #1)
Restored (Shattered #2)
Renewed (Shattered #3)
Fated (Shattered #4 Cam & Avery)

Irreparably Broken (Broken #1)
Saving Us (Broken #2)
My Broken Angel (Broken #3)
Broken Pieces (Broken #4) – Coming Summer of 2016

Being Nobody – book 1 in The Witness Series
Becoming Somebody- book 2 in The Witness Series
Promise Me Tomorrow- book 3 in The Witness Series- Coming Jan 2016
Standalones

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