Book Review: The Complete Aliso Creek Series by Heather B. Moore

The Complete Aliso Creek Series, by Heather B. Moore
2014, 300p, Clean Romance
My Rating=5 Stars
Source: Received copy from author for an honest review



Liz, Gemma, Arie, Jess, and Drew have been best friends since creating the “Five” at Aliso Creek High School. But that was over ten years ago, and each is still trying to find that perfect someone . . . if perfect is even possible.

This box set includes all 5 stories:

PICTURE PERFECT: Gemma Staheli has never done anything out of the ordinary, until her boyfriend Randy starts to ignore her. But even cutting and dyeing her hair doesn’t get his attention. She decides to join her old high school friends for spring vacation, only to be faced with Drew, her best friend who suddenly seems interested in her as more than a friend. Gemma must determine if her heart is on the rebound or if it’s finally met its true match.

THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM: Liz Carlson will settle for a normal man. A normal man with a job, that is. Married twice, then divorced twice, Liz’s rose-colored glasses fell off and shattered on the ground a long time ago. Her main focus now is raising her six-year-old daughter and surviving long days at work on her feet as a hairdresser. When Sloane Branden answers her call for help, quite literally, Liz doesn’t even give him a second glance. She’s sworn off dating for as many years as it takes, and it seems that Sloane has done the same after his own tumultuous marriage. But when Liz realizes that Sloane defies every stereotypical deadbeat she’s dated, she might just find room in her heart and discover the third time’s the charm.

THE DAISY CHAIN: Jess Giles does find her perfect match, but since Charlie’s several years older than she, they never have a moment of harmony from his adult kids who protest the marriage. When Charlie dies in a tragic accident, his kids add insult to injury and sue Jess for her share of the inheritance. The only person Jess trusts for financial advice is Charlie’s financial planner, Preston Michaels. Just talking to Preston on the phone makes Jess feel flustered, yet strangely comfortable at the same time, so she puts off meeting him for as long as possible. When Jess has to attend the formal hearing, she’s about to find out if the man she’s been talking to over the phone for several months lives up to the voice that she’s grown attached to.

LOST THEN FOUND: Arie, at the top of her career as VP of an established real estate company, discovers that her success has led to a less-than-successful dating life. But she may have just met the ideal man in work-a-holic film producer, Dustin Jacobs. Seeing each other once a week, or even once a month, is no big deal since they are both ambitious… until Arie realizes she wants much, much more.

ONE CHANCE: Valentina is the odd-woman out. She’s part of “the Five” when she dates Drew for a couple of years, and remains friends with the women, but with her traveling schedule as a runway model, it’s impossible to maintain a real relationship. When Valentina attends her cousin’s wedding in LA, she runs into Cesar, who she was school friends with in her native country of Puerto Rico. Cesar is not the young skinny boy she remembers, but a grown man who seems interested in what’s beyond her model-appearance. Back in New York, Valentina can’t get him out of her mind, but she also can’t deny the fact that they’re separated by more than one country.

This was a fun read and a perfect way to start my summer vacation! First of all, I was excited to see this series being offered as a box set! I enjoyed all the stories but my favorites were the first (Picture Perfect) and the last (One Chance). There are five main friends but they don't all appear in every story. There are four girls and one guy: Liz, Gemma, Arie, Jess and Drew. The last story is about Valentina, who isn't part of the original five, but became friends with them when she dated Drew.

I enjoyed their stories and how they each found someone. Their life situations are all so different and that made each story unique and interesting. Even though they were short, I felt like I was given enough information to understand what the characters were going through. 

I liked that I was able to read them without having to search for the next one. The way they're written, though, you can read them in any order and they don't give anything from the other books away. I understand why Ms. Moore did that, but since I read them back to back, I really wanted updates from the other couples I'd read about. I liked that the stories moved quickly, but some of the endings seemed a little rushed. Maybe a reunion book would be nice...

Content: There are a few minor swear words here and there and some adult situations. There is also some passionate kissing but all of the stories are clean!

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Heather B. Moore is the USA Today bestseller and award-winning author of more than a dozen historical novels which are set in Ancient Arabia and Mesoamerica. She is not old and doesn’t remember the time period, so Google has become a great friend. Although she has spent several years living in the Middle East, she prefers to forget the smells. Heather writes her historicals and thrillers under the pen name H.B. Moore. She also writes women’s fiction, romance, and inspirational non-fiction under Heather B. Moore, including The Newport Ladies Book Club, the Amazon bestselling anthology series A Timeless Romance Anthology, the Aliso Creek series, and the USA Today bestseller Heart of the Ocean.

Heather graduated from Brigham Young University with a major in Fashion Merchandising and minor in Business Management–which has absolutely nothing to do with writing novels. But at least she can balance a mean checkbook and color-coordinate her kids’ school clothes.

Visit her blog for writing and book signing updates: http://mywriterslair.blogspot.com.