Double Book Review: Miss Milton Speaks Her Mind & Come Home to Me

Today's double book review starts with Carla Kelly's Miss Milton Speaks Her Mind, but it is a tiny bit incomplete because I haven't quite had the chance to finish it! But I'm dying to climb into my bed and find out what Miss Milton's secret is.

So far, this has been a slow and sweet romance to savor. It's not a first love with fireworks and sparks, but a sedate love filled with moments and friendship and sweetness.  Our hero isn't the dashing six pack ab rake, but a mill owner, an older man, (forty years old I think it said) with glasses and a compassionate heart.  This is a romance that will make you sigh and smile.

It's about Miss Milton, who has come from a rough background of a work house and being in charge of girls at a finishing school. She comes home to her cousin's home where he asks her to care for his newborn baby while he takes a weekend trip with his wife.  The wife is killed on the trip, and the husband dies later on, so Miss Milton is left to care for this sweet orphan boy whom she loves as her own. Unfortunately, her rich relatives seem to feed on rumors that he isn't legitimately the heir and are indifferent and somewhat cruel to the boy.  When he's forced to go to Latin School with the bullies of the village, the mill owner offers to help tutor him.

And that my friends is the start to this beautiful friendship that blossoms right before our eyes.  *sigh* The thing of it is, Miss Milton has this secret and while I think I know what it is, I don't know for sure so I'm going to go finish the book so I can see if I'm right!

Here's the back copy:

A lovely young woman is the guardian of her cousin's son, whom she has cared for since his parents's death, and loved as her own. Her wealthy relatives question the true parentage of the boy, placing his inheritance and their future in jeopardy. Then a handsome mill owner offered to tutor the young boy, catching the eye of his guardian, as well. But could she really find love while harboring a scandalous secret that no man could know....

The second book is Come Home to Me by Brenda Novak.  I have really enjoyed Brenda Novak's Whiskey Creek series and this is the next installment.

Presley wasn't part of the original group, but we got to know her in Cheyenne and Dylan's story and I was glad Ms. Novak decided to do her story.  When we last saw her, she was trying to get her life together and stay away from her pal Aaron since he took her back to her old life of drugs and on the edge living. Now she's come back to Whiskey Creek and is opening a massage/yoga business. Aaron is thinking about leaving Whiskey Creek to do his own mechanic business.  They cross paths and the sparks fly as they struggle to figure out if their connection is something they should pursue.  Of course there are always complications, like the fact that Presley hasn't told Aaron that her baby is his baby, too. Such raw emotion between the two of them really added to the story.

The only thing that took away from the story, for me, was Cheyenne's deception of Dylan. Since it's likely he's infertile, her scheme is to use Aaron's biological material and pass the baby off as Dylan's. It really ruined Cheyenne for me and she had been my favorite story from the series.  Sigh.

If you take away the Cheyenne issue, though, Presley's story was well done. Full of emotions, great dialogue, and of course, Whiskey Creek with all its quirks and characters. (For my gentle readers, there were brief sexual situations that are easily skipped.)

Here's the back copy:

Home is where her heart is...

When Presley Christensen returns to Whiskey Creek with her little boy after two years away, she has completely changed her life. She's made peace with her past and overcome the negative behavior that resulted from her difficult childhood. Now she's back in the small town that was the closest thing to "home" she ever knew—the town where she can be with the sister who's her only family.

There's just one catch. Aaron Amos still lives in Whiskey Creek, at least until he moves to Reno to open a branch of the Amos brothers' auto body shop. And no matter how hard she's tried, Presley hasn't been able to get over him. Seeing him again makes the longing so much worse. But she hopes she can get through the next few months, because she can't fall back into his arms…or his bed. She's come too far to backslide now. And there's a secret she's been guarding—a secret she'll do anything to protect.