Book Review | Endless Southern Love – Heidi McLaughlin (Magnolia Grove Series, Book Eight)

Endless Southern Love
By: Heidi McLaughlin

Series: Magnolia Grove
Book # in Series: 8 of 12
Publisher: Self Published
Publication Date: August 29th, 2024
My Rating: ✮✮✮✮
My Reading Format: I received an ARC for an honest review

Synopsis:

Single dad, Wade Jenkins, Magnolia Grove’s landscaping hottie who likes to mow lawns without a shirt on is thrown for a loop when his spirited seven-year-old daughter Goldie comes to live with him. While Wade’s thrilled to have his daughter full-time, there’s one little issue . . .

The elementary school principal.

Lemon Walsh is a woman who doesn’t live life to the fullest, despite her best friend urging her to all the time. When someone from her past shows up front and center, she has no choice but to finally reconcile the decision she made in college.

Will one of her students be the catalyst for change?

honey-script.light

Endless Southern Love by Heidi McLaughlin is the eighth book in the Magnolia Grove Series. I’m loving everything about this anthological series. Each book is written by a different author, so for starters you get different styles of writing and storytelling along with the sweetheart vibes that come with small town romances! I’m a fan! And adding Heidi McLaughlin to this line-up of authors made me become an even greater fan!!

Heidi McLaughlin takes us on an emotional roller coaster in Endless Southern Love.

Lemon thought she had her life all planned out. Finish college, start a career, marry the love of her life, buy their dream home, and then fill it with kids. But those dreams came to a crashing halt when she let her insecurities get the best of her and decided to take a break from her relationship. Now, seven years of dodging he who shall not be named, later she is forced to face Wade Jenkins head on when he enrolls his seven year old daughter in Magnolia Grove Elementary. Will she be able to endure the heartbreak and regret, or will she go running for the hills. Only time will tell.

Wade Jenkins never got over losing the love of his life. He tried, which resulted in the most precious thing he holds closest to his heart, his daughter. His daughter may be just what Wade needs to get Lemon to see him for the man he is, and the man he’s always been. The man who is still hopelessly devoted and helplessly in love with a woman who won’t get him a seconds glance.

My Thoughts:

Heidi McLaughlin brought me to tears with Endless Southern Love! It’s been a long time since I had to wipe my eyes while reading a novel. That just goes to show how truly invested I was! I couldn’t put this one down!!

Let’s start with Wade Jenkins. Wade is Magnolia Grove’s very own landscaper. He’s built his business from the ground up, and sacrificed a lot to get to where he is right now. And he couldn’t be any more proud of himself if he tried. I loved this man’s ambition! But there are more facets to his personality that I adored. For starters, I loved how caring this man is. He wears his love on his sleeve, works hard, and loves with his whole heart. There wasn’t a single moment in this novel when Wade Jenkins’ character let me down.

And then we have Lemon Walsh. Ohhh, Lemon. What am I going to do with you! Lemon also has a great work ethic, but her work ethic comes from the foundation of hiding her heart away. You know the saying a busy mind is a happy mind. Well Lemon works to fill her time and her mind. I do have to say, typically when I find myself angry over a character, it’s the male lead in the story. This time around, however, I felt so much anger towards Lemon. All of this could have been avoided if she would have set her pride to the side and talked to Wade. But then it wouldn’t be an emotional novel if that were to have happened.

I loved Wade’s character and the fact that he’s a loving father. His little girl is the most precious person in the world to him, and it shows. My heart melted for this man. But on another stance, my heart also broke for Lemon and the regret she was forced to relive over and over again every time she saw Wade’s daughter. Herein lies the reasoning behind why I dropped a star on my rating. I rated Endless Southern Love 4 stars due to Lemon’s character. There were a few moments that I felt her character’s maturity levels were younger than her actual age. I wanted more from these moments, where conversations were had instead of attitude. She was the one that set all this in motion, but yet, I felt there were moments when she was trying to get him to apologize to her. I don’t know. These moments felt a little forced to me. I wanted them to fully work things out instead of having sex and then bam, where together again. Intimacy is an important part of a relationship, sure, but you have to also be able to talk through situations without intimacy.

Overall, I really did enjoy this novel. I just needed a little more from certain moments to boost my rating from a 4 star to a full 5 star read. I do have to say, I loved Wade Jenkins’ character so much! I need more main characters like him in my reading material! Definitely made this novel sexy and sweet! I can’t wait to read more from this series!

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