Books serve as an escape from the real world, but they also dare us to hope and believe. She was a believer until he quenched that fire. She was a hopeless romantic who wanted a happy ending, but he was a narcissist. He blamed their divorce on her reading Nora Roberts’ novels.

With her belief and hope snuffed out, she is determined to prove her ex-husband wrong. Meredith Hale believes her little hometown might just be the place to get her happily ever after. As a journalist, she decides to write about her experience meeting Mr. Right.

His work is known. A journalist who is used to putting himself in harm’s way by writing articles from all over the world—India, Iraq, Afghanistan, and more—is His reputation precedes him. When called to a new assignment by his boss, he is surprised by the nature of the work. Furthermore, his boss stoops so low as to blackmail him into breaking his ex-wife’s heart.

With no other choice but to follow through with his job, the blackmail hangs over his head like a nook. He just has to find something to take down Sommervile, for what he was asking of him was against his ethics. Tanner McBride hates the small town the moment he steps foot in it. With the Hale family owning a popular paper, the Western Independent, and him taking a liking to Meredith, they find themselves busy. Trying to uncover and prevent more deaths from happening in the small town of Dare Valley

Ava Miles, the author of Nora Roberts’s Land, is quite talented in her writing. The plot of the book is unique, despite the fact that it involves the old cliche of returning home and falling in love. What she’s done with her story is exquisite, and it shows how creative it is. Mostly, I love the concept of her using her favorite author and coming up with this anthology. It is empowering and refreshing to see how much of an inspiration Nora Robert is to her.

Reading this was also a breath of fresh air. It moved quickly, and the author didn’t drag out the scenes any longer than necessary. Out of a total of twelve books, this is the first in the Dare Valley series.