Maybe This Once by Sophie Sullivan
What happens when the daughter of a legendary rockstar moves in with her uncle at the resort that he lives and works at in a northern Michigan town? And she subsequently meets the – ahem – super gorgeous owner of said resort and develops feelings that she should NOT have?
Guess you’ll have to find out in the third installment of the “Rock Bottom Love” series by Sophie Sullivan!
The “Rock Bottom Love” series starts with Love, Naturally, and Get Lost With You. The third in the series is Maybe This Once. The three all center on a different sibling in the Keller Family, and take place in Smile, Michigan, and the Get Lost Lodge. Maybe This Once is Grayson Keller and Charlotte “Charlie” Ashford’s story.
Charlie is the daughter of a late rockstar, and his presence follows him everywhere. Her mother is a retired actress who still turns heads. They are best friends who basically grew up together after her father’s death. Because of her upbringing, she opted to go to school to become a counselor. Ultimately, because of her education, reconnecting with an uncle she’s never met and an altercation with soon-to-be stepsisters, Charlie has taken a job teaching at a university in northern Michigan.
Enter Grayson and Get Lost Lodge.
Grayson (Gray) is the owner of Get Lost Lodge. His siblings and their significant others work at the lodge, as well as Charlie’s uncle Bernie. Under their care, the lodge is like a well-oiled machine. Gray is completely happy with this way of existence, as he has been burned in the past by a past marriage.
Enter Charlie.
Charlie and Gray strike up a very quick and easy friendship. Their attraction is immediate, but both try to hide it. Charlie has secrets of the past that she wants to hide, and Gray does not want to be hurt again.
Small-Town Sparks and Slow-Burn Secrets
What happens is a slow-burning romance. Their friendship also grows. But is that enough when the secrets come to light?
As an avid romance reader, this book ticked a lot of boxes for me. It is set in Michigan; it isn’t every day that I can pick up a book and find that it is set about two hours from my hometown – but Maybe This Once is! The fictional city of Smile, set near Mackinaw City, is indeed set about 2-3 hours southeast of my beloved town of Marquette, MI.
In addition, I love the tropes of this novel: small-town romance, he-falls-first and secret identity. Small-town romance is one of my favorite tropes, and this book knocks it out of the park. Charlie, having lived in Los Angeles her entire life, initially feels like a fish out of water in small-town Smile. As she gets to know her uncle, Bernie, Gray and his family, and the people of Smile, comes to feel at home in a small town – even wondering if big-city living is right for her – but you’ll have to read the book to figure out what she decides!
Sophie Sullivan is the author of quite a few swoony romance novels! She also writes under the alias Jodie Holford, penning cozy mysteries. According to her website, she is a Canadian author, living on the West Coast with her family, and is perpetually planning a Disney vacation. Besides being an author, she is a full-time teacher.
Maybe This Once is a fun romance done right; it hits several romance tropes without being ostentatious, and it interlinks the first two novels of the “Rock Bottom Love” series seamlessly. I have a feeling that if you read this work by Sullivan, you’ll be back for more…
About Sophie Sullivan:
Sophie Sullivan (she/her) is a Canadian author as well as a cookie-eating, Diet Pepsi-drinking, Disney enthusiast who loves reading and writing romance in almost equal measure. She writes around her day job as a teacher and spends her spare time with her sweet family watching reruns of Friends. She’s had plenty of practice writing happily ever after as her alter ego, Jody Holford.
