Spring Fever

Annajane Hudgens  thinks she’s over Mason Bayless, her first love and the man she divorced 5 years earlier. To prove it to herself, she attends his wedding to another woman. But as Celia walks down the aisle, following Mason’s 5 year old daughter Sophie, Annajane suddenly realizes she still loves Mason and believes he knows he’s making a big mistake. But before she can stop the wedding, Sophie does it herself when she collapses on the altar, and Annajane wonders if maybe she does still have a chance at happiness.

Annajane and Pokey Bayless met in kindergarten, becoming close friends to the chagrin of both of their mothers who despise each other and their families. The Bayless family owns the company that makes Quixie, a cherry soda that is the lifeblood of the town of Passcoe, NC. But Annajane can’t stay away from Quixie and the Baylesses, getting a job at the company as a teen and falling in love with oldest son Mason. Even after Annajane and Mason’s marriage fell apart she continued to work at Quixie, believing she could keep her former relationship with Mason separate from her professional life.

Now, 5 years later, Annajane is engaged to Shane, a musician, and is packing up her life in Passcoe in preparation of moving to Atlanta with Shane. Mason is harboring some family secrets that are about to come out, finding out that Celia is not all she appears to be, and trying to keep Quixie afloat in the struggling economy. Annajane and Mason both have Mason’s mother Sally and his brother Davis to contend with, both of whom think selling Quixie off is in the family’s best interest.

Spring Fever is a fun summer read filled with believable characters, a quintessential Southern setting, a little bit of family drama, romance you can root for and plot details that are revealed slowly and deliciously as we learn more about the real reasons that Mason and Annajane broke up, where Celia really came from and what she’s up to and are reminded how quickly gossip can travel in a small town.

Notes on the audiobook: Macmillan often includes interviews with the author on their audio CD and it’s one of the things I love about listening to a book. While many written books also have interviews, I love listening to the author’s actual voice, talking about their book and their passion. Andrews is an avid audiobook listener and I’m always heartened to learn of authors who love to listen to books as much as I do.

If you like Southern Fiction, you may be interested in these books:

• Yankee Doodle Dixie
• The Orchard
• Falling Home

Nancy loves a good Southern romance but is happy her life isn’t nearly as complicated. She writes about her 2 boys, books and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys and Books.