A Story of Caring and Finding Your Forever Love

🎧🎧AUDIO and E-BOOK REVIEW🎧🎧

The stories of L.B. Dunbar are always a delight for me to read or listen to. As a woman in her fifties, I totally relate to her style of the silver fox, late-in-life romances. The characters have already sowed their wild oats and have maturity on their side. They’ve seen life, had their fun (sometimes), and are just ready for the more that comes with romance after 40.
The Sterling Falls series has been a favorite of mine as well. I love the small-town family feel. The Sterling siblings are a close-knit family—for the most part—and having that family interaction in each book really ties them together and helps you remember all the ups and downs each of them have had.

Clay and Mavis had a 2nd-time-around, meet-cute of sorts, and that’s where the romance starts to bloom. Old feelings are brought to the forefront along with some humor that had me chuckling aloud, which brought some levity. Things move fairly quickly for these two, but it just fits them. They are in that stage of life where taking time just for the sake of taking time isn’t always necessary.

The story moved forward quickly and the characters remained respectful to each other. There are some emotionally driven scenes with sad connotations. Mavis’ situation hit home for me since I am in the same circumstance. Six-year-old boy Dutton was a joy to have in the mix. This added an extra element for Clay and Mavis to navigate when considering a future together. Relationships can be very tricky when there are kids to consider. Getting alone time to explore the possibility of life together isn’t as simple and instantaneous. Clay and Mavis did it well, and this is another place where a close-knit family comes in handy. Thank God for Violet!

I enjoyed the dual narration of Willa Jaymes and Oliver Highpoint. It was my first time listening to both of them and I thought they matched each other well. I would not hesitate to listen to them again. They brought life to the characters, which made them feel so real. While I much prefer duet narration, where each character always reads their own parts and the parts of the same-gender characters, I do feel the dual narration of this book was done very well. Each narrator seemed to easily transform their voice for all the other characters they had to portray in their own chapters. That is something that can really make or break a listen for me, and that did not happen with Sterling Clay.

Overall, I enjoyed both the book and the audio. At times I just listened, sometimes I just read, and then other times I listened while reading. Having this flexibility helps me manage my day and still get all the words in. While this wasn’t my favorite in the series, probably due to the lack of angst and emotional upheaval, LOL – I guess I thrive on other people’s troubles, it was great to hear Clay’s story. He’s the oldest brother and has been part of the series since the beginning.

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