Susan's review of Say I Do in Good Hope by Cindy Kirk

Sometimes love is right on your doorstep...

Eliza Shaw has never met a crisis she couldn’t manage. If her father thinks she’s going to take his attempt at selling the family home out from underneath her, then he clearly doesn’t know her at all. She‘ll chain herself to the banister if she has to...

Kyle Kendrick doesn’t have time for the hassle of an eviction. He definitely doesn’t have time for Eliza Shaw’s drama – even if she does look distractingly gorgeous when she’s furious. His sister is arriving in Good Hope and he needs a home. Now.

Neither Kyle nor Eliza is thrilled at the idea of sharing the house, but it’s the only sensible solution. Now if they could each just stop fantasizing about their new roommate this crazy plan might just work. And if they’re lucky, what started out as playing house could end up giving them the home and family they’ve both desperately yearned for.

Sometimes a secondary character creates a spark in the storyline and catches the reader’s attention. The character might resonate with readers or be the one character that readers dislike with a passion. Eliza Shaw is the character many readers disliked in the Good Hope series. Her feisty, take charge attitude, community spirit, sense of style and her rivalry with Bloom sisters caught my interest—and I began to look forward to reading about her. I felt sorry for her when her “more than friends” relationship with Jeremy Rakes ended. Although Eliza was originally cast as the antagonist to the Bloom sisters, her character developed beyond that one dimensional role in the last two Good Hope books.

Cindy Kirk took a huge risk in pairing the determined Eliza with easy going Kyle Kendrick in this well- paced story. Eliza Shaw is devastated when she learns that her father has sold her home to Kyle and she has no intentions of moving! Her grandmother promised that Eliza would inherit the beautiful Victorian home. The fun begins when Kyle and Eliza compromise and agree to share the house until the legal paperwork is resolved.

The couple begins to bond when Kyle’s sister Lolo comes for an extended visit. Lolo has been through a tough time and needs a change of scenery. Eliza remembers that she felt alone was teased in junior high. Loved when Eliza saw Lolo’s first fashion faux pas and transformed her outfit for church in 10 minutes. I liked how Eliza and Kyle worked together to make sure Lolo felt secure in Good Hope.

Family is important to both Eliza and Kyle. Cindy Kirk provides Eliza’s backstory through conversations with Eliza’s cousin Katharine and several heart to heart conversations between Eliza and Kyle. Eliza’s relationship with her father explains her determination to succeed. Kyle’s situation is different from Eliza’s. His parents have been supportive but, much to his surprise he has learned that he may have a sibling in Good Hope. I loved the speed dating questions when Eliza and Kyle talked about honesty and trust in a relationship—it was a turning point in their relationship.

Say I Do in Good Hope has all the small town warmth and charm that I adore in this series. Cindy Kirk’s descriptive voice shines in this novel. She includes so many details that make this novel relatable; birth, death, weddings and new beginnings. This is my favorite story in the series. I feel the friends to lovers romance between the strong willed Eliza and easy going Kyle was perfectly written. The last few chapters had a few surprises for the couple—and the ending - -especially the grand gesture made me cry!

Reviewed by Susan Gorman

Book purchased from Amazon by Susan Gorman

Author photo and biography from http://www.cindykirk.com

Cindy Kirk is a lifelong Nebraska resident who started writing after taking a class at a local community college. But her interest in the written word started years before when she was in her teens. At sixteen she wrote in her diary, “I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t be a writer.”

Not until her daughter was heading off to college did Cindy return to her first love---writing. Unlike some writers, Cindy wasn’t interested in newspaper or magazine articles, short stories or poetry. When she decided to start writing, she jumped feet first into book length fiction. She loves reading and writing romance because she believes in the power of love and in happily ever after. An incurable romantic, Cindy loves seeing her characters grow and learn from their mistakes and, in the process, achieve a happy ending.

Someone once told Cindy that to know a writer you just have to read what she's written; she hopes that once you read her books you can tell she is an eternal optimist, one who truly believes in the power of love. She invites you to kick off your shoes, pick up one of her books and get to know her. Cindy and her high school sweetheart husband live on an acreage with two dogs and two cats—Oreo--a friendly feline who loves to sit next to the computer and supervise her writing and Leo, a white devil with a raccoon-like tail.



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