The Next Best Day by Sharon Sala

EXCERPT: Katie holed up in her apartment for the entire week that would have been her honeymoon. She slept away the shock, then ate away the rage, and ignored the phone calls from everyone but Lila. Those she took, only to reassure her best friend that she was still kicking. By the time she was ready to go back to Saguaro Elementary, she had her game face on.

It took that week of solitude to remind herself that, in the grand scheme of things, her heart had been broken, but nobody had died. She was tougher than some man’s lies. She didn’t need a man to take care of her. She didn’t need anyone, ever again.

ABOUT ‘THE NEXT BEST DAY’: A fresh start for a young teacher to build the life she’s dreamt of
A second chance at romance for a single dad
The warm and uplifting small-town community cheering them on

After two back-to-back life-changing events, first grade teacher Katie McGrath left Albuquerque for a fresh start in Borden’s Gap, Tennessee. She is finally back in the classroom where she belongs, but it will take a little while for her to heal and feel truly like herself. She’ll need to dig deep to find the courage it takes to try again—in life and in love—but with some help from her neighbor Sam Youngblood and his adorable daughters who bring her out of her shell, her future is looking brighter than she dared imagine.

MY THOUGHTS: The last thing I expected when I began The Next Best Day by Sharon Sala was that I would be reading about a drug cartel, familial abuse, and an elementary school shooting. This read was sure full of surprises! Not all of them pleasant.

I loved the main character, Katie. What a wonderfully inspiring teacher and person she is. And Sam is equally wonderful in his own way; a dedicated and loving father, a pillar of the community. I love the little town of Borden’s Gap, Tennessee, that Katie moves to for her new start in life, and where Sam lives.

I didn’t much like the storyline involving Mark and his wife. It was extraneous and detracted from the main story. It would have been enough just to hear from Lila that he didn’t get his HEA. I didn’t need a front row seat. Then, after having bits of Mark’s story scattered throughout, it’s never really finished off.

This is my first book by Sharon Sala, so I don’t know if she routinely includes these violent episodes in her books. I was looking forward to a heartwarming small town story, which I got. But I was not expecting the violence, and it didn’t sit well with me, and nor did it seem to gel with the rest of the book. Will I read more from this author? Yes, because I loved the Katie/Sam story. But if these random threads of violence are a trademark of Sala’s, our relationship will be short lived.

⭐⭐⭐.4

#NetGalley

I: @sharonkaysala_ @sourcebookscasa

T: @SourcebooksCasa

THE AUTHOR: As a farmer’s daughter, and then for many years a farmer’s wife, Sharon Sala began writing because she hated her job, but it was the love of the craft that kept her writing. Her first attempts were stuffed under her bed to be forgotten in the hustle and bustle of life with a growing family. It wasn’t until the tragic losses of two close family members that she vowed to follow through on her earlier dreams of writing. She joined writers groups and attended conferences to learn the craft.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Sourcebooks, Casablanca, via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Next Best Day by Sharon Sala for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

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