Ten years ago the town of Sweetness, Georgia was completely obliterated by a tornado. As soon as they finished their military duties, the Armstrong brothers, Marcus, Kendall, and Porter, returned with a plan to rebuild the town and bring it into the 21st century.  With a grant from the government, they’ve set out to build a “green” town based in the recycling industry, using the latest technology in self-sustaining construction. The plans for the towns are coming along swimmingly, but they’re missing a key component- women.

At a loss for a better idea, they place an ad in a small Northern town’s newspaper. Surprisingly it works. On the day the caravan of women arrives, Porter Armstrong takes a tumble off the town water tower and breaks his ankle. Lucky for him, a doctor has arrived in town. Even luckier? She’s attractive and won’t take any crap from him.

Dr. Nikki Salinger is one of the few women who is thoroughly unimpressed with the charming Porter’s sweet-talking, Southern boy charm. After less than a day in Sweetness, she decides the…primitive conditions aren’t for her. Determined to keep her around (and win a bet with his brothers), Porter does everything in his power to keep the doctor around long enough for her to see that she belongs in Sweetness (and in his bed).

Porter is charming and a bit hapless. He’s very much the baby of the three brothers, much like Roman Chandler in Carly Phillips’s The Bachelor. He’s not crazy about commitment, but he’s crazy about Sweetness and he’s crazy about Nikki. He spends most of the book as an invalid, which makes for an unusual dynamic that keeps him firmly in Dr. Nikki’s path. This added a vulnerable element that made Porter even more appealing.

Nikki is a no-nonsense, intelligent woman – exactly the kind of heroine you want to find in a contemporary romance novel. Did I want to be BFFs with her? Eh. We’ll have to see how she progresses in future books. The only problem I had with this book was I didn’t see enough development of the romantic relationship between her and Porter. I wanted a bit more tension and flirting. But on the other hand, I did enjoy that they established themselves as friends before they were lovers.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The characters were interesting and the premise engaging. I’m a sucker for the small-town stories and this series has an interesting and original twist to it. That being said, this book was definitely a foundational book for the series. What do I mean by that? Well, it works more to establish the town and the cast of characters than it does to fully develop the relationship between Nikki and Porter. Having read the next book as well, I’m ok with this because, given that this is a series, we see them again and see that their relationship (like all good relationships) continues to develop past the end of the book.

~ Taylor