Loving You is the first book in a new series from Samantha Chase. I haven't read other books by this author but I'm definitely intrigued by the family dynamics that have been set up.

Jade is a single mom who is opening her own bookstore/coffee shop (which I would love to visit if it were real!!) and struggling against backlash from her son's father's family. They actively work to undermine her marketing plans and even go so far as to leave negative reviews for her shop even though they've never been there. Jade's employee's brother is currently out of work and is a whiz at marketing so she gets Levi to help Jade.

Levi has been fired from his job and seemingly has had his reputation smeared so badly that no one will hire him. So he packs up his condo in Alexandria and moves back to Sweetbriar Ridge, even though he can't imagine small town life again. He is fascinated by Jade immediately but he knows he is leaving as soon as he has a job offer so he's reluctant to start anything with her.

Jade and Levi do eventually start a fling but they have a clear expiration date. That is, until neither one of them wants to hold themselves to that date any longer. The romance itself was relatively low-angst. This is a fade-to-black romance so though their fling was obvious to the reader, the details were kept off page. But other things were also kept off page that I wish we had gotten to see. As an example, they all went to a big festival together and while certain moments of the day were described, others were just summarized, including time that Levi spent with Jade's son. We were sort of just told that they were great together but really got limited interactions with them, which is something I like to see in single-parent romances. This applied to some moments between Levi and Jade, too. I enjoyed everything that I read, but I think I was just left with wanting more detailed interactions between the couple and between Levi and Jade's son.

The majority of the conflict in this story came from family drama, from both Levi's family and Jade's family. So if you enjoy reading about those dynamics in your romances, this will be perfect for you!

Thank you to Valentine PR and the author for an advanced copy.