Maggie Blackbird

Today, author Hannah Jordan is guesting. She’s talking about her latest release For You I’d Break, book one in the Peace Falls series, a contemporary romance. Be sure to read my review. And don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.

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Why Hannah Writes Small-Town Romances:

When I walk down the sidewalk of my small town, I inevitably run into someone I know or my kids know or my husband knew from the glory days of high school. If I meet someone new, chances are we already know someone in common. There’s little family-run shops that decorate for every holiday and neighbors who will dig your car from a snowbank when you’ve gotten yourself stuck trying to park (twice). It’s a great place to live, and towns like mine are everywhere, especially as settings in romance series.

There’s a fairly practical reason. Small towns offer a host of interconnected characters who have the freedom to be a little quirky. Yes, there are quirky people everywhere, but in a small town, you typically know their backstory. Bless their hearts. These minor characters inevitably become the major characters of later books in the series. There’s also the opportunity for the reader’s favorite characters to reappear in a new story (because unless something terrible happens, the main characters of one book can’t be looking for love in a new one).

For me personally, there’s something about a small town that sparks my creativity. While Peace Falls is a place of my imagination, it’s loosely based on the small mountain town where I spent the best years of my childhood. Every time I sit down to write feels like going home.

I hope I give my readers that same feeling. I want them to not only relate to the characters, but to feel like they know them. They’re couples you might be friends with in real life, in a setting similar to where you might live (or want to visit from time to time).

There are admittedly limitations to small-town romances. (Sometimes authors bend these limitations to accommodate a series. Few real-life towns boast billionaires, rockstars, hockey stars, and actors in the same vicinity, but we’ve all been to these places in romance books.) Certainly, the characters’ jobs might be more limited. Their shopping options definitely are. But luckily, the emotions and heat factor have nothing to do with the setting.  Many people equate small town with sweet, but that’s definitely not true for every series.  I call my books spicy, small-town because I want to signal the readers who’d like my books and not shock the ones looking for the physical stuff to begin and end with hand holding and a kiss on the last page.

When it comes down to it, I feel at home in small towns, which is why my stories are set in them. It goes back to that old writing advice to write what you know. But I think in romance, the advice should really be to write what you love, and I absolutely love knowing my neighbors will dig me out of a snowbank a third time if necessary.

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Title: For You I’d Break
Series: Peace Falls, Book One
Author: Hannah Jordan
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 339 pages
Release Date: July 17, 2024

Blurb: When Rowan’s two-year marriage ends with a crash, she returns home to Peace Falls, VA, riding shotgun in her sister’s 1990 Cadillac hearse. Everything about her is damaged: her heart, her pride, her bank account, and her spine—thanks to a tourist, a Segway, and finding her husband getting busy with her boss. But Rowan is determined to reclaim her career and city life as soon as she recuperates and lands a new job.

Caleb “Cal” Cardoso didn’t notice wallflower Rowan in high school, but the former football star, and Peace Falls’s newest physical therapist, can’t take his eyes off the stunning redhead now. Too bad he’s sworn off relationships. After his last hookup purposely tanked his online reputation, Cal stands to lose his job if a single patient leaves his care. Which is why he can’t let Rowan switch to another practitioner, despite the friction between them, and why he definitely can’t act on his growing attraction.

Rowan agrees to remain Cal’s patient if he helps her younger brother train for football tryouts. Though Cal hasn’t touched a football since the accident that killed his best friend, he agrees, and as Cal helps heal Rowan’s body, she begins to heal his heart.

FOR YOU I’D BREAK is a small town romance with a hefty dash of spice, a HEA ending, and a cast of memorable characters, including a goth sculptor who secretly loves to decorate cakes, a fearsome-looking felon with a heart of gold, a hothead with a sweet side, a karma-devoted barista who collects damaged pets and first dates, and a lovable dog with more emotional sense than everyone put together.

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Just then, the second door opened and out walked Caleb Cardoso in a pair of slate gray scrubs. Years of watching him swagger down school hallways and sprint across football fields did nothing to prepare me. He’d added more muscle to his lean frame, his broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist. His dark, tousled hair looked styled to suggest he’d just climbed out of bed after an all-night sexfest. His jaw was sharper, his cheek bones more chiseled. When he looked at me with those rich chocolate eyes, all the air left my lungs.

“Mrs. Norris,” he said, glancing at the tablet in his hands.

The sound of my married name lifted the lust fog from my brain. “Please call me Rowan,” I said, relieved I’d finally managed to speak in his presence.

He studied my face, frowned, and looked back at his tablet. “Nice to meet you,” he said, studying my face again. “I’m Cal. Take a seat on the first table.”

Lauren would have politely told him that we were two years apart in school. Poppy would have flipped the embarrassment of being forgotten back onto Cal with a snide comment about his observation skills. Not that anyone ever forgot Poppy. I just turned my back to him and hoped he hadn’t seen my cheeks burn. People often didn’t remember me, but it still stung, especially when it was someone I’d spent so much time fantasizing about in my teens. As I crossed the room, I could feel him behind me, watching my every movement.

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I liked the blurb, so I decided to read and review it when the opportunity presented itself for a blog tour.  The author is new to me and did not disappoint. Although the stakes are low, the budding relationship between Rowan and Cal sealed the deal and kept me reading.

First, I liked Rowan.  She’s been through hell after catching her ex-husband with her boss.  And her marriage ending in a crash is literal since Rowan crashed her segway into a tree LOL.  Of course, she’s in dire need of physical therapy once she moves back to her small town to gather her bearings.

I enjoyed this original idea of a meet-cute, because harried Cal, who is carrying the world on his shoulders since his new career is bordering on crashing and burning thanks to his vengeful ex-girlfriend who is leaving bad reviews at the website where he practices, he hardly notices Rowan.  Oh sure, he notices the gorgeous redhead who is his new patient, but he doesn’t piece together the puzzle that it’s Rowan from high school.

Even though Cal’s sworn off relationships, he can’t resist Rowan.  She in turn can’t resist Cal.  Add in the usual nosey small-town setting, neighbours, friends, and family members get involved. You have a great recipe for a romance. 

It did take me a bit to warm up to Cal.  Sure, he’s kind enough to help out Rowan’s little brother, and he’s a good buddy to his friends, but there’s something about his personality that’s very self-preserving that made me wonder how he’d become a great partner for Rowan. Then he surprised while I read.  There’s more to Cal than meets the eye.

The author is an excellent writer.  The pacing of the novel never wavered.  The descriptions allowed me a great view of this small town where everybody knows your name.  The build-up between Rowan and Cal, whether they’ll stay together or not, leaves the reader wondering until the very end.  I would have liked a bit more build-up on Cal’s part since he remained determined not to break his “no relationships” rule.  I prefer when the switch is progressive instead of an all-out “bang” when Cal does have his epiphany about how he truly feels.

Still, with that quibble aside, it’s a great start to the series.  Little by little, other problems concerning the secondary characters are dribbled in, giving the reader a good idea that we’ll hear more from them in later books.

This book lives up to reader expectations of small-town romances.  Do yourself a favour and get a copy.

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Hannah Jordan grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia but wound up in South Jersey after falling in love with her complete opposite. She’s got all the degrees of a “serious” fiction writer but only smiles when she’s writing romance.

She lives with her husband and two daughters in a picturesque town outside of Philadelphia where she enjoys reading in all genres, especially the spicy ones, and confusing people with her half-Southern, half-Northern accent.

The first book in her Peace Falls Small Town Romance Series, For You I’d Break, launched July 17, 2024.

Follow Hannah: Website | Facebook | Instagram

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