Sunny Days, Moonlit Nights by Jean C. Joachim

My Rating: 4 1/2 Stars

Title: Sunny Days, Moonlit Nights

Author: Jean C. Joachim

Publisher: Astraea Press 

     Cover Art: Elaina Lee

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Length: 129 Pages

Summary: 

Caroline Davis White is a well-known artist and married to a wealthy, controlling man. She has everything money could buy except one thing: Love. Brad refuses to give her a divorce she so desperately wants. With no money, family, or friends, she flees to the Catskill Mountains where she spent her summers as a young adult.

Mike Foster has achieved success and made more money than he could have thought possible, but it destroyed his marriage and cost him his son. He is wary of every woman he meets, knowing his money may be more attractive than his good looks.

Caroline reconnects with the life she had and friends from long ago. Mike stepped out of her teenage dreams into her life again, looking more handsome and tempting than ever. Caroline knew Mike back then, but is he still the man she fell in love with?

Review: 

This is a sweet and sensual story of a childhood crush rediscovered years later that blossoms into love. It was fun watching the relationship grow between Mike and Caroline (Sunny) so many years after not seeing each other. Naturally they both have memories from when they were younger. Mike had been a few years older than Sunny and had sort of adopted the older brother/protector attitude towards her at that time, never knowing that Sunny had a crush on him. It's interesting watching them both come to terms with who they were in the past, and their feelings for each other back then, and who they are now and their feelings for each other now. It is very realistically portrayed, giving the reader a chance to wonder, perhaps, what it would be like if they were to meet up with an old crush.

Initially, Sunny surprised me. She didn't strike me as the type to run from a situation, no matter how hopeless or intimidating. Once we get to know the character, though, you can see that it wasn't so much running away as it was coming to terms with where she has let her life lead her and the circumstances she has found herself in, as well as giving herself some breathing room to determine her course of action. In a manner of speaking, she needed time to lick her wounds and heal. The secondary character of the butler that first appears in the very beginning had an amusing attitude that had me chuckling. He had a job that he must keep, and duties that he must fulfill, but he didn't necessarily have to like it or his boss.

The author did an excellent job in describing the setting of a small resort town, as well as the feelings associated with the characters situations. The pacing was well done – nothing happening too quickly so as to not be believable, even with a shorter length novel. And you get invested in the characters relatively quickly. This was a well written story that I really enjoyed, about a woman finding herself again after being in a lousy relationship that should have jaded her on men and then finding the one that she should have been with all along. This book is available in e-book format as well as in paperback.

The author has some excerpts on her blog from a prequel to this novel as well as an excerpt from a sequel to this novel. She's been busy! If you'd like to check it out, go here.