Book Review: It's Only Love by Kay Bratt

Solid Vacation From Main Tale. This is one of those tales similar to say the Malibu Sands episodes of Saved By The Bell, or perhaps even the episodes of JAG where Mark Harmon shows up... before eventually getting his own series. Yes, some deep cuts there. I'm sure most reading this series will at least have heard of all of those shows though. For the younger generations *not* aware of those now ancient shows, this is a tale where we take a "vacation" from the main action... because we're about to do something else very similar but need an excuse for the author/ writers to take a "work vacation".

But seriously, this is a solid tale that uses a lot of the things that have been being built up for the last few books in this series and creates a tale that fits perfectly within the series as it exists to date... while not actually happening in the small north Georgia mountain town of the main setting of the series. Instead we swap the north Georgia mountains for the north Florida marshes... with equal amounts of crime, romantic longing, and wholesome family drama similar to other (even more) ancient shows like The Waltons or Little House on the Prairie.

Come for the off-the-beaten-path First Coast (it's what we call ourselves here in the Jacksonville/ St. Augustine region, both where I and a few author friends live and where this book largely takes place) living that you're not going to see from getting on a cruise ship at JaxPort or staying near the Old City Wall of St. Augustine and certainly not just a bit further south at Port Canaveral or the Orlando theme parks. Stay for the lighthearted yet earnest family drama of the kind of tale that so many of us grew up with that so much of booklandia has abandoned these last several years.

Very much recommended.

This review of It's Only Love by Kay Bratt was originally written on October 1, 2026.