He’s hell-bent on telling her what to do.
She’s determined to make it on her own.
They’re both going to learn a thing or two about first impressions.

Brightwater Valley, New Zealand, is beautiful, rugged, and home to those who love adventure. But it’s also isolated and on the verge of becoming a ghost town.

When the town puts out a call to its sister city of Deep River, Alaska, hoping to entice people to build homes and businesses in Brightwater, ex-paratrooper Chase Kelly is all for it.

He sees the benefits of building the economy, but only if those who come to Brightwater are ready for its challenges.

Former oil executive Isabella Montgomery and her plan to open an art gallery don’t seem up to the test.

Now Chase is determined to help her learn the ways of his formidable hometown.

Titles in the Small Town Dreams series include — Find Your Way Home – All Dreams Lead to You –

This is a spin-off or a connecting series (whichever you call it) to the Alaska Homecoming series. Those titles include — Come Home to Deep River – Deep River Promise -That Deep River Feeling –

You do not have to have read the Alaska Homecoming series to enjoy Small Town Dreams… but it would make some relationships clearer and add a bit more background, yet in my opinion, it’s not totally necessary, enjoyable yes. 🙂

This is an adult 18+ story that may contain language, possible violence, and/or sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Title:  Find Your Way Home
Series:  Small Town Dreams #1
Author:  Jackie Ashenden
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Published:  April 26, 2022
Publisher:  Sourcebooks Casablanca
My Rating:  4.5 stars

Find Your Way Home begins the Small Town Dreams series where those with adventurous spirits are called to relocate to a remote New Zealand town on the brink of becoming a ghost town to settle down, open their new businesses, and embrace both the town and their new lives.  The remoteness isn’t for everyone, and there are some concerns about whether these newcomers will really stay… people like Chase Kelly who isn’t convinced that Isabella Montgomery or her friends really know what they’re in for by upending their lives to start fresh here in the area he loves and wants to see grow.  But, Chase is about to be a bit surprised… in more ways than just his misjudgment of Isabelle.

As much as Chase annoyed me at times with his know-it-all attitude and natural grumpiness, I also adored the man for his love of his daughter, his need to save his dying town, and the slow journey from grumpy man to smiling, embracing, loving man he would become simply by loving Isabelle… eventually.

Oh, Isabella has had a rough awakening by losing her job and being dumped by the man she was to marry.  She could hang her head and whine, cry about the injustice of it all but that’s not her way.  Seeing the call for adventurous spirits to relocate to Brightwater, New Zealand is the perfect chance for Isabella to do what she really wants with her life, in a setting far removed from the bright lights and chaos of the city or her former lifestyle.  That she gets to go on this adventure with friends, Bethany and Indigo, and have that chance for a do-over is a gift… but one that comes wrapped in one adorable young girl and one grump father who is convinced she isn’t cut out for the remoteness of her new home.

I loved Find Your Way Home, and the connection it has with the Alaska Homecoming series.  The title fits Izzy and Chase so well for these two are in fact, finding their way home to each other, to people who accept them just as they are… eventually.  Chase had to discover who Izzy really is, and not the woman he believed her to be at first based on an assumption and a comparison with an ex-wife.  Izzy had to see beyond the grumpiness and wariness that Chase has shrouded his life with to the man he truly was before life changed his attitude.  I loved Isabella’s interactions with Gus, and the townsfolk as well.  She knows what she wants, and even if all Chase had to offer was a friend with benefits relationship she still would have fallen for him but when they trusted each other and their own emotions when risks were taken, that’s when this couple shines.  I had such a good time with this one and cannot wait for Beth and Indigo to find their forever loves as the series continues.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

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