Thursday, 14 January 2016

Mystic Park by Regina Hart (Romance, 8/10E, short 'n' sweet review)

 August 2015, Kensington, 352 pages, Paperback, Review copy from NetGalley

Content: some strong adult romance, humour,

Summary from Kensington Publishing
Los Angeles talent manager Benita Hawkins has returned to tiny Trinity Falls, Ohio, to visit her elderly great aunt Helen--and hopefully convince her to move to assisted living. But that's not the only move Benita hopes to inspire. After years of hometown hookups with her childhood sweetheart, university band director Vaughn Brooks, Benita wants more: for Vaughn to move to L.A. and settle down with her. She even gets involved in his work, planning to lure him to the City of Angels. . .

Vaughn has loved Benita since high school, but he also loves Trinity Falls. Hoping to seduce her to stay, he asks Benita to help out with the local production of his original musical. But when Benita takes her role too far, she may have blown both their dreams--unless she can prove to Vaughn that they want the same things out of life after all. . .


Nayu's thoughts     
Aunt Helen is hilarious, she manages to put Benita in her place which needs to happen a lot. Benita genuinely thinks she knows best, when in actual fact she wants what's easier for her – not just for her aunt to keep living independently, but also for Vaughn. Benita doesn't put herself in other peoples' shoes for most of the book. She sees their life from her perspective, with her opinions. She eventually discovers just how much her aunt is looked after by the closeknit community, and that fame isn't all that important.

The thing is she knows deep down that fame isn't everything because she is unhappy in LA but is extremely stubborn and refuses to admit she's wrong. Her pride and strong will definitely run in the family! There were numerous times when I wanted to bash her on the head to stop being so silly (pretty much most of the book), but the ending is a sweet one and worth all the frustration (from myself as a reader, and I suppose Benita's frustration too. I loved her aunt's strong support network who are there for whatever life throws at her. The small town community feel is loved by Benita's aunt, and strongly resister by Benita, but ends up being what they both need.

Find out more on Regina's website.

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