Cottonbloom Books In Order

Publication Order of Cottonbloom Books

CottomBloom is a series of contemporary romance novels written by Laura Trentham. The books explore the romances that take place in the small town of Cottonbloom.

+The Story

Laura Trentham wanted to write historical romance. That is all she read as a child. She remembers being drawn to the Regency era with its exotic culture and romantic atmosphere.

However, as she progressed in life and decided to write her own romantic novels, she found that she didn’t have much to add to the historical romances of her childhood, mostly because the books she loved as a child normally took place in England, a place she did not really know.

But Laura found that she knew and understood small towns pretty well. After all, she grew up in one. She understood all the parts that made places like Cottonbloom tick. The culture made sense to her, and so did the sense of community that would inevitably take shape.

So she set about writing a contemporary romance set in a small town similar to the one in which she had grown up. Cottonbloom was the result of her hard work, a small town in Louisiana.

Cottonbloom is the setting for the stories told in the Cottonbloom series. The small town is split between an upscale community and its rundown counterpart. The cast Laura introduces in the Cottombloom series is split between the upscale section and the run down side.

The author has heroes and heroines that have grown up in privilege, girls, and boys that have known wealth and luxury all their life and who have gone on to pursue corporate careers. Laura also writes heroes and heroines that have only ever known poverty and who had fought and struggled and clawed their way out of misery to make something resembling success.

The unifying factor that Laura threads through her cast is their discontent. The Cottombloom series endeavors to preach that misery and heartache and discontent can exist among the rich and the poor.

The wealthy members of the Cottombloom books are no more immune to pain than their poorer counterparts. The first book in the series, Kiss Me That Way, proves as much, introducing Monroe Kirby to readers, a girl that grew up on the wealthy side of town and who should have been happy by all accounts. Instead, Monroe spent her childhood fighting to survive the scourge of her mother’s drinking habits, not to mention the boyfriend she kept around the house.

It takes the efforts of Cade Fournette, a member of Cottonbloom’s poorer community to help her survive the turmoil. And even then, Cade eventually leaves, abandoning Monroe and forcing her to learn to fight for herself.

The Cottonbloom series follows the structure of most contemporary romances. The books could be described as second-chance romances. The hero and the heroine almost always meet as children.

They are both hurting, typically because of financial or familial issues. They learn to depend on one another to survive the aches of childhood. Then a misunderstanding occurs that drives them apart.

Years later, they encounter one another again. They initially resist the urges of reignited passion, determined to protect their hearts from one another. But circumstances conspire to help them scrutinize the misunderstanding that drove them apart, and it isn’t long before they begin to walk the journey towards their happily-ever-after.

The Cottonbloom series, while cliché, stands on the shoulders of Laura Trentham’s writing. The author doesn’t do anything new. She just creates compelling characters. The hero and the heroine are people one can always root for.

The hero is always vulnerable, soft, reserved and willing to do anything for the heroine. Some readers have complained about Laura’s heroines because they tend to take the heroes for granted.

But they each bring a unique quality to the table. The Cottonbloom series is normally told in arcs. Each book, while throwing the focus on one particular couple, normally introduces two or three potential couples that meander about in the background before getting their own chance to shine in the subsequent novels in the series.

All the Cottonbloom books can be read as standalones. However, Laura Trentham always encourages her readers to follow the order of the series. The couples of each new book are usually introduced in previous novels in the Cottonbloom series, and Laura believes that readers might enjoy their experience with her novels better if they follow each couple’s journey from their roots as secondary cast members to their destination as the protagonists of their own books.

+The Author

Laura Trentham was born in a small town in Tennessee. While she did not immediately take to writing, Laura loved to read. She also had a passion for the English language. However, getting an English degree was the last thing the author wanted to do in college, mostly because she was convinced she would starve as a result.

So instead Laura went the practical route and studied chemical engineering. The author pursued this route diligently, spending a couple of years wearing hard hats and steel toed boots on the job.

But the call of publishing never left her and she eventually gave into all the stories in her head. Laura initially dabbled in historical romance, focusing on the Regency era. But then she found that there was more joy to be had writing contemporary romance set in small towns like the one in which she grew up.

Laura believes small town romances are important now more than ever because small towns in the United States are disappearing.

+Kiss Me That Way

Cade Fournette had to fight for everything he ever got. And he knew early on that he would never survive in Cottonbloom. So he raised his siblings, orphans like him, for as long as they needed him and then left.

Cade never thought he would ever come home, not after finding success in Seattle. But he cannot stop thinking about the girl he left in Cottonbloom.

Monroe Kirby might have grown up on the wealthy side of town but that did not save her from her mom’s alcoholism or her boyfriend. When Cade, the one person she could rely on for support, disappeared all those years ago, he absconded with a piece of her heart.

When Cade comes back to town, neither of them knows what to do with their mutual passion.

+Then He Kissed Me

Nash Hawthorne spent his childhood thinking of all the ways he could run away with Tally Fournette, leaving all their problems behind. But then his mother died and he left Cottonbloom to live with his aunt.

Tally survived Nash’s departure. She learned to live without him. Now a gorgeous woman teaching history at the local college, when Tally meets Nash, she finds that her attraction for him is stronger than ever.

But her possessive ex and his snobbish aunt have no intention of letting them get together.