FOR THE LONGEST TIME - Kendra Leigh Castle
Harvest Cove , Book 1
Signet Eclipse
ISBN: 978-0-451-46758-4
July 2014
Contemporary Romance

Harvest Cove, Massachusetts - Present Day

Sam Henry is not happy to be going home to Harvest Cove, her career in tatters, no roommate to share her tiny New York apartment with, and her desire to paint non-existent.  The only thing that could be worse is that the first person she meets upon her return is Jake Smith, her first love, and the man who broke her heart with his rejection.  In spite of being one of the founding families of the town as well as one of the wealthiest, Sam was always a misfit in school, and she has no more desire to fit in now than she did ten years ago. 

Jake always regretted rebuffing Sam in high school, but he's not the same inconsiderate boy he was then.  He knows he has a lot to make up for with Sam, and with the attraction he feels for her even stronger than it was in high school, he's willing to do whatever it takes to earn her forgiveness. 

A tale of second chances, FOR THE LONGEST TIME brings together two people who couldn't seem more different.  In high school, Jake and Sam secretly became friends, but before it could become more, Jake wasn't willing to publicly claim the weird girl as his friend, and Sam was devastated.  She's never completely gotten over that rejection, though she mostly doesn't think about it…until she moves back home.  She's always felt out of place in Harvest Cove, and she doesn't expect that to have changed, but Sam begins to understand she is wrong.  Jake went from popular high school athlete to well-liked and respected veterinarian, never having the desire to leave behind his home town or his friends.  It's not until Sam returns that Jake starts to see his past and his friends in a different light.

In this first book in the new Harvest Cove series, readers are introduced to more than just Jake and Sam.  Sam was always the weird Goth freak in high school, and her mother considered a hippie who shouldn't have intruded on the town or the wealthy family she'd married into.  Because of this, Sam's sister Emma has gone so far in the other direction, taking to the role of a respectable businesswoman as if her life depended on it.  Sam goes to work for Zoe Watson, a transplanted southerner who owns a gallery in town, and quickly becomes a friend.  Jake's friends, Ryan and Fitz, are likeable, but most of his group of friends still see Sam as the freak, which is bound to cause problems in their budding romance.

A fun, emotional story, I highly recommend FOR THE LONGEST TIME and can't wait for the other books to follow.

Jennifer Bishop