Amanda's review posted on Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews 
 5 STARS 
 Review copy provided for an honest review 
 Don't you love it when release day comes and you are all a flitter to read the latest and greatest in your favorite series? That is how I felt when I got a copy of Waiting on You by Kristan Higgins. This is her third story in the Blue Heron series, about a small town in New York and the lives of a family that own a vineyard and their friends. This is a story about love and loss and new loves all rolled into one emotional, funny, teary and touching romance you'll ever read. This is Colleen O'Rourke's story with her first love Lucas Campbell, who's come back to town to take care of his uncle and his dying wishes. 
 Colleen is the heart of the town when it comes to dolling out advice and matchmaking individuals with their own happy ever after. She's never let herself get close to a real relationship after Lucas broke her heart 10 years earlier and left her having flings here and there. I liked Colleen and she was such a well-developed character. She has insight about people and has had several success stories of marriages and has had a few babies named in her honor. She means well and puts others first and was a woman after my own heart. She had witty dialogue and had some extremely funny situations happening to her that had me laughing out loud and giggling to myself long after I put my book down. 
 She knew that if she let Lucas back into her life that it might be setting herself up for heartbreak again but she knew that it was inevitable and let him back into her life and heart. You see her trying her best to rationalize it to herself and you feel how torn she is and ache for her. 
 Ms. Higgins weaves the story back and forth between present and past encounters of high school days and the beginning of Colleen and Lucas' relationship. You also see how Colleen's own parent's divorce had an effect on her own relationship with Lucas. It was very easy to follow and gave you more layers to the story and better understanding of everything that Colleen has on her plate. You also get more about Luke and his situation in life. He had great losses in life and he sees things as what he has and what he doesn't. As much as I liked him I didn't understand why he didn't come back sooner. Lucas was a character you got to know slowly over the course of the story and he slowly grew on me. Circumstances brought him back to Manningsport for his uncle but it took a bit of reflection and forgiveness to see how he needs and loves Colleen for all the right reasons. 
 There are lots of things I like about this book and I'm so glad that she is finally writing a series with recurring characters and new ones to follow and love. It's good to catch up and see how they are doing and how they interact with the present story's characters. Her secondary characters of Paulie and Bryce have their own story and I found myself hoping their issues are resolved as well. Kristan Higgins has a wonderful writing style of blending quirky characters with real life events that ring true to me. She creates wonderful, multi-dimensional characters and a believable storyline to keep you glued to the pages because you just don't want to put it down. Her stories bring out so many emotions from me and I love it. I can relate to some of the issues that Colleen and Lucas have gone through and enjoy the fact that by the end they do get their happy ever after. It was a fantastic ending and I'm still feeling the afterglow hours later. If you love reading contemporary romance stories you need to check out Kristan Higgins and all her stories. She's one of my favorite authors to read and I hope she can be one of yours too.