Thank you to the author for my eARC of Steel My Heart! I loved this Appalachian, small-town, second-chance romance! Sam Burns, you have my heart. She is brilliant and open-hearted but protective. Sam has had the same friends for decades and lived in the same town since childhood, and she loves the people and the place through all their growth. Kelly Long— you absolute bonehead! He grew on me but oh boy I could have thrown my kindle across the room when he made some VERY CHOICE calls (or lack thereof).

The trouble with second-chance romance can be failure to account for growth and the acknowledgment of that growth when the two MCs come back together. Sam and Kelly *start* to have this pitfall, but it’s necessary because of how they specifically fell apart. And it works!

I love books that provide such a sense of place to the point that it becomes a character on its own, and Anthracite Springs had that quality. Think Stars Hallow but less kitschy and more Appalachian. Again, thank you to Nellie Wilson for the opportunity to read Steel My Heart before its pub October 4!