[Love in Sun City]: A Series Review

Happy Fall, Y’all!

It finally feels like fall around here and I am so happy! My favorite season of the year by far and we are loving all the fall things and all the pumpkin things at our house.

I am so excited to share my review of the Love in Sun City series by Dana Lecheminant! I am officially a Dana fangirl after binging this series as my youngest recovered from having their tonsils out. We had lots of couch snuggles and these books were the perfect escape for me!

After finishing Lovestruck, I knew I wanted to read more of Dana’s books and these were so delightful! I loved getting to know all of the Briggs siblings and seeing their love stories unfold. Also how clever are the titles to these books? I love them!

Micah: “Micah Taylor is an eternal optimist, but with every first date that fails, her faith in true love weakens. When offered the chance to help reopen the lodge where her parents were married, Micah is determined to prove her worth and show her boss that she has what it takes to be a great event planner. But the grumpy assistant to the client, Fischer, sees her as a distraction from his own goals of taking over his boss’s company, and he seems to be in her way at every turn.

Despite his reservations, Fischer’s heart latches onto Micah the moment he sees her. As they work together, Fischer begins to realize that Micah could be the one thing he needs, but she deserves better than a broken man incapable of love.

But the more time he spends with Micah, the more he knows there’s no going back. He just has to hope he can become the man she has been dreaming of before she decides it’s time to move on to someone better”

Chad: “Torn between a quiet life and the chaos of unexpected love, Private Investigator Chad Briggs is set to find out if a snowstorm can melt his heart in Laketown. When Hope, the all too attractive—and far too young—woman next door, Chad’s life is thrown into a whirlwind he would rather not face, but he doesn’t have much of a choice.

Trying to navigate her new life after unexpectedly gaining custody of her dead sister’s kids, Hope knows she shouldn’t be interested in her much older neighbor, no matter how easy he is on the eyes. But when a snowstorm traps them together in one house, can they ignore the sparks between them?

With every reason to think a relationship is impossible, especially with the kids in the mix, they know a weekend fling isn’t going to end well. But their hearts didn’t get the memo, and they might be in too deep to back out.”

Brooklyn: “High school teacher Brooklyn Briggs has always been great with chemistry but terrible with relationships. When a guy drops into her life—literally—and offers to coach her into getting a date with her longtime crush, she’s willing to accept any help she can get. Even if her new flirting coach is her brother Houston’s best friend, the guy who drove her crazy all throughout high school.

Jordan Torres never expected to see Brooklyn again. After the way he teased her in high school, she has every right to hate him. But despite warnings from her brother, he’s drawn to her in a way he’s never been before and can’t seem to remember that she’s in love with someone else. Neither can she.

Both of them value their relationship with Houston too much to risk things going wrong, but they may not have a choice. The heart wants what the heart wants. Besides, Brooklyn can’t turn a blind eye to perfect chemistry.”

Houston: “Houston Briggs is at a crossroads, facing the possible end of his career after a devastating injury. With an uncertain future ahead of him and his siblings finding their own happy endings, he’s desperately seeking peace and purpose.

Enter Darcy Paxton, his refreshing new neighbor who is nothing like the women of his past relationships. There’s a realness about her that Houston can’t resist, and she sees the man behind the athlete, bringing calm to the storm of his life.

However, complicating matters is Tamlin Park, a tenacious sports reporter known for her exposés on athletes’ lives. Despite the threat she poses to his already shaky career, Houston can’t deny the chemistry between them, and she surprises him at every turn with her intelligence and passion for baseball.

Caught between two women who seem made just for him, Houston has no idea what his future holds. If only there was a way for them all to find happiness without someone getting hurt.”

The overlapping timelines were really fun and it was so clever to get the same scenes multiple times in different books seeing them from different perspectives. The trivia night was a favorite and the opening of the lodge. Seeing each couple in the books as both side characters and main characters was fun and different. They all fall in love at the same time which is unique. But I love the different journeys everyone goes on and how we get to know them all through their individual stories.

