"Like Never Before" is a sweetly poignant contemporary romance from author Melissa Tagg. Set in the fictional small-town community of Maple Valley, Iowa, the storyline continues to feature the lives of the Walker family, whom we met in the first two books in the series: "Three Little Words" and "From the Start". Logan Walker had been unexpectedly widowed at an early age. Losing his wife, Emma, had left him to raise their young daughter, Charlotte--known as "Charlie"--on his own. He had left Maple Valley behind years ago to pursue a career as a highly influential political speechwriter in Washington, DC. Now he was being lured back to his hometown by messages from Amelia Bentley, who had moved to Maple Valley and taken over as editor for the local paper where Logan had once worked. Freddie, the beloved former editor of the paper, had passed away, and now the paper was struggling to stay in print. When Logan learns to his great surprise that he has inherited the paper from Freddie, he and Charlie head to Iowa to visit the Walker family and settle up the newspaper business. However, an unexpected attraction between Logan and Amelia further complicates matters, and Logan has more decisions to make than he ever imagined. Amelia is nursing a deep hurt over her broken marriage and adoption plans that fell through. She loves the newspaper life, though, and she does her best to convince Logan not to sell the paper. He sees how good being around his family is for Charlie, and his growing feelings for Amelia have him torn between the comfort of his familial environment and the exciting appeal of his career in DC. Will new feelings of love and hope for the future bring Logan, Amelia, and Charlie together as family all their own? Is there a way to compromise here and there to make happiness the reward for all? "Like Never Before" really resonated with me as a reader. I live in a small railroad town in the mountains of Virginia, and I worked for our local paper for years as an advertising sales representative. I still love "hold 'em in your hands" actual newspapers, and I read them every day.

Book Copy Gratis Bethany House Books ( )

I laughed, I cried, I cheered, I hoped, but above all, I loved Like Never Before!

Really guys. If you are looking for the perfect read for this summer look no further. Like Never Before, book two in Melissa's Walker Family series set in the small, quirky, and coffee loving town of Maple Valley, is just fantastic.

First off, we have the adorable and persistent Amelia Bently. This girl is as spunky and quirky as they come, but that's what makes her so likeable! She was such a real character to me--her struggles and her triumphs. I enjoyed watching how she grew throughout the story because I felt personally invested in her.

Then there's Logan Walker. *Sigh* Oh Logan, my fictional crush radar is zinging! Is there anything more attractive than a man who loves his daughter and is a great writer? He was also such a well fleshed out character. Amidst his strengths, his weaknesses made me want to take him by the fictional shoulders and give him encouragement. Yes, he was that real to me.

Put these two together and wowza! Chemistry, romantic tension, laughter, and a whole lot of turning pages because you have to know how it's going to end. I also loved the concepts Melissa addressed in this book. I liked how she brought up the reality of dreams and what it looks like in real life to face the decisions that will either take you to, or from, those dreams. She's not afraid to tackle some hard questions in the midst of all the fun and that gives this book such a great and refreshing quality.

Obviously, I enjoyed Like Never Before a lot! It's a major recommend read from me. I mean, to put it in perspective, there I was sitting on my couch on my birthday reading the last chapters of this and crying! Not because it was sad, mind you - just because it was a perfect ending to this sweet story. Do yourself a favor and add this to your TBR!

Originally posted on my blog: http://eahendryx.blogspot.com/2016/07/like-never-before-by-melissa-tagg-review.h...
_______________
I received a free copy of this book for review purposes, but was under no obligation to read the book or post a review. I do so under my own motivation and the opinions I have expressed in this review are honest and entirely my own. ( )

I love Amelia and Logan. They are so much fun together. She is a wonderful journalist and Logan is a speechwriter who might get to work on a presidential campaign. This was hard to put down. You never quite knew what Amelia and Logan were going to do next. I loved this. I received this from the author for a fair and honest opinion. ( )

When I started the book, I thought I might not like it as much as other Bethany House books. By page 50, I knew that was a total mistake in my thinking. This book is so great, that I told my family that I was not doing any of the tasks I had planned for the day until I finished this book! It was a complete joy to read.

Lovable characters, for sure! Setting, grabbed me because it was from my home state of Iowa and I don't come across many of those unless it is the Amana series. Most of all, however, is the great storyline which we can all easily imagine since small town print newspapers are dying or have died at a rapid rate. Amelia Bentley has only lived in Maple Valley a couple of years, but she loves the town, its people , and her job as editor of the newspaper. The bad news, though, is that the paper may soon be sold and with that will go not only her work but the work of the close group at the newspaper office. Amelia has already been offered work elsewhere, but she doesn't want anything to change.
Right from the start, she is communicating with Logan Walker who used to be at the newspaper, grew up in the town, but has now moved on to bigger jobs such as political speech writer. In their playful banter online, we know Amelia has a mad crush on Logan and reads everytjomg he writes.
Logan's wife was targically killed and he has never recovered emotionally as he tries to raise their daughter alone. A bad nanny, the Maple Valley newspaper being left to him in a will, and his three year old daughter not speaking has him going home for two weeks to set things straight. Well, two weeks extends out as he and Amelia work on a newspaper story together and as he helps his friend with a fund raiser. While both Amelia and Logan try to play it safe in the love department, they both are slipping, but how can anything ever work out? He will be on the road with a presidential candidate and she loves Maple Valley and her work with the dying newspaper Logan owns. Read this book for a great story.
I recieved this book for free from the publisher, but that in no way influences my review. I loved this book! ( )