Review: Light Up the Night by Laura Trentham (Cottonbloom #3.75)

December 18, 2016

Well, hello! What's this I see on Laura Trentham's website? A new Cottonbloom novella?! Yep, I found myself a fabulous surprise while I was browsing the author's website before I typed up my review for her first novella, Candy Cane Christmas. And take note, fellow bookaholics: this new novella is free. You read that right. Light Up the Night is free, and all you have to do is sign up for the author's newsletter. Now, I confess--and I'm rather embarrassed--that I didn't even realize I hadn't already signed up for the newsletter in all the times I had visited the website, but I rectified that REALLY quickly and have been rewarded with a novella that I loved! This is the story of Cottonbloom, Mississippi's chief of police, Thaddeus Preston, who was introduced as a deputy in the third full-length novel, Till I Kissed You, and as the new chief in the holiday novella, and is paired with Professor Sadie Wren.

When Thaddeus Preston responds to the breaking and entering of a home in his jurisdiction, the last thing he expects to find is a woman who piques his personal interest. Sadie Wren makes him want something he's denied himself for a decade. They don't seem to have much in common, but Thad can't help but open up to her and Sadie, in turn, gives him a sense of relief and comfort that he hasn't experienced in so long. He's sworn to protect her, but it goes beyond his duty as the chief of police, and Sadie is more than grateful, especially after the trauma that she experienced in graduate school. They're both tentative and tempted, but is this a case of nothing more than convenience? Will Thad's older brother Clayton being released on probation lead to chaos in Thad's controlled life?

I never would have expected the kind of back story that Thad had, but when it comes to Laura Trentham's books, I've learned to expect two things: exemplary storytelling and to not expect the usual and mundane. Sadie is a new character that's easy to welcome to the Cottonbloom fold, and she, too, has a story to tell. Clearly, these two need some healing--sexual and otherwise--and I prefer to see their coming together as more of fate than convenience. They were able to find their footing in order to move forward together. I really liked Clayton and I hope that he gets a chance to tell his own story in the new set of Cottonbloom stories. Oh yes. More Cottonbloom! When I saw that there were going to be three new books coming out between 2017 and 2018, the grin on my face couldn't be helped. Light Up the Night starts the whole night-themed titles quite nicely indeed. This free novella gets five stars. ♥

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Read my reviews for the Cottonbloom series: