Julie Carpenter's Reviews > Mending Fences

All you lovers of Billionaire stories, guess what????? This book was just updated and got a new cover too. It's one of my favorites!!!!

I always love a good second chance story, especially when the two MCs knew each other when they were little, parted ways and then meet up again years later. This had a fun and fresh twist to that type of plot. I was pretty much pulled right into the story when I started it a couple nights ago and was trying to be very patient to find time to finish it. Who says you can't learn patience while reading novels? Not me, because I have to practice that virtue a lot with my love of reading! Hee Hee! A very busy weekend is not conducive to reading a book you don't want to put down. But I found some quiet reading time last night and some today and tah-dah I finished it and loved it!

Picture, if you can, two childhood friends. Running free between their family homes and property, catching frogs, ending up covered in mud, sneaking treats, communicating via Morse code and sharing hours and hours of time together. Then never seeing each other again. Wishing you could just find that friend who knows you so well and someone you want to see happy. The years pass and the likelihood of ever seeing them again diminishes.

Until one day when an encounter with a house, a fence, a camera, a skirt and misperceptions brings it all crashing back to Earth and reality hits. Who is this person posing as your childhood best friend? Imposter for sure!!! Except, unfortunately, they're not. Can you ever catch a glimpse again of the friend you once knew? Or are they gone for good after life has taken hold of them over the years.

I loved Daniel and Mandy! The moments where they shared the pages were great and full of chemistry (even though one or both of them might try to deny it). And the pages where it was just one of them, thinking about the other, the memories and enlightening of the reader of their history together was great and left me wanting more. The angst throughout the book was well written and played into the storyline really well. There were a few thoughts that Daniel had a little ways into the book foreshadowing what was to come and I'm so glad I caught it. I think I liked him even more because of that little foreshadowing. If you don't happen to catch it, no worries, I think you'll still really enjoy it.

Mandy, oh I loved her dreams and yet the uncertainty she felt mixed with the longing and sadness. She was a fabulous character. With all the troubles caused by a certain character, she handled it with dignity and grace (except maybe not in one scene, you know, the embarrassing scene where you wish she could hide but she can't-lol).

I fell in love with these two and many of the secondary characters. Mandy's roommate...Candace. Oh please, oh please, oh please, can we have her story? I'm sure hoping so. It seems like the author has set it up as a possibility, and if you've read the book then you'll know exactly which character I want her to have a story with. I loved all of Daniel's coworkers/employees! They were awesome! From the higher up to the not so high, the characters were great and just fun to be around.

I loved the wigs, the ice cream, the text messages (swoon), the traveling, the houses, the friendships, the pond, the fence, the shoes (especially the boot), Morse code(the cheat sheet too), Hank (or rather Hank's grandson-Hee Hee!!!!), the artwork, the books (it's signal time), the interior decorator, the hospital visits, the diva, the ducks, the food, the camera, Mr. Alexander, the flowers, the notes, the truck rides (with the boot), and I especially loved the sweet and clean romance between Mandy and Danny! <3

Some of those references might seem pretty vague or you might wonder why the thoughts inside the parenthesis but I assure you it will all make perfect sense if you read the book. Great stuff all referenced right there in a way of being vague so no spoilers. This is part of the Destination Romance: Mansions series and is one of my favorites so far! I know lots of my reading friends are going to love it! Grab a copy, some scones, ice cream and maybe a tasty drink(hot chocolate would be perfect)...and enjoy!!!

Content: Clean.

I received a review copy. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Reading!!!