The Wishing Season by Denise Hunter

Living side-by-side, a fledgling chef and a big-hearted contractor find a delicious attraction.

Trouble is, their chemistry could spoil their dreams.

Spirited PJ McKinley has the touch when it comes to food. Her dream of opening her own restaurant is just one building short of reality. So when a Chapel Springs resident offers her beloved ancestral home to the applicant with the best plan for the house, PJ believes it’s a contest she was meant to win.

Contractor Cole Evans is confident, professional, and swoon-worthy—but this former foster kid knows his life could have turned out very differently. When Cole discovers the contest, he believes his home for foster kids in transition has found its saving grace. All he has to do is convince the owner that an out-of-towner with a not-for-profit enterprise is good for the community.

But when the eccentric philanthropist sees PJ and Cole’s proposals, she makes an unexpected decision: the pair will share the house for a year to show what their ideas are made of. Now, with Cole and the foster kids upstairs and PJ and the restaurant below, day-to-day life has turned into out-and-out competition—with some seriously flirtatious hallway encounters on the side. Turns out in this competition, it’s not just the house on the line, it’s their hearts.

The Wishing Season by Denise Hunter is the third novel in the Chapel Springs Romance series, and it was a sweet and enjoyable read. While the novels are connected within the series, it is possible to read them out of order and understand what happens as I accidentally skipped the second one when I read this novel. The plot of The Wishing Season is well written and includes moments of romance, sadness, humor, and enduring even when life is difficult. The main characters, Cole and PJ, were developed well and easy to connect with. I enjoyed learning more about each of them and how they related to each other and with other people. They each had their own struggles and difficulties to work through, but I found their growth as characters to be inspiring as they began to trust and to rely on God and family more instead of trying to do or to fix everything themselves. Overall, I enjoyed this novel, and I look forward to reading the fourth novel when it comes out next year!

I received this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.