Set in the quaint small town of Destiny, Ohio, we meet a large group of friends, including our heroine Amy Bright. Amy believes she’s a good friend, a good daughter, a pretty regular kind of girl. She’s been content with her lot in life, matchmaking for her acquaintances, happily doing her bridesmaid duties for her good friends, and working at her bookstore.

Then, her oldest friend, firefighter Logan Whitaker ends up fighting a fire with his neighbors trapped inside, and they die when he’s unable to save them. Logan isn’t himself, he sinks into a deep pit of despair and stops taking care of himself. Amy steps in to help make sure that Logan’s okay, and one day on a caretaking visit, Logan kisses Amy. Amy’s stunned by Logan’s kiss, and even more by the fact that it sets of a firestorm of feeling within her that she didn’t know existed. Amy knows that Logan’s in a bad place, and she decides to wait and see what happens between them while she thinks about her own feelings.

However, after a discussion with her girlfriends, Amy knows she has to do something to tell Logan how she feels, but they’ve been friends for so long that maybe he doesn’t see her that way, and he hasn’t yet said anything about their kiss. Amy decides to boldly write down her feelings, sending steamy love notes to Logan – anonymously. She’s brave enough to write down her thoughts, but chickens out when it comes to signing her name.

Part of the problem is the newly arrived Anna Romo, the long lost sister of Mike Romo, Logan’s best friend. Anna’s smoking hot, and interested in Logan. Logan’s flattered by Anna’s attention and has been checking her out since she arrived.

Logan’s still stressed out by the fatal fire he battled, he’s stopped firefighting since and has tried to bartend at the local bar in the meantime. He’s a horrible bartender, his best friend Mike’s warning him away from Anna while Anna tries to entice him for a date, he’s caught in a big grief cycle after the fire, and the only person he can really talk to is Amy, but he screwed that up with the weirdly hot kiss they shared. Now, he’s receiving notes from a Secret Admirer, and he’s pretty sure it’s Anna.

Logan knows he’s at a crossroads in his life, but he has no idea what to do. While Amy waits by the sidelines of Logan’s life, wishing and hoping for him to notice that she’s capable of being more than just a friend, she’s getting impatient. Logan just might miss out on the best kind of romance if he can’t start seeing his buddy Amy as a woman instead of a support system.

Willow Springs is a beautifully written self-contained story. I’m sure that each of the fun background characters have their own unique stories, and since they are so adorably written, I wouldn’t mind going backwards to get to know this series from the beginning.

Logan is a great hero, he’s just like the awesome guy friend that every girl’s had and fallen in love with at some point. Logan’s had some real issues with his life, and he’s not sure how his life’s fallen apart so completely. He doesn’t know which way to turn and this confusion sure sparked Amy’s maternal, caretaking instincts. Logan’s also a great friend, generally thoughtful and sweet. When his romantic side perks up, it’s amazing to find this different part of his personality for both Amy and the reader. I didn’t expect so much smoldering sensuality to be hidden under Logan’s boy-next-door façade and it was hot.

Amy’s our every day heroine girl, I loved every moment of her realness. She was so easy to relate to and cheer for. I especially loved when she stood up for herself, and her real emotions that play throughout the story. Amy comes into her own skin by the midpoint of this tale and it’s awesome. I loved it.

The only drawback to this otherwise lovely tale is the slow beginning. While I appreciate a slow build, this was too slow and I nearly put down the book before it heated up since it was getting boring.

I’m sure Toni Blake’s fans already have their copies of Willow Springs, but if you haven’t tried her yet, do yourself a favor and pick up your own.

--Amy Wroblewsky