Love and Lust rec: 'I'll Stand by You' by Sharon Sala

I'll Stand by You by Sharon Sala

What it's about (courtesy of Sourcebooks Casablanca):

No one is alone

Dori Grant is no stranger to hardship. As a young single mother in the gossip-fueled town of Blessings, Georgia, she's weathered the storm of small-town disapproval most of her life. But when Dori loses everything within the span of an evening, she realizes she has no choice but to turn to her neighbors.

As long as there is love to give

Everyone says the Pine boys are no good, but Johnny Pine has been proving the gossips wrong ever since his mother died and he took over raising his brothers. His heart goes out to the young mother and child abandoned by the good people of Blessings. Maybe he can be the one to change all that...

Why you should read it: There is something both heartwarming and sinister about Southern small towns. Everyone is in your business, either watching your back or judging you. Pride takes precedence over neighborly love with terrible results. Blessings, Georgia, is just such a place.

Johnny's father and mother were not the people anyone would choose as one's parents, but they are the parents Johnny and his younger brothers got. Their father is in jail, apparently permanently, and their mother OD'd, choosing the false euphoria of mind-dulling drugs over her family. At the age of 18 Johnny had to take on the whole town and the authorities to keep his two brothers with him, and for the past two years they have managed to make a go of it. Johnny's insistence on the behavior, grammar and appearance of his now 10-year-old and 7-year-old brothers is unwavering, and now at the age of 20 he is a stellar parent to these little boys. When the youngest, Brooks, or Beep, as he is called, is brutally attacked and injured by a group of older bullies, Johnny goes all-out to bring justice to his family. It seems the town is looking at the Pine boys and finds them wanting in every way, because their father is in prison, their mother dead of an overdose, and they are poor, living on the wrong side of the tracks.

Dori lives on the "right" side of the tracks in Blessing, with her grandfather, who adores her and has raised her. She and her granddaddy don't have much, but they are good people. Dori is what is politely called an "unwed mother" to little Luther Joe and is attending college online to develop the skills to give him a good life. She is also being judged by small-minded small-town folks who think that if they can make Dori look bad, it somehow improves how they themselves are seen. Then one night everything goes the wrongest way possible. The house burns down, her grandfather has a heart attack, and Dori's neighbors turn their backs on 17-year-old Dori standing in the driveway of her burned-out home, holding her baby, with nothing left. Everyone had an excuse, from expecting someone else to help her to being unable to bring a crying baby into their homes. The one person who tries to reach out is Johnny, and he and his brothers take Dori home with them until she can figure out what she's going to do.

So, that's the setup for this novel. Everything is going badly for these two young people. However, when their cruelty and selfishness are pointed out, many realize the error of their ways and begin to make amends. Things begin to turn around for Dori and Johnny. They are still having a hard go of it, but the timeline of this novel is very short, only about a week. A few good-hearted people can make a tremendous difference for someone who has had nothing but the worst that life can throw at them.

For quite a while, things seem to go along better, even fabulously, but there is a fly in the ointment, and before this book ends, things will turn the wrong way again.

I loved this book and could not put it down until I finished it. It's sweet, full of good things and bad, but we get our HEA in the end, and it could not be more deserving than for these two young people. This is a character-driven book, with great backstories and a setting that is perfect for the smooth-flowing plot. The final three paragraphs set up the next book in the series, without leaving us with a cliffhanger, and I for one can hardly wait to find out who just got off the bus!

Becky Condit is a widow, mother of three and grandmother of 10 who reads all kinds of books, but her go-to comfort books are erotic romances. A romance novel coupled with just-out-of-the-oven chocolate-chip cookies and a glass of cold milk is her idea of heaven. She reads and reviews more than 250 books a year, so you won't often find her without her Kindle in hand, but when you do, she'll probably be gardening, doing needle crafts, working in her upholstery workshop and spending time with her family.