Sunsets

Glenbrooke #4

by Robin Jones Gunn

Alissa runs into this man everywhere she goes…coincidence, or part of some greater plan?

Alissa loves her new job as a travel agent in Pasadena —the chance to start over. But shortly after her arrival, an abrupt meeting with a man at her favorite espresso shop leaves her wondering if all men in California are rude and arrogant. Just like the ones she’s been hurt by recently. “This guy has to go,” she tells herself.

But Alissa soon learns that man is none other than Brad Phillips, her new neighbor. And the “coincidences” don’t stop there. Alissa’s and Brad’s lives keep intertwining in extraordinary ways. Then she ends up on a road trip with Brad—a trip that holds one disaster after another! Alissa’s only solace is their destination: charming Glenbrooke , Oregon —a place so warm and friendly it might just reopen her shielded heart.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Christian, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Christian Romance, Chick Lit

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

ROBIN JONES GUNN has written more than 100 books with over 6.5 million copies sold worldwide. Her Father Christmas books have been made into three Hallmark Christmas movies. The timeless Christy Miller series now continues in Christy & Todd: The College Years, Married Years, Baby Years, and the Haven Maker series. Robin's novels and non-fiction works include Before Your Tween Daughter Becomes a Woman, Victim of Grace, Praying for Your Future Husband, and Before You Meet Your Future Husband co-authored with Tricia Goyer. Her books have received multiple awards and are a favorite with book clubs and study groups. Many of Robin's books are in eBook, audiobook, large print, and foreign editions. Robin does a weekly Podcast called "Women Worth Knowing" with Cheryl Brodersen. Robin and her husband have a grown son and daughter and live in California.

Reviews

[Selah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as cheesy as Echoes, but I found Alissa's and Brad's relationship frustrating. They squabble, have some serious miscommunications, and are new friends between times. The romance really comes out of left field. Chet and Rosie, however, are adorable. :) Again, like Gunn's other books, I'm not sure her theology is completely sound, and it seems to be very emotion driven.

[Joy Gerbode · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great re-read! Wonderful story, nice romance, great characters, lots of fun, and just in general a comfortable, pleasurable read.

May 2015 ... another great re-read. I am thoroughly enjoying the encouragement to strengthen my own relationship with God as I read these books this time.

July 2020 ... great read again ...

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

July 2022 re-read
Holds up as one of RJG's strongest in this series and one of my favorites.

February 2016
This has always been my favorite in the Glenbrooke series, and I think I've probably read it a half dozen times in the past 15 years. It's still a wonderful story, a slow romance with a lot of spiritual growth on the part of the main character. Love the hymns woven throughout the text.

[Faith M:) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars:)))

[Maggie Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robin Jones Gunn Book Club pick: Glenbrooke #4. I related to the bantering between Alissa & Brad a lot, seeing my husband and my early memories in the bickering page after page. Some serious miscommunications, all nighters, confessions, road trips, and an elderly couple who is madly in love make for a fun meet cute. Lots of characters from the first three books and other RJG stories mentioned in this book.

[Michele Minor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good romance without any of the smut that is in some romance novels. I like it when Alissa hears about how an elderly couple had reunited in their seventies and the problems that they had gone through before reuniting with each other. Alissa runs into Brad and she starts to learn the lesson that the older couple can teach her. This book also has some of the other characters in the previous books in this series, with some of the author's humor included in the book.

[Bree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christian contemporary romance. I really liked the ending.

[Patience]

It was part of a series and more cheesy and full of holes than a slice of Swiss.

What I liked: Romantic, easy to read, and a good book to zone out with.

What I didn't like: The plot was all over the place, and the storylines never finished. (Spoilers ahead.)

What ever happened to Jake’s roommate? What happened to Alissa's roommate who moved out? Are we really going to follow the plot of an old couple’s romance and never find out how it ends? And the cat having cancer—painful!

I ended the book sucked into it, so I couldn’t stop reading, but it was one of the poorest written books I’ve read this year. The open Christian themes were a refreshing motif—though a little in-your-face and not truly woven in.

