Review: Tender romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 2, 2014
Twenty nine year old sports journalist, Charlotte Bennett, (Charlie to all but Mackayla) is assistant editor of a prestigious sports magazine. Her professional life is going really well, but her personal life is a disaster. Charlie is still in love with her college sweetheart, Mackayla Thomas, (Mac to all but Charlotte).Unfortunately, circumstances at the time caused Charlotte to walk away from Mackayla eight years before. No other woman has ever matched up to her  though and after yet another disastrous one night stand, Charlie decides she must make some changes in her life.When Charlie is offered a one year guest lecturer position at Blake University, New Hampshire, she jumps at the chance and takes a year long sabbatical from her job.Leaving Manhattan for New Hampshire, Charlie expected to find peace and quiet. But instead, she runs into Mackayla.......literally. After which, her life will never be the same again.Mackayla is still nursing a broken heart from being dumped by Charlotte years before. She's determined no one, especially not Charlotte, will be let in to her heart again. Charlie however, has different ideas. She sees their meeting as a sign that a happy ever after could still be on the cards. For that to be possible, Charlotte has to convince Mackayla to put the past behind her and to give her a second chance. Will Charlie succeed? Or are both women destined to be alone forever?This is the fist book I've read by MJ Duncan. I really enjoyed the story. It's the typical formula of `girl meets girl, girl loses girl and girl goes all out to win girl back again'. It's tried and tested and it works. The story itself is fast paced and a comfortable read. I like the two lead characters, Charlie and Mac. There are some wonderful secondary characters too. Both women have male best friends who play a nice part in progressing the story forward.One thing that irritated me a bit was the constant referring of Charlie and Mac as the blonde and the brunette. Beyond the actual description of a character, it's unnecessary. But, that is a minor point and in no way ruined the story for me.The one thing I really liked about this story is there are no other people muscling in on the tentative friendship that develops between Charlie and Mac. They will either make it on their own or they won't. No unnecessary drama to annoy the reader.All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to reading more from MJ Duncan in the near future. If you are looking for a short, tender, sweet romance, you should enjoy this one.