Are you someone that is good with your hands, always working on projects around the house? Or perhaps you are the one with the vision - able to imagine what a dilapidated kitchen or house would look like with a bit of love and remodeling? Are you drawn to HGTV shows?
In each of the books listed below there is some sort of remodeling undercurrent whether the main character is just rehabbing their own house, taking on a retail location to grow a business dream, or completely restoring houses from top to bottom.
While they tackle the challenge of the project, these characters inevitably meet (or work with) someone with whom they will develop a relationship and the chemistry is palpable. A blossoming HGTV Style Love Story unfurling within the pages.
Books with HGTV Style Love Story
The Shell Collector by Nancy Naigle
In this heartwarming book, Amanda has two young children, Hailey and Jesse. She's recently widowed and in desperate need of a change in scenery. She uproots her small family and finds a small place on Whelk's Island to start fresh with her own fixer upper house.
The family meets Maeve, an older neighbor who walks the beach daily. Maeve hits it off with the whole family and becomes a close confidant and friend.
Walking that same beach Amanda is also reunited with Paul, who was her husband's best friend. She had not been nice to him after her husband's death and has held tremendous guilt over her past behavior.
There is sadness in the book, with the primary characters (Amanda and Maeve) both being widowed. However, it's not overwhelming and the overall theme is very positive. The children are well-behaved and an absolute joy to read about. There is a desire to follow dreams and live life. The characters are supportive of one another. And of course, there are love stories.
The Boardwalk Bookshop by Susan Mallery
This is an easy reading book with friendship, family drama, relationship issues and love interests all throughout.
Three ladies are independent business owners and stumble across a prime beach retail location that is amazing ... but too big for any one of them individually. They take a chance and decide to go in on the space together to fix it up, forming business partnerships and great friendships which blossom during "champagne Fridays" on the beach for sunset.
Bree is the bookstore owner who loves them and leaves them - never getting close to any of her suitors.
Ashley is the youngest and owns the bakery. She is in love with Seth and hopeful to soon join the ranks of her peers who all getting married during this time of life.
Mikki is the older of the three women, divorced with two older children, and the gift shop owner.
I enjoyed this book because it wasn't all unicorns and rainbows (the characters had flaws, relationships had issues) but they formed a bond and their friendship gained strength.
Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score
Maggie and Dean are a YouTube duo with complimentary personalities. They rebuild houses, moving from one location to another once the project is complete. They've grown a massive following and now they are about to tackle their biggest project - a multi room mansion in the middle of nowhere - Kinship, Idaho.
As Maggie works to select her new team in Kinship, she meets Silas. He makes a very memorable first impression on Maggie and Dean thanks to a hilarious situation with his dog, Kevin, a truck mix up, and half nakedness. Silas knows that day that he wants to win her business and her heart. He is later dubbed "Hot Landscaper Guy" by their YouTube following.
Maggie Moves On hits a number of tropes:
*Close Proximity
*Boy Falls First
*Small Town Romance
*Slow Burn
*Spicy
This book has a number of VERY spicy scenes (three or four), but they don't occur until about the halfway mark. If that's not your thing, it would be easy to skip through the chapter and pick up the story after the scene.
I like that it has big focus on family unit (and it showcases many types of relationships), it also has many different storylines (that are easy to follow), and the ending wraps everything up with a nice, perfect bow!
Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
Abby's books just keep getting better! I thought the first three book that I read were great and this one is top notch! 5 stars. It's laugh out loud funny at times, while still having romance and a couple of serious sub plots (including abusive relationships).
Alexis is an ER doctor driving through a very small town two hours from home after a funeral. A racoon causes her to swerve off the road into a ditch. While waiting for a tow truck, Daniel, a local carpenter, pulls over with his truck and offers to help.
Fast forward to later that evening and she sees Daniel in the local bar with his friends. After a short conversation, she walks out of the bar with him to help him win a bet. Their chemistry is heavy and they end up back at his place.
This book hits a lot of themes - Older woman / younger man, City girl / country boy, complete opposites in so many ways. But they were inseparable when they were together. And she kept coming back for him weekend after weekend. But neither would truly ever fit in the other's world so it was never meant to be more than a short term fling.
Triggers: Three of the couples in the book experience some sort of abuse. One was domestic abuse (the book is not graphic, just mentions the after effects of bruising) and the other two were mental abuse. Having been in an abusive relationship myself for many years, I appreciate the way that she showed how both situations appear to others and how it feels when it's happening to you. She also helped by showing what signs to be on the watch for, how hard it is to leave, and suggestions for what loved ones/friends that want to help can do.
The Honey-Don't List by Christina Lauren
This was a really cute book, and I felt like it was a super easy read. In my head, I was envisioning one of the HGTV couples I've watched on tv, so I was able to watch it "play" out in my mind. It held my interest, but there are other books from Christina Lauren that I enjoyed a bit better.
In this one, Melissa and Rusty Tripp are the renovators. They aren't in the best place in their relationship and two of their workers, Carey and James, try to keep up the appearances for the couple so that the crew and project stays in tact. In doing so, Carey and James themselves become closer.
The Homewreckers by Mary Kay Andrews
This is a book that my local book club has selected to read in November 2023 - so I'll come back here and update after with my impressions. If you'd like to learn more on how my club selects books and to follow along with our list this year, click here.
The Homewreckers is about Hattie, a young married woman who has been doing house restorations for 7 years. She's in over her head on the most recent one and needing money fast when the opportunity of a lifetime falls in her lap. Hattie is offered to star in a reality show about beach house renovations.
But there is a catch. She'll have a co-star playing opposite her.
This book promises lots of mishaps with projects and it appears we'll see a bit of a love triangle.
I hope some of these books inspire you to tackle your next project - whether it's building a bookshelf or renovating a house! Dream big :)
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Love your beach read recommendations! I'll be visiting the library soon so took notes.
So many fun books on this list! I can’t wait to check them out. Plus, my sisters are really big into HGTV so I feel like tons of these would make great gifts/book recs. Thank you for sharing!