Readers can enjoy Sweet Pea Summer by Alys Murray (Small Town Secrets; The Magnolia Sisters), which features a visit to charming Hillsboro, Calif., as a standalone novel or as the second installment of the Full Bloom Farm series. May Anderson and Tom Riley were once high school sweethearts. When May decided to stay in Hillsboro the night of their high school graduation, instead of leaving with Tom as planned, he was heartbroken. His loneliness doesn't end when he returns and confronts the rumors that he was the one who broke May's heart. In a small community where everyone knows (and talks) about each other, the pair--who avoid each other as much as possible--find their past difficult to escape.
The Northwest Food and Wine Festival picks Hillsboro for the annual affair, and May and Tom unexpectedly find themselves organizing the town's biggest event of the year. Their irresistible chemistry resurfaces in the whirlwind of festival planning and creates a sweet second-chance romance. However, their reunion is riddled with obstacles. May, never correcting the assumption that Tom was to blame all those years ago, must decide if she can find the courage to risk her reputation and finally set the record straight; Tom must forgive her faults while also realizing his own. Murray crafts heartwarming moments of familial love and encouragement with a spirit of never giving up on true love. Sweet Pea Summer illuminates the importance of forgiveness and second chances as May and Tom find their way back to each other. --Clara Newton, freelance reviewer