Bursting with Love: Love in Bloom, Book 8; The Bradens, Book 5 (Unabridged‪)‬

Bursting With Love by Melissa Foster is Savannah Braden and Jack Remington’s love story and introduces us to the first of several Remington families in the Love In Bloom series. Savannah finds herself signing up for a survival weekend course to escape her current/newly ex-boyfriend. She quickly finds herself very attracted to the VERY surly/grumpy Jack Remington who just happens to be the guide for the weekend. Jack can not believe how his body has reacted to meeting Savannah. The feelings/emotions that are resurfacing in Jack are forcing him to reconnect with family after 2 long years of grieving the loss of his wife. Will his family be open to reconnecting? I read this story several years ago and loved it. I love the rugged, outdoor, former military type of man like Jack. Recently, I was able to listen to the audio version of this story and loved it all over again. BJ Harrison is the narrator and does an excellent job bringing this story to life. Absolutely recommend Bursting With Love by Melissa Foster. I received an ALC in exchange for an honest review. *****

Bursting with Love is the fifth Book in the Braden Love in Bloom series and tells the story of Savanah, the only Braden sister. Savannah has a habit of choosing the wrong men and after breaking up with her latest relationship disaster, she goes on a wilderness retreat to regroup and find herself again. To her surprise she instantly becomes attracted to the rugged and surly wilderness guide, Jack Remington. Two years later, Jack is still getting over the loss of his wife who died unexpectedly in an accident. The sparks fly between Savannah and Jack and both face their demons and help to heal each other. Their relationship moves extremely fast under the circumstances but seems to work for this couple.

This is an enjoyable edition to the Braden series. Savannah has all the Braden qualities we have come to love. The chemistry between Savannah and Jack is palpable and the story provides a nice balance of steamy sex and character development. Jack’s self reflection and growth allows him to not only move forward with his relationship with Savannah as well as with his family. As usual, Melissa Foster tackles an emotional and challenging situation, in this case, how to move forward following an immeasurable grief and loss with sensitivity. As a recent widow myself, I could empathize with Jack and understand his guilt and grief. I did think 2 years was rather fast for people to be “expecting” him to be moving on. Everyone processes grief differently and 2 years goes by in a blink. I could see his family and friends wanting him to stop being so withdrawn and to stop cutting them off, but moving past his grief seemed a bit fast. I probably would have felt better if it was more like four years after his loss. In spite of this, I enjoyed the story very much and was excited to see Savannah get her happily ever after.

As usual, B. J. Harrison did an excellent job voicing the characters. I particularly liked his narration in this story. He really brought emotion to the characters.

***I received a copy of this audiobook in exchange for my own, unbiased, review.***

What a fabulous love story. I have been fortunate enough to both read and listen to Savannah and Jacks love story. This love story brings me back to the first few of Melissa’s Books and really allowed me to fall back in love with the Braden’s again. Oh if only finding true love in the real world was so easy! But if I can’t have it as my reality I’d love to be swept off my feet by Jack in my fictional world! Definitely consider reading or listening to this awesome story. It’s worth every minute!