The Wishing Season

The Wishing Season

Denise Hunter

Dec 9, 2014

Thomas Nelson 

Romance, Fiction, Contemporary 

Spirited PJMcKinley has the touch when it comes to food. Her dream of opening her own restaurant is just one building short of reality. So when a Chapel Springs resident offers her beloved ancestral home to the applicant with the best plan for the house, PJ believes it’s a contest she was meant to win.

Contractor Cole Evans is confident, professional, and swoon-worthy—but this former foster kid knows his life could have turned out very differently. When Cole discovers the contest, he believes his home for foster kids in transition has found its saving grace. All he has to do is convince the owner that an out-of-towner with a not-for-profit enterprise is good for the community.

But when the eccentric philanthropist sees PJ and Cole’s proposals, she makes an unexpected decision: the pair will share the house for a year to show what their ideas are made of. Now, with Cole and the foster kids upstairs and PJ and the restaurant below, day-to-day life has turned into out-and-out competition—with some seriously flirtatious hallway encounters on the side. Turns out in this competition, it’s not just the house on the line, it’s their hearts.

Typically I don't get overly excited about a book by Denise Hunter. I know it will be a fairly easy low key read. The Wishing Season surprised me by having substance to it. I thoroughly enjoyed the read. PJ and Cole are engaging characters that kept me entertained. The storyline has true depth to it and was well worth the read. Just enough chemistry to keep me reading and enough heart to be engaging. 

My thanks to Thomas Nelson for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my real and honest review. 

A Cowboy's Touch

A Cowboy’s Touch by Denise Hunter

Review by: Melissa J. MacDonald

Genre: modern fiction

Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers

Date: 2011

Forced to go on sabbatical in Montana, Abigail Jones is less than thrilled to find herself leaving the city far behind to spend the summer with her aging aunt. Abigail finds herself surprised at how quickly she adapts to a slower pace of life. Her blood pressure drops, she’s finding God again, but this investigative reporter just can’t get a possible story out of her head!

Abigail’s neighbor is the handsome Wade Ryan. He’s got a precocious daughter and did we mention he’s handsome. When Wade’s daughter loses her nanny Abigail is more than happy to step in. Wade can’t help but find himself drawn to attractive Abigail. With Abigail’s care both daughter and dad begin to thrive. However, Wade is hiding a secret of monumental proportions and Abigail smells a story.

Who isn’t a sucker for a good cowboy romance? I mean, honestly! City girl goes to the country and meets a handsome cowboy…sigh. The setting is perfect ,set in Montana where western cowboys still exist and still steal women’s hearts. I found Abigail completely annoying at first. She isn’t very well developed at the beginning and you might find yourself annoyed with her desire to find a story and then to keep digging. Wade has his own issues and isn’t as well developed as I would have liked either.  Maddy (the daughter) is a delight and you’ll thoroughly enjoy her. As the story develops you’ll like all of the characters more and you’ll find layers that you weren’t expecting. The story has a bit of a twist that I won’t reveal and the book ends exactly like you would want it to.  Don’t be surprised if you don’t have the sudden desire to go see a rodeo, buy some cowboy boots, or take a trip to Montana. Denise Hunter transports you and I think you’re going to like it.

Rated: Pg- for adult situations