"Some Bright Someday" by Melissa Tagg - Maple Valley Romance, book 2

Lucas Danby has always regretted the decisions that caused his dishonorable discharge from the military—and he’s never stopped trying to redeem his honor. He's spent the past decade as an elite private soldier, but the high-risk work never cures his shame. Now he’s stuck mentoring a new recruit, and he's sick of lying to the people he cares about most—including the woman he’s secretly loved for years. Jenessa Belville is the last Belville left—and if she had her way, she'd leave the name and all its painful memories behind, which is exactly what she hopes to do once she sells the family estate. But on the same day she puts up the “For Sale” sign, she discovers three children hiding in the caretaker's cottage, thrusting her into the unexpected role of temporary guardian. Lucas offers to help Jenessa restore the Belville grounds. Though drawn together by a trio of kids who tug on their hearts and the sparks they can’t deny, past secrets and current sorrows threaten to pull them apart. Only the brightest love and hardest sacrifice can turn the house Jenessa never wanted into the home she and Lucas have always longed for.

I'm generally a historical fiction person rather than contemporary, but Melissa Tagg is an author I make an exception for every time. No traditional meet-cute for long-time friends Jenessa and Luke, but there are plenty of fun moments along the way, as well as heart-wrenching moments, anxiety-inducing moments, and supremely romantic moments guaranteed to satisfy. Jenessa is easy to like, but Luke is the one that just breaks the heart--the PTSD he still suffers, the unspoken love for Jenessa, his feelings of unworthiness. 

Kids are hard to portray realistically in books (they tend to be adorable or terrible, or worse, a plot device), but I think Tagg does a good job, especially with the eldest, Colie; I could picture pretty much every one of Colie's lines coming out of the mouth of a certain 12-year-old I know, including (or especially) the lines laden with Attitude. All three kids are great.

I'm really looking forward to Sam's story (assuming it's in the works?)--he's been on the periphery for so many books, and you can tell he's just miserable and in need of his own happy ending.

Maple Valley Romance
1. Now and Then and Always
2. Some Bright Someday

Related stories:

Walker Family
0.5: Three Little Words (novella)
1. From the Start
2. Like Never Before
3. Keep Holding On
4. All This Time

"A Maple Valley Romance" (published in Right Where We Belong collection of small-town novellas)

Enchanted Christmas Collection (now together in the omnibus Enchanted)
1. One Enchanted Christmas
2. One Enchanted Eve
3. One Enchanted Noel