REVIEW Finding Hope by Stacy Finz

Finding Hope is book two in Stacy Finz Nugget California series. I love small town romances, but really my only major problem I had with this story is Clay. I really didn't like him at the beginning of the book, he was a little mean and a horn dog! He was going after the easy and good looking woman and then again after another. But as his best friend says in the book he is protesting too much when it comes to his feelings for Emily. He does get better when he finally admits to himself it's Emily he wants and in the end he makes up for the fact that he was a douche during the whole first half of the book. I did love Emily who for four years has lived in her grief, until she finally admits to herself she needs to move on. Guilty about her feelings for Clay have her pushing him away no matter how much she wants to hold him close.

Emily is an editor and ghostwriter for celebrity cookbooks, four years ago her six year old daughter was kidnapped right from under nose. The press dragged her through the mud and made her life even more hell than it already is, blaming her and making up stories about her being behind her disappearance. Emily blamed herself and let her marriage fall apart. Four years later she is ready to start over and moves to small town into a repurposed barn. Clay's late wife decorated the barn and used it as an office for her interior decorator business. She died in car accident and was shrouded in gossip. Now Clay and his two boys are dealing with that. Emily like Clay, after four years she is finally feeling something other than grief, but he can only see her as a drab mousy woman who is not very attractive. Clay while convincing himself he's not attracted to her but can talk to her easier than anybody else. Emily also wins over Clay's two boys. Emily's grief is keeping her from completely accepting them into her heart. Everything changes when word comes that they might have found Emily's missing daughter her world get turned upside down and pulls Clay and his boys as well as the whole town with her. The town stands by her and Clay and the boys stay with her. Clay kind of redeems himself after his wandering eye.

Also going on during the book is you meet Griffin, he falls in love with Lana the barely legal Sheriffs little sister. (Future book). Griffin came in to some money from a trust fund and a friend help him multiply it. He buys the local gas station and has big plans for that he also buys the big development that went belly up. Overall it was an enjoyable read, and i would recommend it to friends and I look forward to the next book, but this one was just ok, the ending was a lot better then the rest of the book.