Third Time’s the Charm by Heather B. Moore

Liz, Gemma, Arie, Jess, and Drew have been best friends since creating “the Five” at Aliso Creek High School. But that was over ten years ago, and each is still trying to find that perfect someone . . . if perfect is even possible.

In fact, Liz Carlson will settle for a normal man. A normal man with a job, that is. Married twice, then divorced twice, Liz had her rose-colored glasses fall off and shatter on the ground a long time ago. Her main focus now is raising her six-year-old daughter and surviving long days at work on her feet as a hairdresser. When Sloane Branden answers her call for help, quite literally, Liz doesn’t even give him a second glance. She has sworn off dating for as many years as it takes, and it seems that Sloane has done the same after his own tumultuous marriage. But when Liz realizes that Sloane defies every stereotypical deadbeat she has dated, she might just find room in her heart and discover the third time’s the charm.

There’s something so refreshing about a novella or a short story, especially when it’s a romance, and you find yourself whisked away and falling in love along with the heroine in an hour or so.

I am a huge fan of Heather Moore. She has such a way of making a reader instantly connect with her characters, and this story was no exception. Liz isn’t your typical heroine, in fact, she’s got some serious baggage—two ex-husbands and a daughter, add a dash of fear of commitment and here’s a girl I was rooting for from the get-go.

Sloane is her land lord, and he has a whole lot of his own junk to sift through, and that’s what I loved so much about this story. The two of them realize that they will each have to overlook and sacrifice in order to be together, and it is so satisfying to see two real people have a believable, but no less special relationship, and experience their heartache and anxiety with them, and then cheer them on in the end.