REVIEW by Heather: Forever This Time (Echo Lake #1) by Maggie McGinnis (@Maggie_McGinnis , @3heather24)

Bestselling author Maggie McGinnis welcomes us to Echo Lake, Vermont, where love lost can be found again…
FIND YOUR JOY
Boston therapist Josie Kendrew is really good at mending everyone else’s broken heart-just not her own. When she rushes home to Echo Lake after her father’s stroke, Josie finds herself face-to-face with too many painful memories from the past, including the loss of her “little sister” and Ethan Miller, the boy she left behind. Ethan is now all man-and he has done wonders as CEO of Snowflake Village, the Kendrew family’s Christmas-themed amusement park, which charms year-round visitors from all around New England. Suddenly, Echo Lake holds more than ghosts from the past. It also holds the possibility of a second chance at love…
AND NEVER LET GO…
Ethan’s been picking up the pieces of the Kendrews’ shattered family for as long as he can remember. But doing good isn’t the same as being happy-and Ethan can’t deny that the sweet, smart girl he once adored has become a gorgeous woman he cannot resist. For both Josie and Ethan, it’s a time of love and promise, and of finding the dreams they thought they had lost…

Forever This Time
by Maggie McGinnis
Series
Echo Lake #1
Genre
Contemporary Romance
Publisher
St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Publication Date
November 3, 2015

First off, I’m guilty. I judge books based on their covers. I loved this cover. It’s sunny, and happy. Plus it says it’s the 1st title in a new series, which I also love. A good series is like a good TV show; you can keep “visiting” with these people you invested your time in.

ANYWAYS! Josie Kendrew managed to escape my version of hell (a year round Christmas themed amusement park owned by her parents) after a tragic loss, but unfortunately she had to leave behind her high school sweetheart, Ethan, to do so. After a phone call that her father is hospitalized, she heads back to her small hometown that she hasn’t been to in 10 years and finds out that while everyone and everything looks stagnantly familiar, they are quite different. Ethan is now a key player in her family’s business, her mother has done what appears to be a complete 180, she doesn’t know where she stands with her father, and friends are not exactly friendly anymore.

There wasn’t anything that I disliked, and I can’t wait to get started on the next in the series (HEART LIKE MINE). This book takes place in the summertime, though the theme park is centered around Christmas so this is a good “anytime” book. If you’re like me, you read books “seasonally” (beach in summer, Christmas in winter, etc). I recommend this series to anyone that is a fan of lighthearted contemporary romance (Susan Mallery, Jill Shalvis, etc).

The review copy of this book was purchased by the reviewer.

About Maggie McGinnis

Maggie is a Golden Heart Finalist who started writing when her twins were infants and she was desperately seeking sanity. The fact that she found it only with imaginary people makes her a bit concerned, but at least they do what she tells them to … usually.
She lives in New England, though she spends an inordinate amount of time on Arizona real estate sites in mid-January. While snow piles up to her windowsills, she cyber-stalks the blue skies and pink houses of the Southwest.
She used to be an English teacher, a certified black belt, and a cool-car driver. Then … twins. Now she swills caffeine while driving the one vehicle she swore she’d never own: a minivan. It sort of hurts even to admit it.
You can find Maggie at http://www.maggiemcginnis.com.