Reviewed by Cheryl K
TITLE: Finding Finlay
SERIES: Hawthorne Bluff #1
AUTHOR: R.J. Peterson
PUBLISHER: self-publish
LENGTH: 159 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 6, 2023
BLURB:
When banker Finlay Reynolds learns that Clayton Bradley is back in town, he’s both excited and a little scared. It’s been six years since they last saw each other, and Finn never acted on the attraction he felt back then and still feels now. Would Clay give him a second thought now that he’s back?
Clay’s return to Hawthorne Bluff is a second chance for him. He ran away years ago and his life took a dark turn. When his grandmother, who had always stood by him, suffers a stroke, he comes back to support her and run his family’s bed and breakfast.
But his time in prison changed Clay and he’s not sure the town can forgive him. And then there’s a couple of unsavory characters from Clay’s past that just won’t leave him alone.
Can an ex-con and a banker find romance after all those years? Maybe finding Finlay is exactly why Clay is back in Hawthorne Bluff.
REVIEW:
Ok. I just want to put this out there- this is RJ’s best book to date, and I loved it. This is the first book in a new series from RJ, Hawthorne Bluff. We met some of the characters in this book, in his previous series. But you don’t need to be familiar with that series to read this one. This was a sit down and read in one sitting book for me. If I didn’t love where I live, I’d want to move to the fictional town of Hawthorne Bluff.
Worldbuilding and character development, along with quality prose make a book readable for me. With Finding Finlay, RJ has really developed a wonderful universe with his world building in this book. Character development is so good. Clay is an ex-con and Finlay is a banking executive. It’s definitely an opposites attract story, with some unrequited love going on as well. I love how RJ creates stories with an “older” cast of main and side characters. He manages to keep the story in the low end of the angst spectrum, which is a joy to read. Especially after some heavy high angst books. Sometimes you just need to cleanse your reading brain palate. Which honestly, RJ doesn’t need high angst to draw the reader in. His prose and visual descriptions are very well done and keep you coming back to read his books again and again.
“Hell, Ash, I don’t even know if he’s gay.” Finn shook his head, wondering how the conversation had taken this turn. “Besides, when did you turn into Mary Matchmaker? It’s not like you’ve got the girls or guys lined up waiting for you.” Ashton didn’t hide the fact that he was bisexual.
I can’t wait for the next book in this series, highly recommend you run right out and get this book from your favorite book purchasing site. Keep up the great work RJ.
RATING: 
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