A second chance with the single dad next door…

Dumped by her high-profile fiancé, florist Jennifer Ridge returns to Orchard Springs Farm… and her high-school crush, now a hardworking single dad.

 

Jenn soon realizes that the farm—and Pop Abbott, her beloved foster father—are on the brink of ruin. Only neighbor Eddie, with his handyman skills and knowledge of the local tourist-farm scene, is equipped to help her save Pop’s farm.

 

Attraction flares as they work together, and burns warmer when they get snowed in together. But Eddie’s keeping a secret that could crush Jenn’s world. Can they weather wintertime storms and find their way to a springtime of love?

Title:  Wintertime Secrets
Series:  Home to Orchard Springs #1
Author:  Lee Tobin McClain
Published:  March 12, 2025
My Rating:  4.5 stars

Wintertime Secrets begins the Home to Orchard Springs series, as Jenn returns to her foster parents’ home in Pennsylvania in a combination visit of escaping the humiliation and damage she’s running from, and realizing that her foster father needs far more help than she’d realized.

Running into Eddie again is a mixed bag of emotions.  It’s obvious that the boy she’d had a crush on as a teenager has his hands full with his business and his mother’s health concerns.  Yet, he’d said that he was too old for her back then, and promised that they’d reconnect when she was older… that never happened.  And now Eddie has a daughter, Paisley, and so many secrets to seemingly keep that second-chance romance from ever happening.

I enjoyed Wintertime Secrets by Lee Tobin McClain so very much.  It’s a well-written, emotional romance with faith-based characters who have a lot on their plates, not to mention a secret of Eddie’s that must remain unspoken at all costs, even the sacrifice of the future he and Jenn might have had.  There is mention of “the Flock”, the foster brothers and sisters who were at Pop’s farm as foster kids at the same time.  

Family isn’t always blood, but often found and chosen, and we’ll casually meet them all, knowing their stories will one day be told.  There is heartache and confusion for both Jenn and Eddie before their situations can be resolved to give them the happy-ever-after future they both deserve.  I’m definitely looking forward to continuing this series.

I read this title through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.