Review: Walking on Sunshine by LuAnn McLane

Walking on Sunshine
Author: LuAnn McLane
Reviewer: Ang
Rating: A-

What I’m Talking About:

If I had to describe Walking on Sunshine in one phrase, I would say it is “Country Charm meets British Class with just a touch of Southern Sass.”

Per McLane’s usual style we have two lovely couples looking for love, or at least two couples who find love when neither is really looking for it. Garrett and Mattie are our young twenty-somethings. Garret is a British boy who has come to Cricket Creek to help his dad at My Way Records. He stumbles into Mattie’s restaurant for breakfast as she is chasing Rusty the Ham-stealing dog and the sparks fly. Their chemistry is seen right from the start, and I love that despite Garrett’s worldly experience, he appreciates Mattie for the simply complex southern tom-boy that she is. Their conversations are honest and heartfelt and allow us to see each of them without pretense, which is something I always appreciate in Ms. McLane’s novels.

Laura Lee and Shane are our over forty couple, looking for second chances and redemption, mostly from themselves. Both feel like love has likely passed them by, only to find that love really doesn’t know age or timetable. I enjoyed Shane’s candor and Laura Lee’s vulnerability and internal struggle after dealing with an abusive ex-husband; allowing herself to love Shane is a huge step. Meanwhile, Shane realizes just how much he has given up in order to be a country music star.

Both couples are struggling with how to deal with fame, the world and it’s expectations, and how to maneuver a relationship in context to that fame. And although the storyline feels a bit contrived and definitely rushed in spots, overall it was a lovely diversion, peppered with people we have come to know and love in Cricket Creek. Ms. McLane does a beautiful job of updating us on many of those characters without allowing their stories to over shadow the ones playing out before us. The banter was fun, the descriptions picturesque and the people delightfully southern. Walking on Sunshine is a perfect throw-in-your-bag and take to the beach read, and I don’t doubt I will see it near a variety of pools and beaches this summer.

If you’ve never visited Cricket Creek, come on over, you’ll love it and won’t feel the least bit lost if you haven’t read the other books. If you’ve visited before, Walking On Sunshine will feel like sitting down on the back porch with a glass of sweet tea and an old friend.

My Rating:  A- Enjoyed A Lot

About the Book:

Mattie Mayfield is more interested in fishing, four-wheeling, and mudding than being a girlie girl. But acting like one of the boys means she often gets ignored when it comes to romance—especially by Colby, her brother’s best friend. Maybe if she changes the game, she’ll finally start getting some attention.

Bad boy musician Garret Ruleman doesn’t fit in with the crowd in Cricket Creek, but there’s something about sweet, unassuming Mattie that catches his eye. Garret intends to ask her out, but all Mattie wants is for Garret to give her a makeover that will force Colby to see her as a real woman.

Garret agrees to help in return for lessons on how to become a Southern stud. And as the local girls start falling for the newly countrified Garret, Mattie wonders if in the end, they’d actually be perfect together… 

Release Date: May 5, 2015
Publisher: Signet
Series: Cricket Creek #8
ISBN: #978-0451470492
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format(s): paperback (304 pages), e-book
Book Source: Publisher

Purchase Info:
Walking on Sunshine (Cricket Creek #8)

Reviews in the Series:
Whisper’s Edge by LuAnn McLane (Cricket Creek #4)
Moonlight Kiss by LuAnn McLane (Cricket Creek #5)
Wildflower Wedding by Luann McLane (Cricket Creek #6)
Sweet Harmony by LuAnn McLane (Cricket Creek #7)