Autumn Swan’s media marketing business is taking off in a big way and she’s making plans to expand it. When her cousin Becki dies suddenly Autumn returns to the farm where she spent the best summers of her life. Becki was her best friend but she hasn’t seen her since her grandmother died so arriving at the farm to discover she has a 10-year-old daughter is as much a shock as her death. Catherine Daye is a veteran suffering from PTSD and Becki’s neighbour. She’s also very close to Gabriella, Autumn’s niece.

There are quite a few surprises in this story which made it quite appealing. Autumn is portrayed as a typical city slicker in that she likes shopping, designer clothing and femme women. She is also driven to succeed in her business. She’s not uncomfortable in a rural setting but what surprised me was her heartbreak at losing her cousin and not having cleared the air before she died. Her determination to be a good parent was something I didn’t expect.

Catherine is described as plain, with brown hair and brown eyes. It was a nice change not to have the main characters portrayed as beautiful, sexy, toned, gorgeous women. But by the same token, it bothered me that there wasn’t enough of an acknowledgement that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that actions and deeds colour how we see people.

The romance is slow-burn and I wish they had spent more time in dedicated dialogue getting to know each other. This is another book where I felt that the main characters spent more time apart and thinking about each other than having on-page communication. It is a good romance nonetheless.

I enjoyed the story line and it was done with significant enough difference to stand out from rest using the theme of city-slicker-inheriting-a-house-(and child)-in-the-country.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

We are kind of in love with this book. We are in love with the love story (it is a love story rather than just a romance), the people and everything else. It is a book that wraps itself around you and warms many places within you.

Autumn Swan is an independent, strong, hardworking millennial on the cusp of taking her social marketing business to the next level. As a child she suffered neglect at the hands of her weed-addicted parents and her best memories are the summers she had spent with her grandmother and cousin Becki, who was a sister she never had. However, after coming out, she deliberately disappeared from their lives.

Catherine Daye is an army veteran suffering PSTD after a posting in Afghanistan. Honourably discharged, she chooses a quiet farmer’s life despite being from a very well-to-do family. She becomes Becki’s neighbour and something of a hero for Becki’s eleven-year old daughter, Gabi.

Becki dies suddenly, naming Autumn and Catherine as Gabi’s co-guardians.

The synopsis cannot do justice to the many threads woven into this story and the complexities of each person (yeah, the characters become real people as we read through the book). The MCs, the secondary characters and definitely the dead Becki are beautifully etched.

This is an age-gap romance (ten years between the two MCs) but one of the loveliest things is that the attraction between the MCs doesn’t follow the trajectory of off-the-charts attraction drawing them to each other. Instead it unfolds as two people really liking the person and finding that person physically attractive too. The other thing that we really loved in the book is that one of the MCs is repeatedly described as plain (ordinary). This is such a welcome change from all MCs being incredibly attractive. And when the first kiss happen, it send tingles. The sex scenes are also wonderful.

This book is quite a treat.

4.5 stars

Ordinary is Perfect by D. Jackson Leigh is a lovely slow-burn contemporary romance about two characters who appear to be opposites, but we all know how opposites attract. Our two main characters, Catherine Daye and Autumn Swan, are brought together because of the death of a friend and cousin and agree to be co-guardians to a feisty young girl named Gabe. Both women have demons in their past that affect them, but try to put them aside to be a family of sorts for Gabe. We all know how demons are though. They simply will not be silent, and this causes a great deal of the conflict in the story.

I applaud the author’s creation of these characters with all their flaws as well as their humanity. I actually disliked Autumn for a while as I kept being irritated by her apparent selfish, self-centered outlook on life. Once I understood where this was coming from (those pesky demons), I began to relate to her better. I loved both Catherine and Gabe’s characters, but I must admit my favorite character was Elvis the dog. The story was sweet, the romance was quite steamy at times, and there is just the right amount of angst for this tale.

