Hold Onto The Stars by Tracy Broemmer - Book review

Published: 1 October 2021
Series: Blue Collar Romance Book 1
Pages: 234
Warnings: Language

CJ Everhart—small town girl, licensed electrician, professional sports fan. Life in small-town Oak Bend, Michigan is good, if a bit confining. With her thirtieth birthday in the rearview mirror, CJ wonders if there should be more. The dating pool in a town like Oak Bend is a little bit like a catch and release fishing pond. CJ has dated and broken up with most of the guys in Oak Bend, sometimes more than once. Not to mention she’s not the kind of girl who needs flowers or other silly romantic gestures, and her ideal future bucks the small-town script of marriage, babies, and soccer-mom minivans.

Peyton Quinn—big city guy, elementary school teacher, new to small-town living. Transplanted from a Chicago suburb, Peyton moves to Oak Bend for a change of pace—oh, and to hide from his well-meaning family. Enter a well-meaning friend determined to throw him into the dating ring, a perfect blind date he’s just not attracted to, and the mysterious Tigers’ fan he bumped into at the local sports bar days ago.

When their paths cross, sparks fly between CJ and Peyton. CJ doesn’t deny the attraction, though she insists she’s not the kind of woman Peyton needs. But the more they’re around each other, the more Peyton believes fate brought them together.

Can Peyton convince CJ they were made for each other and the sky is the limit for their love if they can hold onto the stars?

Cover - Hold Onto The Stars by Tracy Broemmer v2

Book links: Amazon | Goodreads

Hold Onto The Stars is set in a small town and it’s where our main characters meet. Peyton has just moved to town, while CJ has always lived there.

It is hard for them both at first as they see each other and are attracted right from the start, but it goes no further. But then circumstance gets in their way, as Peyton goes on a date with CJ’s friend, leaving her in the position of not wanting to step on her best friends toes. It seems at first like everything is getting in their way, but fortunately they get past this stumbling block.

CJ throws up a lot of road blocks along the way, as she has had her heart broken in the past and isn’t interested in having it happen again. But Peyton is a lot more confident and happily pursues CJ. Then just when they seem to be hitting their groove, a danger to their happiness pops up which causes her to question her decision to give their relationship a try.

I really liked Peyton. He’s a likeable guy who treats CJ well. I also liked the way Peyton & CJ are together. They have a sweet romance that progresses are a really good pace.

One thing I enjoyed about this story is that CJ has plans for a different life path to one that we normally see in romance novels, and she does it unapologetically. I think that is really great to see book characters that are strong in their beliefs and the beliefs are depicted as accepted by those around them. The only thing was that I got a bit annoyed by the amount of attention that her choice got in the book. It’s an important part of the story, and forms an important pivotal role in CJ and Peyton’s story, but I wouldn’t have minded if we could have a little bit more filler to their narrative, so that it could have made their story about more than mainly just that the one focus.

If you’re looking for a way to pleasantly fill in a few hours this is perfect, as it’s not a very long story. I read it all in one morning.

An only child, Tracy Broemmer grew up with a wild imagination. An avid reader from a young age, she spent a lot of time with her nose buried in books and a lot of time making up her own stories. She penned her first book in grade school and hasn’t stopped writing since then.

Married to her high school sweetheart, the mother of two amazing kids (one of whom is a writer, go figure, and the other with artistic ability…she has no clue where that talent comes from) and a spoiled mini-dachshund named Archie, Tracy lives in the Midwest near the Mighty Mississippi. She is still an avid reader, and her favorite genres range from romance and women’s fiction all the way to thrillers.

When she’s not writing, you might find her with a book in hand, or maybe a glass of wine, or maybe a book in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. Tracy enjoys spending time with her family, traveling with her husband of twenty-eight years, music, NFL, and MLB.  Tracy is the author of the Lorelei Bluffs women’s fiction series, the Williams Legacy, and several stand-alone women’s fiction novels. She has recently dabbled in contemporary romance, as well.

Tracy’s books have been called gripping, emotional, and timely, and readers describe her characters as real and relatable.