About the Book
Book: Driftwood Dreams
Author: T.I. Lowe
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: June 1, 2020
Josie Slater has allowed the circumstances anchoring her in Sunset Cove to become a life sentence. Since her mother’s death years before, she’s spent most of her waking hours helping her dad run the Driftwood Diner. As her best friends, Opal and Sophia, make their dreams come true, Josie watches her own art school aspirations drift on by. But when a French-speaking Southern gentleman from her past moves back from Europe, Josie is launched into a tizzy of what-ifs and I-sure-do-hope-sos.
August Bradford left Sunset Cove six years ago to sow some life oats and conquer his ambitious career goals. Finally ready to lay down some roots, the successful artist is back in town and determined to win Josie’s heart. When he enlists Josie’s help in the preparations for a children’s art camp, Josie finds herself unleashing her artistic side in a way she hasn’t since before her mother’s death. August hopes to convince Josie to paint a life with him, but the problem is convincing her to let go of her apprehensions and give him—and her dreams—a fair chance.
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About the Author
Tonya “T.I.” Lowe is a native of coastal South Carolina. She attended Coastal Carolina University and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she majored in Psychology but excelled in Creative Writing. In 2014, Tonya independently published her first novel, Lulu’s Café, which quickly became a bestseller. Now the author of 12 published novels with hundreds of thousands of copies sold, she knows she’s just getting started and has many more stories to tell. She resides near Myrtle Beach with her family.
Read an Excerpt
Josie’s reverie came to a screeching halt as the screen door squeaked open and ushered in not only a briny breeze, but also a vision from her past.
With a pronounced air of confidence, August Bradford walked over to the counter and halted in front of a dazed Josie. Her heart jolted at the sight of him, something only this man could elicit. He spoke—or at least his lips moved—but she couldn’t hear anything over the roar suddenly residing in her eardrums.
The Knitting Club’s table kicked up in volume, sounding like a bunch of hens clucking away, but there was no focusing on what they were clucking about either. She knew the answer anyway and had a feeling their timing wasn’t coincidental. All Josie could do was just stand there and stare, as if looking into his silvery-blue eyes had turned her to stone. With a hint of purple near the center, those uniquely hued eyes were made to belong to an artist such as August Bradford. The thick fringe of black eyelashes only emphasized their beauty. It was enough to spawn jealousy in Josie, her own fair lashes barely visible, but it didn’t. It only tempted her to stand there and stare unabashedly. Mouth agape, that’s exactly what she did.
“Are you okay?” A throaty voice penetrated the roar in her ears as a hand waved in front of her face.
Oh, my . . . that voice . . .
The words simply wouldn’t come—only pitiful squeaks of breaths escaped—so Josie did the only thing to come to mind. She hightailed it into the kitchen.
My Thoughts
Driftwood Dreams is book number two in T.I. Lowe's Carolina Coast series, but can certainly be read as a standalone as well. I personally had not read the first book myself and while there were a few moments throughout that seemed like perhaps there might have been some backstory previously talked about, I felt like enough was given that I did not feel lost in the story. You may however find yourself wanting to go back and read the first one just to get some more time in with these characters... I know I did!
I love a good second chance romance! There's something about two characters who come back together after years apart that makes the romance that much more meaningful. It doesn't matter if they were simply friends who missed their chance... or deeply in love for a moment in time, I enjoy them either way. In Driftwood Dreams, we meet Josie and August... From the time they were young, Josie expected the two would follow their dreams together but life had other plans. Josie stayed home to help her father, while August went on to live out that dream. When August comes back to town, they are given that second chance... their romance story is filled with ups and downs, sweet moments and loads of color...and I so enjoyed it! I did find the book to be a slower paced romance than those I typically prefer, but it did not affect my enjoyment of the story. So often I judge books on the inability to put them down, but this one was nice just to savor. As both characters were artists with art playing such a huge part in their story, I enjoyed all the descriptions and colors talked about throughout, as it seemed to really bring the story to life in my imagination. The ending especially gave me all the feels... though I won't give that away!
Though it is a fairly lighthearted romance, it did broach the topic of depression and was done so quite well. As someone who has dealt with depression and mental illness, I think this is such an important topic and needs to be talked about, and I loved that it was brought up here.
Overall, this was a fantastic romance and a great summer read. I cannot wait to check out the next book in the series to see what happens next! This is the first book I had read from the series and the author in general, but it certainly will NOT be the last!
Blog Stops
Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, May 27
The Power of Words, May 27
Batya’s Bits, May 28
CarpeDiem, May 28
Through the Fire Blogs, May 29
Back Porch Reads , May 29
Livin’ Lit, May 30
Hallie Reads, May 30
Adventure of a Travelers Wife, May 31
She Lives To Read, June 1
Soulfully Romantic, June 1
Remembrancy, June 2
Mypreciousbitsandmusings, June 2
Texas Book-aholic, June 3
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, June 3
Just the Write Escape, June 4
deb’s Book Review, June 4
Inklings and notions, June 5
For Him and My Family, June 6
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, June 6
Artistic Nobody, June 7 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)
Simple Harvest Reads, June 7 (Guest review from Joni Truex)
Locks, Hooks and Books, June 8
Daysong Reflections, June 8
Cultivating Us , June 9
Pause for Tales, June 9
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, T.I. is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 gift certificate to the bookstore of his or her choice and one copy of Driftwood Dreams!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
Very nice cover.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for taking time to bring to our attention another great read. I enjoy these tours and finding out about many terrific books.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a terrific read.
ReplyDeleteWonderful review! I enjoy Tonya's stories. I'm looking forward to reading this series. Thank you for hosting.
ReplyDelete