Rating: 5 stars out of 5

After the Syracuse Stallions clinch the championship, Nathan Zinkan, the renowned wild man of the AHL is arrested for a DUI. Again. When a no-nonsense judge adds a heavy dose of community service to an already stiff sentence, Nathan has to forget a summer of partying and slide on a pair of gardening gloves. His entire future now rides on how well he can behave while helping elderly urban gardeners tend to their tomatoes.

Watching local garden center owner Bran Cavanaugh working without his shirt is a benefit he wasn’t expecting. Pity Bran is also the one in charge of the community garden as well as keeping tabs on Nathan’s hours served. The two men are instantly at odds due to Nathan’s rebellious nature and Bran’s icy demeanor. Yet there’s no denying the attraction that begins to build between the hot-headed athlete and the cool as a cucumber master gardener.

Will their attraction grow into something deeper, or will it wither and die on the vine?

The Color of Love series just keeps growing in depth and richness with each new story.  The characters and the situations of the latest novel,The Good Green Earth (Colors of Love #3) by VL. Locey, certainly demonstrate how greatly this author not only loves the men and game of hockey but is still able to widen her universe and include a believable town or village in this case that also grows over the series.  We add families and businesses, locations, and a real sense of community that infects the reader with a familiarity of coming home when we pick up each story and dive into the series once more.

Here we get introduced to wild man Nathan Zinkan, coming off yet another DUI, and not exactly repentant.  His team won and, well, he’s expected to party right?  Boom, we are thrust immediately into Nathan’s mindset, one that will slowly undergo a change, a huge seachange, as Nathan matures and grows in a new environment.  I love how we grow to love Nathan and understand the man, his past, watch the baby steps and then the larger ones appear as he moves towards a larger future. Every part is realistic, humbling, gritty in parts, and endearing as well.

There with him as a blockade, and then as a friend and supporter, and then as someone who loves him, is Bran Cavanaugh, a man who understands loss and people who don’t exactly “color within the lines”.  Bran is another one of those special characters who will stay with you. The combination of Bran and Nathan, along with their ever changing dynamics keep you glued to this story that is full of emotions.  Laughter, so much laughter (watch out for that scene in the trailer), and tears too.  It reads as authentic in the struggles to move forward, whether it’s the need to continue a person’s sobriety or to end mourning the loss of a deep love.

I certainly could have stayed with this couple for several more stories.  This couple, the seniors in  the garden plots, and the friends that surround them.  Oh, my, be prepared for some side splitting laughter!  Gentle, hilarious, real, how I could see it all happening and happily reread those parts immediately.

Yes, I think this is my favorite book so far in the series.

And I love this series.

Not familiar with any of these stories?  You’re in luck!  They are listed below.  Check them all out and then come and get this one.  It’s a true gem, one you will reread  and keep smiling about.

How on earth will the author top this ?

Cover Design: Designs By Sloan. Not my favorite cover.  Does brand the series but where is the garden or hockey elements?

Sales Links:  Amazon 

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