Light My Fire by Elle Druskin

Blurb: 

Widowed single mother Kara Wilson has a lot more in common with Liberty Heights mayor and fire chief Woodrow Wilson than either realize. Both are secretly in love with the other, not daring to hope their dreams can come true. With the help of the “Miracle Dress” and Wayne’s psychic predictions, Kara and Woody just might have a chance for a happily ever after, Liberty Heights style. 

Review: 

Aw me-ann, I read Light My Fire too fast!  Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down.  As usual, Liberty Heights acquired one or two new residents and one or two people came home who had been living out of town, but the main romance focused on Kara Wilson, whose husband, Brian was killed in Afghanistan and Brian’s cousin and best friend, Woodrow Wilson who is Liberty Heights' mayor along with being a paramedic and fire-fighter.  Woody was in Afghanistan with Brian, holding him when he died.  Woody promised to take care of Kara and her daughter, Phoebe—not too difficult a promise to make.  If Woody had been just a smidge faster to ask Kara to the prom, she might have been his.  If he really got honest with himself, he’d cared for her since grammar school.  But Brian asked Kara first, so Woody took ditzy Lou Ann Freedbush who didn’t have a date and probably wouldn’t get one.  Woody is a genuinely nice guy.

Kara has feelings for Woody as well, and he’s always there for her, but she’s sure it’s because he promised Brian.  Will he ever see her as Kara, the woman?  It’s been over five years.  She’s stopped grieving.  She’s ready to date again, and she wants to date Woody.  She was happy with Brian, of course.  But if she’s really honest with herself, she’s had a crush on Woody her whole life.  She wished he’d asked her to prom, but Brian asked first.  Then Woody took that ditzy Lou Anne Freedbush.  That was such a nice thing to do.  She was sure no one else would have thought to ask Lou Ann out.  Should she try the Miracle Dress?  Would it make Woody notice her as a woman and not just Brian’s widow?

Liberty Heights is chock full of quirky people, and equally quirky animals.  Who doesn’t love a deaf dog who hangs out at the Chinese restaurant hoping for scraps because he loves Chinese cuisine, or a parrot who speaks French (not necessarily the French one uses in polite conversation)?  How about a chimpanzee who plays on the local Little League team, at least when they’re practicing?  Darned League won’t allow her to play in actual games and she’s a really good pitcher.  Or an ant-eater who prefers shoes?  Actually, now that Liberty Heights has a new French teacher, Antoine the parrot is spouting Victor Hugo and Balzac.  Wait!  Did George Washington sleep in Liberty Heights and was a battle fought there during the Revolution?  “Aux le barricades!”  Sorry, Antoine, wrong revolution.

This is Book Four in the Liberty Heights series.  Each book stands quite well on its own and will keep you laughing whether you’ve gotten to know the denizens of Liberty Heights and their history or not.  But they’re all funny and charming and wonderful to read.  If you want to feel good, pick up a book and take a trip to Liberty Heights, New Jersey.  You’ll almost wish you could move there, too.

Length:  205 Pages 
Price:  $5.50 
Buy Link:  https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=736&category_id=58&manufacturer_id=138&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement. 

Thanks for visiting.  RIW