Like, yes, the main girl had an emotional affair with a music minister who was married and wanted to leave his wife and start a ministry with her. Then, she later falls for hymns, memorizes the Apostles’ Creed, and sees the older couple as a beautiful image of Christ coming for His bride. This was all packed into a few chapters and then never spoken of again!

The authoress needs to decide what kind of book she’s writing and stick with it—is this a time-traveling romance reliving Rose and Chet’s love story, Jack and the main girl, or a come-to-Jesus moment?

ack spends a few pages changing her view on her mother’s death—saying it’s a 50/50 chance people can be saved moments before death.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: why can Robin Jones Gunn not write a book without bringing up Weight Watchers? Jack calls out the extra pounds Alissa has. Later, she’s too busy to eat and stressed with moving, and the authoress praises her. She’s too distracted to eat—another praise.

From the books, the authoress seems like a highly reformed Baptist, frail patriarchist who believes women should shrink to fit into a man’s world.

Overall, I don’t know what to tell you. It gave me a few evenings of remedied boredom—however, it is not a literary feature.

[Misti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alissa has had some bad experiences with men, so she’s not looking to start a relationship with anyone. Particularly not her obnoxious new neighbor Brad. However, as she works through her own issues, and as she and Brad keep getting thrown together, she can’t escape the fact that she’s attracted to him. Does he feel the same?

As I’ve mentioned in other reviews, the enemies-to-lovers trope doesn’t always work for me, but in this case there’s enough going on that it doesn’t bother me much. Brad’s kind of a jerk, to be honest, but not enough of one to make me root against him and Alissa ending up together. Recommended if you’re already a fan of this author or this series, but I probably wouldn’t say this was a great starting point. Fans of Gunn’s teen books may remember Alissa from the Christy Miller series.

[Palesa]

maaaaaaan. fuuuuck Brad!!
I want him to choke on a cpu so bad.
what a dickhead. I have nothing positive to say about him. he's just an entity of darkness. poor Alyssa!! girl run!! and kys, Brad! talking bout some, "you were slow to order" , you can stfu and wait for the so called "princess" to finish her order. also I think i just have a huge crush on Alyssa and I'm routing for her so bad that anybody that so much as ruffles an inch of her feathers is evil incarnate and must be burned into nothingness, never to begin the cycle of life again and to never receive the chance to ascend into heavenly realms.
Brad, go stuff some more motherboards up your ass, tech boy!

[Natalie Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️ rounded up. Just so sweet. I loved reading a book dedicated to Alissa’s story after first meeting her in the Christy Miller series many years ago. Hoping she’ll be in the next few books to hear a little more … ending was kind of abrupt. But loving this series!

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of the reason I enjoyed this book was because it was set mostly in Southern California and I am a SoCal girl. So I enjoyed imagining the setting in my mind and recallilng my own memories of SoCal. I also enjoyed how the personalities of these two main characters, Alyssa and Brad, was not your typical personalities for these type of books. I liked how "unromantic" Brad was, but at the same time you kept routing for him. The favorite part of the book for me was reading about their roadtrip.

[Lena Morrison · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do my reviews in the form of a letter, which is why they are written like this.

Dear Robin Jones Gunn,

I found this book more boring than usual. I hate giving your books low ratings, because you are one of my favorite authors.
Alissa is a very interesting character. She's changed so much from the teenage Alissa. I felt a little bad for her. She had gone through so much. I was a little surprised to hear about the whole Phoenix thing. I wonder if that guy was actually being honest?
I thought Brad was an okay match for her. Honestly, I didn't really like him. I found him rude and insensitive and overly logical. He should have been a lot more nice and kind to Alissa. The whole proposal thing was so embarrassing.
I liked that the book was not wholly focused on romance. Instead, it was about Alyssa and her internal struggles.
I also found the ending a little vague and rushed. That's the problem I always have with romance novels. The ending where they confess their love is so confusing and fast.

Sincerely,

Lena Marie

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fangirl buy because I wanted to know what happened to the character of Alissa I met in the Christy Miller series I read and loved as a teen. As a fangirl I was disappointed there was no cameo from any other characters from that series. I would have loved to read more about Alissa's daughter as well.

However, not having cameos or having a big to do about a baby she gave up for adoption (this is all backstory so is not spoilers) is far more realistic.

