BABY, DRIVE SOUTH is the first book in Stephanie Bonds' Southern Roads Series featuring the Armstrong brothers. Porter, Kendall, and Marcus are determined to rebuild their home town ten years after it was destroyed by a tornado. They have a federal grant and two years to build a self-sustaining green community. They have money, creativity, and men who aren't afraid of a hard work and long days. What they don't have is women, and it's starting to affect the men who are getting mighty lonely. So, they place an ad in the newspaper of Broadway, Michigan, a town hit hard by the economic downturn, hoping a few adventurous women will join their effort. When Porter climbs the water tower (again) hoping to spot a car that might mean someone has finally answered the ad, what he sees is a caravan of cars filled with women, 100 women to be exact. Porter is so excited to share the news he falls off the water tower and breaks a leg.

Lucky for Porter, the caravan includes Dr. Nikki Salinger. Nikki needed a fresh start after breaking up with her cheating fiancée. She's doesn't feel like she fits in and is determined to leave now that she has seen the isolated town of Sweetness, Georgia. It's up to Porter to do anything to convince her to stay.

I struggled a little bit at first with the premise. The idea that all these women would up and move across the country to an isolated town sight unseen didn't quite sit well. Once I got past that, I was able to enjoy what is a fairly straightforward, slightly old-fashioned contemporary romance. I liked the Armstrong brothers and their determination to rebuild their hometown. I appreciated that the women stepped in, took some control of their situation, set some ground rules, and supported each other. The romance between Nikki and Porter was sweet, fraught with misunderstandings and obstacles. I look forward to reading the rest of the books in the series to see how these characters develop and watch the town come back to life.

Book Summary

Rebuilding their tornado-ravaged hometown in the Georgia mountains, the Armstrong brothers place an ad in a northern newspaper seeking single women and when Dr. Nikki Salinger arrives, Porter, the youngest Armstrong, wants to check out her bedside manner.

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