Hold on Tight by Shelley Shepard Gray

Book Description

Jackson Koch had already lost his wife to cancer when the town's coal mines shut down and his job was gone too. So, with a three-year-old daughter to care for and a broken heart to mend, he moved across the country to find a new life in Bridgeport, Ohio. Now he tends bar by night and tries to navigate life as a single dad by day. Luckily, his neighbor is happy to babysit while he works late nights. She's great with little Kate, beautiful, kind ... and lately he's found himself smiling whenever he thinks about her.

Dani Brown also knows what it's like to lose a spouse and raise a child on her own. Cleaning houses during the day, and taking online classes at night, she dreams of running her own preschool someday. And, since her fourteen-year-old son Jeremy's baseball team requires a lot of money, she's thrilled to earn some extra cash by watching her handsome neighbor's adorable little girl. But even with two jobs, she's having trouble making ends meet.

When Jackson sees Dani running herself ragged for her son's baseball ambitions he decides it's time to get the Bridgeport Social Club involved. Together they cook up a plan. They will run a charity poker tournament to support Jeremy's dream and help out a hardworking single mom. But will Dani be able to accept help from the handsome neighbor she's starting to feel more-than-friendly feelings for? And how far is she ready to let those feelings go?

Get ready to fall in love with Shelley Shepard Gray's Bridgeport Social Club again, where a poker night is so much more than a game of cards and an extraordinary community of ordinary men and women come together to offer love, light, and hope to everyone they encounter. 

Paperback

Expected publication: June 11th 2019 by Blackstone Publishing

My thoughts:

Hold on Tight is the third book in the Bridgeport Social Club series and it is my favorite by far. I read this book in one day because the storyline was so touching and realistic that I couldn't stop reading.

Dani Brown and Jason Koch have both suffered the loss of a spouse, they each have a child and they are both good people who I was rooting for to have the best of everything that life offered.

Dani works hard to provide for her son Jeremy who wants to play on the baseball team which isn't in her budget. My heart went out to her as she worked tirelessly to make his dream come true. From cleaning houses to babysitting Jason's daughter to taking online classes she doesn't have much time for herself or friendships.  Until she becomes closer to Jason that is,  I loved the interest he took in her and how his friends became important to her, too.  

Speaking of friends, this book and series in general as all about family and friendship.  

The characters are humble, compassionate, hardworking, flawed human beings  who use colorful language occasionally.  They don't put on airs and they never forget what it's like to struggle which is why they are ready to help others in need. I find myself genuinely respecting the imperfect characters who are trying to make better lives for themselves and those they love.  

I received a copy of the book from the author but was under no obligation to write a review.  All opinions are my own.