THEN HE KISSED ME - Laura Trentham
A Cottonbloom Novel , Book 2 of 3
St. Martin's Paperbacks
ISBN: 978-1-250-07764-6
July 2016
Contemporary Romance

Cottonbloom, Louisiana and Mississippi

A river divides the town of Cottonbloom both physically and socially, with the Mississippi side being the richer and classier. Two children on the Louisiana side, Tally Fournette and Nash Hawthorn, were inseparable friends until they were ten and tragedy struck their young, innocent lives. Nash's mother lost her battle with breast cancer, and his father, a worker on a Gulf oilrig, gave him to his mother's wealthy sister on the Mississippi side. A very short time later, the three Fournette children lost their parents when their car was hit by a drunk driver. Tally was cared for by her older brothers, Cade and Sawyer, with the heaviest burden borne by Cade.

The children's leave-taking was a sad one, with Nash wishing he could run away with Tally. The years passed with the two unable to meet, but they never forgot each other or all the grand times they spent together by the river.

Tally, who seldom uses her real name, Tallulah, struggled through school and left it with many insecurities. She was not one to give up, however. Now, eighteen years later, she owns her own gym. Nash's childhood saw him advancing quickly in his new schools, which didn't endear him to his older schoolmates. He was smaller and smarter than they…a nerd who entered college at sixteen. But now, he's grown into an impressive man, a PhD, and soon to take up a position as a history professor at the local collage.

Nash and Tally meet when Nash finds her in a tavern on the Louisiana side. She's been having trouble shaking a roughly persistent ex-boyfriend, and this night Nash intervenes and takes her for safety to his guest house on his aunt's property . . .

What follows is a moving tale of two people who find that the old bonds remain, but how strongly? Nash realizes he must not rush Tally who harbors feelings of inadequacy and fears of being abandoned. Tally is sure she can never fit into Nash's sophisticated world. All this takes place amid the doings of the split town and among many of the folk—including friends and relatives—from competing sides.

With tenderness, affection, and sexuality dominating the deepening relationship, THEN HE KISSED ME is highly readable—and Nash extremely lovable. I wish I had read book one of this series, not that this is really lacking, but I couldn't help but wonder about a few of the characters. One, especially, Tally's friend Monroe. A little research and I learned she is the heroine in the first book, KISS ME THAT WAY.

Now, please excuse me, for I have an advance copy of book three just waiting to be read. J

Jane Bowers