Review: Halfway There by Susan Mallery

Title: Halfway There   

Author: Susan Mallery 

Series: Fool’s Gold, #9.75 

Published: May 2013, Harlequin 

Format: e-book, 52 pages  

Source: Personal copy   

Fayrene Hopkins may be
only twenty-four years old, but she runs her own business and has big
plans–plans that don’t involve falling in love yet. She’s determined to
make her mark on the world before settling down.

She thinks
she’s got life all figured out–until she meets Ryan Patterson on her
latest job. Fayrene senses his interest in her, and she has to admit he
gets her pulse racing. Luckily, starting a relationship with Ryan is
safe–he’s leaving Fool’s Gold when his work contract is up.

Ryan
has goals of his own and a job waiting for him in Texas. He doesn’t
expect to get waylaid by a sassy blonde and cozy town. But what started
out as temporary is starting to look like the real thing. If only he can
convince Fayrene that some plans are made to be broken.

My thoughts: I am just loving the Fool’s Gold series and I keep finding that with each book and novella, that I fall a little bit more in love with the town and it’s characters each time I get to visit! In this short installment, that sets up for Susan Mallery’s newest trilogy in the series, we get Fayrene and Ryan’s story. 

This is the perfect example, in my opinion, of a sweet romance that is perfectly created and crafted for a novella. They don’t need a full-length novel to have their story told – theirs is a romance that is based on love at first sight without ever feeling too cheesy. They were both honest with each up from the beginning and thus had that to build on when plans changed.

I hope that this is not the last we see of Fayrene and Ryan as I liked both characters. I know Susan Mallery tends to have her characters stick around, so hopefully that includes these two as well!

If you read series, do you like when authors include novellas to tell some of the minor characters’ stories? Or do you tend to skip them?

Books in this series:

     1.  Chasing Perfect                      9.5  A Fool’s Gold Christmas

     2.  Almost Perfect                       9.75  Halfway There

     2.5  Sister of the Bride              10.  Just One Kiss

     3.  Finding Perfect                      11.   Two of a Kind

     4.  Only Mine                                12.  Three Little Words

     5.  Only Yours                              12.5  Christmas on 4th Street

     6.  Only His                                    13. When We Met – due out Apr 2014                     

     6.1  Only Us                                   14.   Before We Kiss – due out May 2014

     6.2  Almost Summer                  15.  Until We Touch – due out Jun 2014

     7.  Summer Days                         15.5  Yours for Christmas – due out Sep 2014  

     8.  Summer Nights                   

     9.  All Summer Long