Long-Lost Love by Victoria Grant – Book Review

Long-Lost Love is the fourth book in the wonderfully delightful Calderone Family Romance series by Victoria Grant.

This series is one of my personal guilty pleasures. Say what you want about that term, but I absolutely love grabbing a Victoria Grant book, a cup of tea, a cozy blanket, and my cats so I can snuggle up and read my little heart out. This is a guilty pleasure I’m definitely not ashamed of, but it’s one where I look like the stock photos of a very cozy woman reading a book with the raindrops pouring down outside. It’s a bookworm’s dream.

Long-Lost Love continues the Calderone Family Romance series by allowing us to see Stephen’s love story. Each of these Calderone siblings (and eventually parents!) get their time to shine, so it was nice to see a different side of Stephen. As the title suggests, Stephen’s long-lost love from high school is going to come back into the picture. Jennifer McBride was once his young love, but they’ve both moved on after a troubling end to their relationship back in the good ol’ days. Now that they are both adults with jobs and lives, they accidentally stumble upon each other.

If you’ve read the previous books, you know that Stephen works with his family in Toronto, Ontario. The Calderone Family is a big business corporation with family values. Stephen’s working hard when Jennifer comes in to request some fundraising assistance from the famous family. I do find it kind of funny that it’s almost a surprise that they reconnect when almost everyone in the series knows that the Calderone family owns their business entity… But hey, it’s a second chance love story and I’m not going to complain. Stephen and Jennifer stumble or end up falling head over heels, for one another again but it doesn’t go smoothly.

Jennifer has a kid now, and an obnoxious ex. Meanwhile, Stephen has dreams of rekindling the lost love they once had in a very extravagant fashion. Stephen doesn’t seem to realize that adults change and grow, and many of us are not the people that we were in high school. Jennifer is none too impressed with that, and the two butt heads quite a bit throughout this novel. Despite the drama that ensues, these two are quite the pair.

I will note that Stephen gives off lots of red flags. If this wasn’t the soap opera-type book/series that it is, I wouldn’t be impressed. At this point, I realize this series is over the top and very much a fictional world. If Stephen were real, he would irritate me beyond belief, but I accept this series as a romantic soap opera. If you have a man like Stephen in your life who is as aggressive and doesn’t get the point, you may want to seek help from a counselor or get some mental health advice. Stephen grinds on my gears, but thankfully… this guy is fictional.

Like every Victoria Grant book that came before it, this book has some wonderful lines like “regrets vault” which I am now using frequently in my dictionary. “Audition to be the ham” was also a fantastic line that I will find a way to use in my vocabulary one way or another.

Awkward proposals, amber alerts, baseball, and second chance romance are the name of the game in Long-Lost Love.

I highly recommend this series. If you love lots of soap opera-style drama, a dash of comedy, some R-rated sexy scenes, and a fast-paced read, then this series is for you. You don’t need to worry about reading these books in order either, as the rest of the family are essentially Easter eggs in the story. This series can be standalones all by themselves, and they are all equally amazing!

Five out of five stars!

I received a free copy of this book from the author, Victoria Grant, in exchange for an honest review.

Ready to pick up this book? Here are some helpful links to help you stack up your TBR with Victoria Grant books:
Goodreads
Amazon.ca
Amazon.com
Kobo
B&N
Indigo

Find out more about Victoria Grant by following the links below:
https://www.victoriagrantromance.com/
Twitter: @VGrantRomance

Do you love romance? Why not check out some more incredible romantic novels that have been featured on my blog? You can read my book review, find purchasing links, or just chat with me about your fave books:
Designing Love by Victoria Grant
Write to Love by Victoria Grant
A Taxing Affair by Michelle Cornish

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