Book Review | Secret Southern Promises – Winter Travers (Magnolia Grove Series, Book Ten)

Secret Southern Promises
By: Winter Travers

Series: Magnolia Grove
Book # in Series: 10 of 12
Publisher: Self Published
Publication Date: October 29th, 2024
My Rating: ✮✮✮½
My Reading Format: I received an ARC for an honest review

Synopsis:

𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦’s 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

Dolly Hanes has always been rooted in Magnolia Grove—along with the secret she’s kept about her son Nash. Running her family’s grocery store and raising a boy on her own, Dolly made peace with her decision to let Boone West, the love of her life, walk away all those years ago.

Boone West left town chasing rodeo dreams and never knew the price Dolly paid to let him go. Now, after years away, he’s back in Magnolia Grove—only to find Dolly, the woman he never stopped loving, right where he left her. But she’s not alone anymore.

Can love heal the wounds of the past, or will the truth drive them apart forever?

honey-script.light

If you love your romances to be on the sweeter side of the romance book spectrum, have I got a treat for you. The Magnolia Grove Series is an anthological series set in a small town. The surprise is that each book is written by a different author! I love my heroes, swoony and sweet, and I’ve come to find this series is exactly what I’ve been craving in my reading!!

Now let’s dive into Secret Southern Promises by Winter Traverse! Secret Southern Promises is the tenth book in the Magnolia Grove Series. This book is intended and absolutely can be read as a standalone. This novel revolves around a retired championship winning bull rider and a grocery store owner! Oh, the possibilities are endless with this one! ½

Dolly has lived the last fifteen years with a secret she holds close to her heart. After getting the rumor mill off her back and leading them in a different direction, she’s spent those last fourteen years dodging looks and whispers behind her back. But all that doesn’t matter when she’s watching the man she gave her heart to chasing his dreams and making a name for himself. But when a career ending accident has Boone West coming back to where his life actually had meaning, Dolly can’t help but worry about her secrets and when they’ll be exposed. Boone is back in her life, which means it’s finally time to tell him about their son.

Oh my! One of my favorite tropes in the romance book world is the Surprise! You’re a father trope, also known as a secret baby/child trope. I love this trope because it let’s us get a deeper view into a man’ emotional state of mind. This trope tends to bring out all the feels and all the emotions! I love it when a man exposes his vulnerability. When I found out Secret Southern Promises was a secret baby/child romance, I was immediately invested! I knew I needed this book, and I needed it right now.

Let’s dive into the characters, starting with Dolly. I loved the fact that Dolly was a bit standoffish. She mainly kept to herself, due to all the rumors and lies that were spread about her, it’s understandable. I felt every emotion this woman brought to the table. The nervous energy circling her was uncanny. Hell, this is fiction, but even I was looking around my living room for any possible threats. My heart rate skyrocketed during those whispered moments she heard between customers and their gossip. Ugh, I literally wanted to throw my Kindle across the room to gain some vindication for her. But through it all, she was the bigger person. I don’t know how that’s possible! Even writing this novel, I would have made her stomp a foot, cross her arms over her chest, or give someone’s face and introduction to my fist. Bottom line, what Dolly was put through had me raging out!

And then we have Boone. I wish like hell there were some flashback scenes of Boone in his element. I love Bull Riding! I would have loved little details to be thrown in here and there. I expected this man to be a bonafide cowboy! Sadly, I didn’t get that vibe from him. What I did get from his personality, though, is the fact that this man was reassuring when it came to the fact that he was going to be a dad to Nash, and a damn good one too. I loved the safety he brought to this novel… but there was something inside of me that wanted so much more from this man.

And herein lies the reasoning why I dropped my rating to 3 ½ stars. I decided to give Secret Southern Promises a three and a half star rating for one fact and one fact alone, I wanted more from Boone’s point of view. This man just found out that he fathered a child fourteen years ago… I wanted to feel that angst that I know lives inside a man who just had his world rocked. I wanted an internal viewpoint of what he felt, I wanted the tears and the heart being ripped open feeling. Bottom line, I wanted to be on the verge of tears for all the years Boone missed out on. I felt like we were given all the emotions and more, where Dolly is concerned. But Boone, he was the one to put the pieces together for his son and the mother of his son. These moments also felt a little off to me. It could be the fact that the ending felt a tad bit rushed. I also wanted more one on one moments between Boone and his son, Nash. I wanted to feel their bond grow stronger with each moment they spent together. But I didn’t feel that either.

What I did love, though, is the fact that Dolly owned up to being at fault for what she thought was her doing the right thing back than. My heart went out to this woman for making her life harder than it had to be. She put herself in the line of fire when it comes to the rumor mill just so Boone could go and chase his dreams. Sounds asinine, but to a teenager just out of high school, it kind of makes sense….

Overall, I loved the swoony vibes Winter Travers brought to Secret Southern Promises. I also loved the relationship between Dolly and her son, Nash. Well, prior to the secrets being exposed and what not. My heart fell for Dolly and Boone, and my heart also broke for what these two could have had all these years. So if you’re looking for a swoony, flirty, and somewhat angst ridden small town romance featuring a Bull Rider and his high school love, this book may just be your next favorite read.

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