I am a huge LaVyrle Spencer fan. Imagine my surprise to learn that not many Spencer fans that I know enjoyed Small Town Girl. I loved this book and I’ll tell you why: it has another favorite plot devise that I love and that’s childhood friends who unexpectedly turn into lovers. Nothing unrequited here. It’s the case of the kid who has big dreams and moves away. Things get really interesting when the prodigal star returns home.
Tess McPhail is a country singer who has made it in the music business. She left small town life behind her only to return home because of her mother’s ailing health. Subtly is not her style as she comes home in her expensive Mercedes Benz. Everybody in her home town seems impressed with Tess’s stardom with the exception of Kenny Kroneck. He’s the kid that Tess and many of her friends made fun of in high school. Kenny was the ”geeky” kid who everybody made jokes off of at his expense. Now, Kenny is a CPA and has outgrown his gawkiness and is actually quite the catch. Tess notices this and expects Kenny to fall at her feet but he doesn’t.
Their relationship is a volley of sorts of contention and hurt especially for Kenny as he never forgot what Tess and her friends did to his self-esteem. Kenny becomes the man that Tess so badly wants to impress in some way and he becomes her biggest challenge to win over. Eventually the two call truce and become friends. Their eventual romance is nice. The ending was especially nice and has a nice neat little twist to it. You just don’t see contemporary romance like this anymore. Where the journey for the HEA is not riddled with stupidity, violence and petty misunderstandings. This is just another romance where external conflicts were realistic and plausible. I’ve read several of Spencer’s other books and was sad to hear of her retirement. Anyway, she deserves it as she has consistently written some winners and this was one of them.
Dennis Lehane's next published novel is a major publishing event. 
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