Reading the reviews, I was looking forward to a sweet hug of a hallmark-movie-in-a-book… I was a bit disappointed… the male MC turned super possessive and he used the pet name “baby girl” with the female MC which was a bit disturbing to me… overall the story was okay, but it wrapped up super quickly in the last two chapters after the long slow burn that the first 19 chapters were…

This might be my favorite surprise baby so far, as its my least favorite troupe. But the cover looks all happy and sunshine and this book is a hard one, with death of wife and son for Cole- surprise baby and recent divorce- asshole ex is a lot. Also some of the small town is just mean. I was also bit taken aback with how steamy it was- and no not because she is preggo but well just how emotional it all was. I really enjoyed all the diversity, nice characters, hated the one's I'm to hate, and super glad we got that HEA butttt we don't know how this all ends...

I need the rest of this series as it seems wolf is next! but also what happened!!!

4 stars
4 steam

A few years back I remember a booktuber that I happened upon talking how hard it was for her to find romance novels written by women of color when she read primarily small-town contemporary romance. I wanted to comment with a list of books she was overlooking but was stumped to think of more than a handful of books already in the comments (most by Kathy Douglass).

I was overjoyed to find this beautifully written, mature and surprisingly spicy small-town romance featuring a Puerto Rican mayor and a newly divorced black woman returning home four months pregnant.

Don't let the sweet, innocuous cover fool you though, if you are looking for a cozy comfort read this might not be it. This is very angsty story that touches on the loss of a wife and child. It also deals with the reality of being a person of color in a small-town and for readers that prefer a "clean" romance, this packs some heat. Well worth a read, excited to read the rest of the series 4.5⭐

Sydney is just AMAZING, Cole is pretty awesome (although he needed a slap with the hug I wanted to give him), and the side characters were mostly incredible, too. I loved their story, even as it broke my heart and put it back together again. I cannot wait to read more about this town!

Simone still has a few surprises up her sleeves. For many years I've known her as the author of scintillating love stories that could set bookshelves on fire. The Road to Rose Bend proves to be so much more. Coltrane and Sydney play the heart like a fine tuned violin. The strings play a heartbreaking melody of love lost, emotions challenged and souls learning to heal. Simone exposes a pain that turns a beautiful rawness into an uplifting symphony of courage. The Road to Rose Bend is a heartache to remember.

Redemption is OH SO sweet, and must come at the perfect time.

The two main characters were excellently written, and I felt all the feels emotionally for them. Sydney's overcming her issues with her parentsand sister grief, and her so called "bad-girl" image.....AND Colt and his deeeeeep deeeep grief from his first wife and child's death. His overcoming by the time they got to the end of the book was what hit me the most, and you can just feel how well he and Sydney were meant for each other.
The slight protagonist from Sydney's childhood, I wanted to slap her into 2020 amidst the Covid-19 epidemic.
The family dynamics coming from the two main characters were very instrumental in the storyline, and even with the large one that the hero had, it still didn't take away from the story line at any point in time, if anything it added to it. I loved Colt's MOM!!! She rocks!!!

I admit I did get very frustrated with the two main characters in the beginning of the book, but the ending wrapped everything up nicely, and I am looking forward to the next sibling/friend book, and hopefully it will have some "check-in" info from THIS couple, since HEROINE technically didn't deliver yet at the end of their story, in THIS book.

I need to keep track of where my recommendations come from so I don’t accidentally end up in the middle of more just awful stories.