Pine Ridge Chronicles: Prequel

Pine Ridge Chronicles #0

by Zoe Adams

Meet Lucien, the man who made Cornelia’s heart beat again.

He was a pretentious academic, but once she got to know him better, she quickly realized he was her best hope for saving the family business and her love-starved heart. What could have been a scandal turned out to be the love of Cornelia’s life.

42 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 28, 2023

About the author

Zoe Adams is an audacious author exploring the layered ups and downs of love.

Reviews

[KKEC Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pine Ridge Chronicles by Zoe Adams

Published: January 28, 2023
Zoe Adams
Genre: Romance
Pages: 42
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

Zoe Adams is an audacious author exploring the layered ups and downs of love.
A passionate writer, she draws her inspiration from a variety of sources. Her admiration
for romance books, her understanding of human character, and her observing eye for
exciting scenarios are a few of them. But above all, her greatest writing gift is her bold,
unapologetic love for love itself.

“Why worry about the after? It’ll only keep us from appreciating the now.”

Evelyn is celebrating her mom, Cornelia’s, engagement. As she sits down to sip champagne with her girlfriends, they ask how Lucien and Cornelia met. So Cornelia and Lucien share their story.

Much like the Frog Prince series, this series will center around friends finding their happily ever after.

I love the small-town premise and look forward to getting to know these characters better. Pine Ridge sounds like a charming little town filled with history and, hopefully, romance.

I love that Zoe offers a prequel to introduce the key players. This will help the first book start strong and further connect readers to these characters.

[Vicki Stephens · Rating 4 out of 5]

This prequel introduces Evelyn, who manages her family’s bakery, and her three best friends as they celebrate her mother’s engagement to Lucien. Cornelia, Evelyn’s mother, and Lucien share how they met and saved the Honeycutt Bakery. Evelyn and her friends make a pact with each other about Cornelia and Lucien’s wedding.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Marichus Real · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evelyn is trying to answer her friends’ questions about how her mother and her soon-to-be husband met. The truth is that Evelyn doesn’t know very much about it, but her mother Cornelia appears and tells them everything.
A quite interesting short story that is the prequel of this series. I hope the rest of the books are as nice as this one.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[casvec · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cornelia and Lucien's story is the prequel to the Pine Ridge Chronicles. It is a quick second chance story with a rich history of their past and hint of the future. This fast read is an exciting start to the series.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Jacqueline Johnston Cotton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This prequel is a quick and easy read. Pine Ridge is a romantic, festive, and heart-warming small town. Great characters and well written with a great storyline. I can't wait to read more of these stories.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Linda Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting short story about love that is the prequel in the Pine Ridge Chronicles/ Small Town Romance Series. We meet the key players. We are given some history about Evelyn’s parents’ bakery. When Evelyn worked there she met her Frenchman. Looking forward to reading what happens next.

[Jara · Rating 2 out of 5]

This prequel is well-written...but, unfortunately, it proves that what a comedian said about women being "the worst storytellers" is true: "There's nothing women love more than a backstory! No woman in history has ever been told that they left out a detail of a story!" What would usually be summed up in a paragraph of a chick lit novel was turned into a novella that explains how this older lady (Cornelia) who owns a bakery met her fiance (Lucien, a hot European intellectual customer):

“How did you two meet?” Amber repeated Olive’s question, probably dissatisfied with my vague answer.

My Mom sighed and leaned back in her seat; her expression was downright love struck, “Well…It’s a bit of a long story….”

“Those are the best kind,” Amber half-joked.

Veronica teased, “Speak for yourself, Ms. Bestseller List.”

“I’d love to hear how you met,” Olive chimed in.

“Yeah, they won’t stop asking about it until you tell them,” I informed Mom, hoping she’d tell them so I wouldn’t need to reveal how little I actually knew.

“Well…,” Mom began. We all waited while she gathered her thoughts. 

___

Then she proceeds to literally tell us the story in excruciating detail - including what he ordered every day (a loaf of bread and the occasional cup of expresso!), everything that they both said, what she was thinking about what both of them said, etc. As I read this older woman's attempt to tell a meet-cute story, I could relate to her daughter Evelyn's lack of interest in hearing and/or remembering the details. I wanted to fast-forward to the end by the time she went into detail about how Lucien helped her with the multi-step process of how to get her bakery designated as a historical site.

Then it turned "romantic":

Evelyn “God, Mom! Gross!” I protested. The last thing I wanted was to hear about my Mom’s sexual fantasies.

“What?” she rebuffed, “I wasn’t going to say anything!”

I know my Mom, so I said with the utmost confidence, “Yes. Yes, you were.”

My friends were chuckling at this exchange, but I knew they’d all react the same way if it was their mothers.

___

As the reader, I am totally Evelyn. By the mid-point, I just wanted the torture to stop! Instead, I fast-forwarded to Lucien's side of the same story. Usually, men can tell stories more concisely. But no. This male character tells a story like a female author wrote this for him.

Long review short: I would only recommend this to someone who is interested in the series...or loves detailed backstories. It's just not my slice of bread loaf or cup of expresso!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book in the Pine Ridge Chronicles series. I enjoyed reading Lucien and Cornelia Honeycutt’s short story of a second chance in their later years. It is well written with a good storyline, it is told by Cornelia to her daughter and the daughter's girlfriends. I want to read the rest of the series.
I received a copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Brenda Moser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written prequel with Evelyn and her friends attending her mother's engagement party and hearing how the engaged couple met. This sets up the girls finding dates for the wedding starting with Evelyn. I'm looking forward to the next book.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and freely given.

[Niki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This looks like it will be a great series, set in Pine Ridge. The stories of these five women are something that I am looking forward to reading about.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Lindsey Smith · Rating 1 out of 5]

i read this in 2 mins. it wasn’t a bad premise but it is just a short recollection that almost seems like outside of the series when it is just 5 pages. I’d be okay with it if the other books in the series weren’t the same thing

[Janejellyroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pleasant, but slight, account of a love story between an older couple. It's meant to kick of a series where the younger generation finds love. Unfortunately, you never really get over the feeling of listening to a couple recounting how they met in detail . . . if you know the couple and have affection for them, it can be interesting. But given that the reader has no connection to this couple, it's hard to be interested.

[Michelle Romano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this short inspirational story about friendship, perseverance, and love. I especially liked how the author was able to fluctuate between characters telling parts of the story with each chapter, and how wonderfully this author was able to captivate the reader with an interesting plot and heartfelt dialogue. I got sucked into the story so much that I purchased the second book! I highly recommend if you'd like to be transported into a sweet town, with a lovely story!