Being honest upfront here, I'm a huge Kate Canterbary fan. I have two friends who read a lot of romance books with me. We live in three different states, so we have a voice message thread on Voxer where we discuss what we're reading and what we recommend to each other. I'm not sure how we found Kate Canterbary, but I'm so glad we did.
The first book I read from Kate was in her Walsh series, Underneath it All. This group of six siblings cracked me up. They lived in Boston, came from an abusive father, and a mother who died all too soon. Despite their hard upbringing, or perhaps because of it, they formed close-knit bonds. They each have their own issues to overcome, as each book shows, but their love, humor, and fondness for some foul language won me over from the start.
I flew through the eight books in the Walsh series, then read Costal Elite, which has loose ties to the Walsh family. After that I journeyed into the destination of Talbott's Cove and read Fresh Catch and Hard Pressed. Looking around, I realized I was done, Kate hadn't written any more books. I lamented to my friends on Voxer and tried to appease myself by reading her Instagram feed daily. It was there that I saw a new book on the horizon, Before Girl. To say I was excited was an understatement.
Reading the blurbs for Before Girl, my excitement grew. Our male main character was my beloved Cal Hartshorn from the Walsh series. He was a heart surgeon, a former Army Ranger, that worked at the hospital with Nick and Alex. In the Walsh series there had been some ribbing of Cal and how he was in love from afar with a girl he'd seen running in the park. Stella, our female main character, is that girl. I loved Cal's bumbling ways, his kind heart, his loyalty... I was obsessed with Stella in this book. She is confident, not a size two, and funny as hell. She works at a sports publicity firm and has no issue ordering famous athletes around and getting them back on track. Add to that her amazing family, and I was hooked.
Kate's books are a departure from my reading of middle grade and young adult books for my classroom. These, and other romance books, I read just for me. They make me laugh, they make me cry, and they remind me that strong women can rule the world. I am beyond grateful that my friends and I found Kate's books and I can't wait to read more.
Writing Wednesday this week will feature an interview with Kate, I'm grateful to her for agreeing to be on here. If you'd like to check Kate out ahead of time, here are some links to where you can find her online. Enjoy!
Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/katecanterbary/
Twitter → https://twitter.com/kcanterbary
Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/kcanterbary/
Website → http://www.katecanterbary.com
Books and Main → https://bookandmainbites.com/katecanterbary
(Register for free on the site to read extras from here, including scenes from the Magnolia Chronicles, which will be a book this year. YAY!)
Amazon → https://www.amazon.com/Kate-Canterbary/e/B00OBYI288/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
