Patricia Rice, Sweet Home Carolina

Sweet Home Carolina

Patricia Rice

Ballantine, February 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 0345482617

After her husband left her for another woman, Amy Warren is trying to make a new life for herself and her two children, as she faces difficult choices. She knows she must sell her home and find a job, but the mill, which was the primary employer, went bankrupt a year ago. At Amy's urging, the town is trying to obtain a loan to buy the mill, but outsider urbane and sexy Jacques Saint-Etienne wants to purchase it too.

He wants to buy the mill and find the early American pattern cards, which he will scan into his computer and reproduce into fabric designs. He informs Amy that once the cards are his, he will sell the equipment and leave. Although this issue divides them, both are attracted to one another, but Jacques runs from his demons and Amy distrusts males.

Readers will thoroughly enjoy this contemporary romance set in a small Southern town. Both characters feel emotionally drawn to each other, but also fear love. They are honest, so they know they must face their unwanted feelings, but a near tragedy ends their vacillation. Patricia Rice pulls readers into her fine storyline.