The First Kiss of Spring: An Eternity Springs Novel

WOW!!! AMAZING!! I just loved, loved, loved reading this First Kiss of Spring by Emily March. Josh Tarkington is a man with a past who has a target on his back, okay on all parts of him. He seemed to be a magnet for trouble or bad luck. Despite all of that he was the perfect match for Caitlin Timberlake. Caitlin needed someone who not only saw the person she truly is, but needed her caring touch and love. Caitlin returned to Eternity Falls to be closer to family and to open a daycare for the town. Josh came from a famous theatrical family and a childhood spent in movies and television. He hoped a name change, time living in foster care, and getting his life together as an adult would keep his demons and troubles away. It didn’t quite happen that way but with the help of Caitlin and many of the people of Eternity Falls he found the courage needed to beat those demons away and live a normal life. To understand Josh compare him to Drew Barrymore: her life, her family, her addictions or rehab, and her acting career. Ms. March does an excellent job developing a storyline that takes us along the lives of Caitlin and Josh and their path toward falling in love. I really, really loved reading this book and had trouble putting this book down. Ms. March is an outstanding story teller, drawing me in and not letting go until I read the last page. I highly recommend this book to other readers and can’t wait to read the next book in this series. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

Eternity Springs does it again – taking the bruised, broken and fearful and restoring hope, love and courage to its citizens. Caitlin has returned home after years designing textiles: she’s braving her parents’ displeasure to open a Day Care center in town. She wants to be home and close to family after her brother’s near-loss as a photojournalist, and she’s itching for a new challenge. Her first trip back to Colorado nearly a month earlier, she met a man and his wheelchair-bound dog, Penny, and it awoke a sense of possibility and excitement in her for the next chapter: new career, new business, new love, marriage and family of her own. No one was more surprised than Caitlin when she is locked in a secret room in the house she is looking to convert to her daycare, only to be rescued by the man she met a month ago, his grey eyes and the overwhelming chemistry are just as strong. Josh has had a rough life: we are treated to much of his thoughts and feelings on his past through journal entries: these give us a sense that he’s got plenty he hides from everyone around him, and helps to show why he claims to want no attachments or relationships where others count on him. Unfortunately for him, the existence of Penny the paralyzed dachshund with her custom-made wheeled buggy and necessary daily physical care she requires belies that statement. And, this is where Caitlin decides that she will change his mind: Josh is the one for her – she knows this as well as she knows there will be snow in winter, and she is determined to convince him. Slowly and surely, we see Josh and Caitlin start to fall for one another: she’s far more aware of her developing attachment and her love for him –his own self-esteem issues, guilt and secrets that he fears will get out and destroy him yet again, combined with his own sense of being ‘bad luck’ for those around him have the two separating: heartsick and battling demons, until sense, time and some potential tragic news for Caitlin brings them together again. March skillfully wove the issue of abuse and addiction into Josh’s story and attitude, from true tragic events that happened to send him into drugs and alcohol to retreat, to his own shame, guilt and sense of ‘wrongness’ in what he sees as weakness and an inability to overcome his family history. From his own real fights and fears to those he brandished before him to keep Caitlin away, his character and caring nature showed through more clearly to everyone who encountered him. These two make a lovely couple – both before they both realized they were in love and after: their own desires and wishes for the future almost mirror one another, and it’s only when the need to ‘direct’ things (from both sides) is less important than the need to be together, do we see just what a formidable and perfect match they are. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

She's found her man and wants his heart. He knows his limits and doesn't have a heart to give. Emily March goes beyond the romance. Caitlin and Josh are only a tiny piece of a puzzle. There path is full of snow drifts not easily plowed, but waiting to be explored. Amidst the bad choices, heartbreaking moments and personal setbacks, lies a chance at redemption. Eternity Springs is the beginning of the rest of your life. No matter the road travelled, count on Emily March's Eternity Springs to point a wanderer home. The First Kiss of Spring is a sentimental, second chance love song.