Each of these siblings has surprising depth and complexities. They lost their mom to cancer when they were younger. And seeing how they each have worked through their grief was a beautiful and tragic part of each of their stories. As their ages are pretty varied, their grief journeys are also varied. I admire the way Dana weaves deep emotions like grief, guilt, uncertainty and fear into these beautiful love stories.

Micah is simply a delight. She is sunshine and happiness and optimism personified. I loved seeing how she builds people up and how people are drawn to her happiness and kindness. She has a gift for event planning and I love seeing her gain confidence in her abilities as the story progresses. And seeing her fall in love with Fischer was such a treat. Fischer is the grump to Micah’s sunshine –– at first. I loved getting to know him as he begins to open up about his past and his insecurities. Seeing him try to be better and begin believing in love because of Micah was so beautiful.
I really enjoyed getting to know Chad — the father figure of the Briggs family and understanding his history gave such beautiful depth and empathy to his character. He is always taking care of everyone and feels needed. But Hope brings out the less serious parts of him. She shows him what it means to be wanted. Hope is incredible! The way she takes her niece and nephew and tries to give them a good life after their mom dies is so inspiring & beautiful. It’s not easy and she feels overwhelmed and inadequate. But she keeps trying. I love how Chad sees her and helps her and respects her.
Its so intriguing that Brooklyn and Jordan have this long history that they see differently. Brooklyn is changing how she sees Jordan and his teasing in this story. And Jordan has always loved Brooklyn on some level. They have both had hard things in their pasts that have limited their current happiness. And together they are able to see ways to be both fun and serious, hard working and making time for silliness. I enjoy seeing how their history impacts their present but also how they change.
I loved getting to know Houston and seeing him fall in love. He has tried to handle everything on his own for so long so seeing him open up with his family and with Darcy was so beautiful. I love how he changes and tries to connect more as the story progresses. I loved Darcy and all her complexities and surprises. Seeing her fall for Houston and build him up is so lovely.

All 4 of these love stories are absolutely fantastic! They are all slow burn on some level and the obvious chemistry between each couple is sizzling. I love the different tropes like forced proximity, brother’s best friend, secret identity, single parent, workplace romance, and more. I was rooting for these couples from the first pages of their stories. And their happily ever afters are simply beautiful.

I loved how Micah and Fisher both discover what real love is and how it can be both a fairy tale and hard. The way Fischer takes care of Micah is so beautiful. And the ways she shows him that he is worthy of love no matter what are so lovely. I love how they bring out the best in each other. Such a beautiful love story!
I love Chad and Hope’s fast paced romance. I love how they start as enemies (or try to) and quickly become attached to each other. I love when they are snowed in together. I love the moments they share with Link and Zelda. I love how they feel like a family so early. I love their first swoony kisses. And I love how they make mistakes and then make amends.
Is “dating coach” considered a micro trope of some kind? Because I am here for it! It’s not quite fake dating but it seems to lead to real feelings every time. I loved the dating lessons from Jordan and how little touches affect them both. Oh my word, the way Jordan builds Brooklyn up and helps her see how amazing she is — so swoony! I loved the way he helps her see her worth and helps her have fun again. She has been burned so many times. But Jordan helps her see that life can still have value and meaning and excitement regardless of the past. I appreciated the ways Jordan is still trying to be better as well. He isn’t perfect but he is perfect for Brooklyn.
Houston tries so hard not to fall in love with Darcy. And while there are many surprising twists and turns in their love story, I loved their journey. Love is what helps Houston make big decisions and find true meaning and worth in his life. Their obvious chemistry in every situation was beautiful and I loved seeing them both drop their defenses and let each other in.

If you’re looking for a fun, flirty series with fantastic characters and swoony love stories, these are for you! I am excited to read even more of Dana’s books after devouring these!