I did feel there were some missing elements to the story that would have made it even better. I would have liked to have seen more about Catherine’s past in the army, especially what gave her the PTSD that she suffers from. We get glimpses of the trauma instead of a more fleshed out explanation. I also think Autumn needed more face time with her parents than we witnessed in the story. Finally, I wish the ending had been longer. It felt very abrupt to me, I wanted more.

I did enjoy Ordinary is Perfect and can recommend it to all who love a good contemporary romance.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

'ARC provided by both NetGalley and The Publisher in exchange for a honest review'

**'When you as avid readers read something really moving, try to figure out how the writer is accomplishing it..All good writing comes out of aloneness..'

'ORDINARY IS PERFECT' is a heartfelt,emotional,wildly unpredictable,enjoyable and realistic story that gives few readers a close look at what's it like to be around someone grappling with PTSD and the struggles to navigate the journey from entrepreneur to a young co-guardian of a teenager with her own issues. The storyline is very intense at times mostly when both leading characters (Catherine & Autumn) had any kind of interaction and is also powerfully depicted on many topics especially 'connection' which will find readers engaged all the way to the ending. Recovery is not a pleasant process when it comes to Catherine having one of her trigger or flashback and this book did capture all the ups & downs and every backstory that dealt with past family dysfunction.
Certain characters in this storyline did experience moments of introspection that will incline few readers to either be reflective upon themselves or not -- plus the variety of personalities and situations provided accordingly may mimic the wide range of struggles these same characters encounter when facing any problems.
I had great appreciation on the candor and honesty in this insightful story as written by Ms.Leigh because i think she understood that of which she writes -- the pressure of submerged emotion & raw feelings,the joy,the grief,the steamy chemistry,the depth,the Love of self,the friendships and most of all the incredible supporting characters.

This was such a wonderful and heartwarming story. I choked up at times and uplifted in others.

There is a kid that is Central to the plot but not one of those annoying baby talk and whiny kind. Gabe was an 'old soul' with some spunky attitude.

A tragic loss in Gabes's life forces Autumn, a selfish young entrepreneur, and Catherine, an ordinary butch that suffers from PTSD, to come together in a co-parenting situation.

It's a tough circumstance and everyone seems to go together like oil and vinegar.

I really loved going on the journey with these people as they tried to make things work. Grow to learn about each other. Become more important pieces thier lives. Seeing if they can overcome the dark past to forge a brighter future.

Nothing to critique. Recommend.

This is the first book that I've read by D. Jackson Leigh and I enjoyed her writing style and her thorough character development. There was good chemistry, although not immediate chemistry, between the two women, Catherine and Autumn, who are asked to co-parent eleven-year-old, Gabe, after her mother dies. They begin their co-parenting in a rural farm location where Gabe grew up and where Catherine retreated after she left the service following a tour in Afghanistan and resulting PTSD. Autumn, who has started her own company in Atlanta, comes to the farm environment for the memorial service and finds out that she has been named a co-parent. The story details their initial trials and tribulations raising Gabe, dealing with Catherine's PTSD, their ensuring attraction to each other, and past hurts. The book made me laugh, cry (more than once), and contemplate the impact of PTSD. I'd recommend this book to other readers.

I received an ARC via NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.

I ARC received via NetGalley and in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great read.

Catherine is a army vet who lives on a farm who became friends with her neighbors Becki and her daughter Gabe.

One morning her dog Elvis which we learn wasn't hers but stayed was scrapping at the door to get her attention and when she get a call from Gabe that something happen to her mother she runs next door to find out Becki died of aneurysm.

In comes her cousin Autumn who started a digital marketing business that become huge hit and with the help of her friend Jay who is a hoot they hire Rachel who become a good business partner and friend ,because when she was younger she didn't have a lot because her parents was to much into their selves but as we find out their was a reason and even though she didn't know they help her in secret.

When she found out her cousin died and she angry that she loss so much time with her because she thought Becki and their Grandma would turn on her because she was a gay when she return to her grandmother house she learns that Becki has a daughter that have been left in her care and that she has to co -parent with Catherine as they get to know each other a romance develop between them.

I love plot of this book but I wish it was longer and we really got into PSTD and romance that develop between them was flesh out more.