There are spoilers for what I suspect are previous books in the Glenbrooke series, and exposition for future books as well it seems.

My gripe about the plot/romance of this is that a miscommunication leads the couple to take a major step in their relationship. They jump from being friends to being engaged in one day because he believes she is dying. Not romantic

Otherwise I was pleasantly surprised. I thought this was going to be super cheesy but it was realistic, genuine, sweet.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided I love this series because even though the characters of each book are intertwined, you can still pick them up without worrying about not understanding something. Everyone's story pretty much ends in their book and any cameos they have in other books are more like extras than anything else. This makes it very easy for me because I'm mostly just checking out these books from the library and they don't have all the books so I can still enjoy these books without needing to skip some available books so I can read them in order.

Sunsets was definitely a cute book. Kind of a love-hate thing going, which I'm a big fan of, but the ending was a little weird. It was an understandable ending, but I think it was one of those unnecessarily dramatic things to get to the end. Seemed a little silly, but otherwise it was fun to read.

[Kerith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alissa Benson from Gunn's earlier Christy Miller books resurfaces in this novel. She has lost that new-convert verve and is just coasting through life when she meets Brad Phillips (linked to Lauren Phillips of ECHOES, my favorite of the Glenbrooke books) -- here the story line rather breaks down a bit, as Brad is so abrasive and egotistical that it's hard to see the attraction between the two. Gunn's romantic streak takes over with the tale of Chet & Rosie, the lovely little duplex, and the obligatory trip to her fabled small town of Glenbrooke. Fans won't be disappointed.

[Julie Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

sunsets glenbrooke series book 4 by robin jones gunn
elissa is a travel agent and is just moving into a new neighborhood. she doens't like longterm things so moves often. she recalls her past as things that happen brush into her life and she must deal with them.

she starts to believe in God again and things smoothen out and are easier to deal with. 3 of them start out to help move one of their sisters to oregon. things just get worse as they go on but her faith comes to the rescue again. the doctor doesn't have a good report but he will stand by her and she has faith in God also.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found it amazing because I started off reading Christy Miller series another series by Robin Jones Gunn and in this book it talks about Alissa a girl in the Christy Miller series and now I know after reading this how her life is and all. In the Christy Miller series Alissa did something very wrong and didn't know about God or wasn't a Christian yet but now in this book it talks about her life after accepting Christ.

[Ashley Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved getting back to a character from my youth! But I did feel there might have been too much backstory to move the plot forward enough to be as compelling especially for there to be realistic ending between the two main characters which felt rushed and forced. The psychology of the character is important but was spent in her head too much for a believable relationship to form, which was a little disappointing.

[Dorothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I started this fourth book of the Glenbrooke series I couldn't figure out why it was part of the series since it was taking place in California. Then I understood the gentleman of the story is the brother of Lauren from the last book. The story is about Alissa, a travel agent, who as a teenager was a strong Christian but met a man who was not showing his faith. Now Alissa has problems and until she gets things straight with herself she will never be able to grow as a Christian.

[Patty Ritter]

I really enjoy reading these books. Each installment has a captivating plot line. I love how everyone is intertwined. The books are also spiritually uplifting because they always bring a different viewpoint or way to find/show god's love. A truly good read for anyone willing for a little romance. :)

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was first introduced to this character in Gunn's Christy Miller series and it is nice to see where she ends up. I found Brad and Alissa's relationship funny and real at the same thing. I enjoyed the read. However, I wish that her story would have been flushed out a bit more.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that fans of the Christy Miller series will be biased toward as they see a familiar face in Alissa. It was nice to see her story see a happy ending given all the obstacles she overcame as a teenager. The way Robin manages to tie it into Glenbrooke is nice as well!

[Haylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really good book. It is mostly romance but not all of it. It has some tragedy in it, it is a little slow in the middle but not all that much. I couldn't put this book down!

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my favorite book in Glenbrooke series.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Female travel agent and the new next door neighbor

[Christy Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

PG rated romance novel. Sappy, but sweet and interesting plot lines behind the love stories.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was so good! One of my favorite Glenbrooke books!

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Glenbrooke series novel. Cute, sweet story.

[Danni · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked it but it was a little too much religion for my taste.