Day 13 — Sometimes Love Is Worth the Risk by Laura Hawkins

Daily Recommendation · No. 013

★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

Closed door / No spice | Christian romance

enemies to loversslow burnforced proximitysmall townhe falls firstworkplace romanceforbidden romancefaith restoration

Sometimes the most satisfying romances are the ones where you can feel the inevitability humming underneath every scene, even when the characters are doing their absolute best to ignore it.

Josie Bloom has built herself a genuinely lovely life in Maple Valley: a teaching job she loves, a cozy house, a church community, and a cat. Then Cooper Donahue arrives, takes up residence in the classroom directly across the hall and the house right next door, and becomes the one unpredictable variable in her otherwise well-ordered world.

The enemies to lovers dynamic here is the good kind, the kind that never tips into cruelty and stays firmly in the territory of sparky, fun tension. Cooper falls first and falls hard, and watching him find increasingly creative ways to get under Josie's skin while being completely, hopelessly gone for her is genuinely delightful. The added wrinkle of a school policy prohibiting relationships between teachers gives the slow burn some real teeth. The stakes feel earned rather than manufactured.

What I also really appreciated is how the faith element is handled. It is simply part of Josie's character and how she moves through the world, woven in naturally without ever feeling like it is taking over the story or delivering a message. It gives her a texture and groundedness that made me root for her even harder.

This is a warm, swoony read with a small town setting that feels like a place people actually live rather than a backdrop. The four stars feel well deserved, and I would happily spend more time in Maple Valley.

Not a 5-star read for me, but a rating is just one reader's experience. If the tropes above are your thing, this could be exactly what you're looking for. I'd rather share it than gatekeep it.

Find it on Amazon →

This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through my link, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, it helps keep Trope and Tell going. Thank you.