Review: The House on Blueberry Lane

The House on Blueberry Lane by Brenda Jackson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.7 stars 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

For two years she had tried building another life for herself without him in Catalina Cove, and had done a fairly good job. 

And now he was here. 

If you read One Christmas Wish, the previous novel in the Catalina Cove series, you'll remember Velvet being stunned at seeing Jaye at a town council meeting. It was a small glimpse of the two but the charged atmosphere between them had me anticipating their novel. It wouldn't be necessary to read all the previous books in the series but this book is number six, there are a lot of previous characters making appearances and two past couples having their wedding, so you could be a little lost in regards to friendships and relationships. I did think the chemistry and big focus on Velvet and Jaye, mostly, covers any new to the series-ness, though.

He'd decided at that moment to prove how wrong she was, and that it was in his makeup to care that much. 

The story starts off with Velvet coming home from that council meeting and Jaye coming to talk to her. We learn that while they dated for three years in Phoenix, Jaye was immediately upfront with just wanting a sexual relationship that would never lead to marriage but over time, Velvet grew to love him and thought he felt the same for her. When Velvet discovers Jaye doesn't, or won't admit, he does in fact love her, Velvet leaves without telling him and escapes to Catalina Cove to mend her broken heart. The reader gets Jaye's pov and we learn in the two years since Velvet left him, he's discovered that he did love Velvet and hired a private investigator to find her. When he learns she's in Catalina Cove, he uses his business to buy a bank there and rents the upstairs of the Victorian house Velvet is staying in. Oh yes, our man Jaye is pulling out the stops to win Velvet back. 

He wanted love. He needed to prove to her that he loved her above all else. And he did love her, with every beat of his heart and with every breath he took. 

For her part, Velvet thinks it's all a coincidence that Jaye has business in the town she lives in, it's been two years since she's heard from him. So, we get that sparking beginning, readers knowing Jaye is ready to do some working, and Velvet trying to deny her feelings for Jaye, thinking she doesn't love him anymore. After that first meeting, we get two flashback chapters of Velvet and Jaye's first meeting in Phoenix and how their relationship started. I loved this, often this is just done in inner dialogue remembering by characters but getting to actually “see” and experience it with the characters gave me a more solid emotional foundation with the characters relationship. 

In essence, Velvet was giving him a taste of his own medicine. She was willing to engage in affairs that went nowhere, too. He was getting just what he deserved. 

However, it was not what he would accept. 

After those two chapters, the story goes back to present time and Velvet is struggling with still being physically attracted to Jaye. At around 30%, Jaye gets a little taste of his own medicine when Velvet comes to him with an idea to reinstate their just sexual relationship. Velvet thinks Jaye is hesitant because he thinks she loves him, she's lying to herself that she doesn't at this point, but he's really hesitant because he realized he loved her and now he wants more. It's a little comedy of errors as Velvet is lying to herself and Jaye is hiding his true feelings because he doesn't think Velvet will believe he truly loves her yet, they both ultimately want the same thing but they're bungling around. The slight exasperation I had as a reader was tampered with the sexual heat the two have. Jaye doesn't want Velvet to think he's just there for the sex, so he lets her initiate all the sexual moments, something Velvet doesn't catch onto until later. 

“I only wanted you.” 

The story was mostly focused on Jaye trying to show Velvet that he loved her and was ready for a commitment. He opens up to her about his mother, the reason he was wary of trusting love, asks her to jog with him in the mornings when in Phoenix he always said that was his alone time, and just generally tries to be there for her in all the little ways a partner would be outside of the bedroom. There were two little side plots involving one of Velvet's highschool students and his father trying to pressure her to pass his son and towards the end it weaved into the other little plot of a man in town trying to get Velvet to date him. They worked to build and give an ending scene, that while had twinge of sappy to it, was still sweet. 

Drawing in a deep breath, he just stared at her, willing her to read in his gaze what she would not accept in his words. 

Since this is sixth in the series, there were a lot of characters that sometimes got a little overwhelming but I actually could have read more scenes with Velvet and her bestfriend Ruthie and other friends like Sierra. All those secondary characters were around but they didn't emotionally interact with Velvet as much as I would have liked. Around 65% Velvet finally admits to herself that she still loves Jaye and we get more movement on their relationship. While I liked Jaye's plan, it did cause some of the middle to drag a little bit as he calmly and quietly, but at times too passive, showed up for Velvet outside of the bedroom, the non-movement went on for about 15% too long. The biggest surprise and best was me glancing and thinking the book cover was pretty generic, I'm here to tell you it's one of the sweetest parts of the book. These two were sweet and definitely sexy. There was a moment that I think gave us a little clue to who is next up to fall in love in Catalina Cove and if so, I'm looking forward to reading about Jaye's younger brother Franklin falling next.

View all my reviews