I loved this small town series by Laura Pavlov! It has so many elements I love, like small town, enemies to lovers, second chance, celebrity romance, single father, brother’s best friend, and bad boy/good girl. She really covered them all, with a wonderful premise of five girls who have been best friends since kinder garden. They call themselves the Magic Willows, in reference to their town (Willow Springs) and using the first letter in their names: Maura, Addy, Gigi, Ivy, and Coco. They keep a series of notebooks which are filled with all their stories and memorabilia, they meet once a week to record all they have lived through, and when they go away to college and live in different cities, they keep up their meetings via Zoom. Ivy is the record-keeper and custodian of the notebooks. They have this beautiful history of friendship and support, plus all the wonderful friends they have in town, like Mae, a waitress in the Rusty Pelican diner, Lenny, owner of The Chocolate Fountain, and Violet, owner of the Floral Shop. I adored the stories, not just for the love story and steamy scenes, but for the back story of the friends, their families, their lives in this magical small town. Whenever one of them is in trouble or having a bad time, the others rush to be there, to help, to support, to listen and dry their tears, and give advice. I especially loved Coco, the most irreverent and rebel of the bunch.
Following is a summary of each book, all of them ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads:
#1 Frayed: Addy & Jett
Addy is the daughter of the town mayor and his wife, a very judgmental and snobbish Southern woman. Major Eddington is a very affable guy, Mrs. Eddington thinks she’s the queen of the town. She tries to control Addy and wants her to marry her best friend’s son, to keep it all in the family. However, Jake cheats on Addy and she breaks up with him. Then she takes up with Jett, who is from the wrong side of town. He’s a great guy, good son to his mama, works hard in school and stars as the QB in the high school football team. However, Mrs. Eddington won’t have it and fights hard to keep controlling Addy, while Jett encourages her to look within herself and search for what she wants and makes her happy. I loved this couple and loved how supporting Jett was. From a guy who didn’t want to have any relations, focused on his sports career to give his mother and granny a better life, to a very sweet and susceptible girl who wants to love everyone and do the right thing, while also following her ambitions. It had very sweet moments and heartbreaking moments. I thought it a perfect first book to this series and all the town important people in the/ series are introduced.
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#2 Tangled: Gigi & Gray
In this book, all the girls are starting in college, Gigi and Addy are in Texas U in Austin, Maura and Ivy in Dallas, and Coco in Houston. Gigi and Addy are sharing a dorm room, very tastefully decorated by Mrs. Eddington. Gigi’s brother Cade studies one hour away, and his best friend Gray is in TU with Gigi. She’s had a crush on him for years, but all he does is annoy her, fluff her hair, and act super-protective on behalf of Cade. His father is an addict with little hopes of recovery, his mother divorced her father and remarried but the stepfather is a jerk who needles Gray all the time. Since Gray was little, he spent most of his time in Gigi’s house and her parents even gave him a room. He feels more at home there than in his mother’s house. He also has a history as a player in the university, prior to Gigi arriving, so he feels he’s not the best for Gigi. Even so, there’s a strong attraction, and Gigi wants to work it out, but Grey waffles a lot because of the bro code and because he doesn’t feel worthy. Grey’s story is heart-wrenching and Gigi only wants to love him and support him. This story was wonderfully angsty!
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#3 Charmed: Maura & Crew
Maura’s family and Crew’s family are enemies in Willow Springs. Their enmity started with their grandparents and continues to this day. Maura’s father can’t see any of the Carlisles without spouting insults, while the Carlisles just ignore. In Maura’s last semester of her Marketing degree, she’s given an internship in Dallas’ premier ad agency, and Crew Carlisle happens to be the CEO. She’s apprehensive to start, wondering how Crew will treat her, and she’s keeping who her boss is a secret from her father so he won’t go off like a rocket.
Initially, Crew is ridiculously douchey, but pretty soon he realizes that Maura is a gem, and she’s very talented, a gem in the workplace. He also realizes that she’s a darling with a huge heart, sweet and kind. And I loved how strongly he falls victim to her charms. I loved the comparisons between their homes, his is loving and full of laughter, while hers is cold and full of formality. Eventually she learns some terrible secret from her father’s past and it wrecks havoc in her family life and her relation with Crew. There’s also a sad history in Crew’s family past which affects how he views love. It was funny in parts, heartwarming and angsty.
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#4 Sealed: Coco & Roman
This was my favorite! Coco is the rebel of the group! She has decided she won’t marry, won’t fall in love, she’s so naughty and irreverent. But she’s also a great friend to her besties and will rush to the rescue for any of them. She only indulges in one-night-stands, enjoys life to the fullest and is thriving in her career as a stylist. All the girls are now graduated from college, working at the careers they love.
Coco’s home life was crappy with an older sister who is horribly self-centered and high maintenance. Whitney was sick when she was little, and their mother spoiled her rotten. Now she’s getting married and has turned into a terrible bridezilla. Coco feels invisible in her home and wants to cause some ruckus at the wedding. She needs a date so she hires Roman Amato, new owner of the bar she likes to frequent in Houston. In exchange, she will get him a spread in Houston Vibe, the magazine where Coco works. They make the deal, she writes the contract and seals it with her red lipstick. They get along famously, he gives her all the vibes she wanted: motorcyclist, bad boy, tattooed, tall and broody and sexy. She calls him “Big Sexy”! He has a great time at the wedding and then it’s back to his regular life, as a daddy to a five-year-old little boy, Valentino. But the yearning that arose from those magical four days with Coco was so strong and they continue to extend the contract with the required amendments and additional lipstick seals. It was such a fun story!
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#5 Claimed: Ivy and Ty
My favorite tropes, second chance and celebrity! Ty initially appeared in Frayed, he was Ivy’s boyfriend through high school, then he had a family scandal and left town with his mother and sister and asked Ivy to let him go and forget him. And of course she couldn’t! For five years Ivy was a serial first dater, never a second date. She never got over Ty but with the passing of years, the grief turned into anger and hate. When Ty’s sister moved back to Willow Springs and was planning her wedding, of course she asked Ivy for her help, and this is how Ty came back to visit. Ty is now a famous country singer, with many awards for the songs he’s written, all written for Ivy. He’s suffering from writing block and his counsellor encouraged him to come back home, deal with his father and with Ivy for closure and to deal with all his past angers. And of course, that love flourished right back at them, but this time they had a bigger obstacle: she’s happy with her life in Willow Springs, and he belongs to the public and is on the road most of the time. They want different things and neither will budge. It was incredibly angsty to read about this couple who love each other so intensely and couldn’t find some middle ground to be together. Ty had outside influences that worked against them and they add suspense and frustration to the story.
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What I loved the best about all these stories is that they happen one after the other, so we enjoy all the besties with their men as they add on to the group. Of course, the men forge a friendship because they are together so often and they respect that their women have such a strong relation to their girl group. I enjoyed the angst, the strong emotions and sexy times, the beautiful love between these five friends and the loyalty to each other. I loved the scenes when one had some crisis and the others came rushing. And the town friends, and the parents who add spice and variety to the story. Great series, sure to be re-read many times because they have such a strong feel good feeling to them. I was specially grateful for the 25 years later epilogue that the author wrote, so we knew where everyone was in their story.
About the author
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