Bring on the Blessings (Blessings Series, 1)

Bring on the Blessings (Blessings Series, 1)

Bestselling author Beverly Jenkins makes the move to trade paperback with this rich and moving, heartwarming small town story that introduces us to the beautiful Kansas town of Henry Adams, and the townspeople who make it unique. Bernadine Brown is a woman with money to spend. Henry Adams is a town in desperate need of cash. But after Bernadine puts up the money, she has some ideas about how the town should be run. Will the townspeople be willing to shake up their comfortable lives to share the gift they’ve been given with others who really need it? One of the few all Black towns founded after Reconstruction, over a century later Henry Adams was falling apart. So Mayor Trenton July took a chance and put his town up for sale on the internet. With a new owner in town, and the ex mayor and his friends up in arms and doing everything they can to turn the deal on its head, this heartfelt story of rebuilding a community asks: will this be the death of Henry Adams...or its rebirth? “Beverly Jenkins has reached romance superstardom .” - Detroit Free Press “[Jenkins] weaves together exhilarating plots with complex and larger-than-life characters that draw you into the story.” - Romantic Times BOOKreviews “Beverly Jenkins charms in a way that only she can with this heartwarming story of love, community, and family. She giftwraps her tale artfully with spatterings of places and people from her beloved historical novels. I was enchanted to read about present-day Henry Adams and to visit with descendants of Chase and Cara Lee from Night Song, Neil and Olivia July from Something Called Love, and Dix and Kate Wildhorse from Topaz. Bring on the Blessings is a tasty reading confection that you’ll savor long after the story ends.” - Angela Benson, Essence bestselling author of Up Pops the Devil and The Amen Sisters “A story like non other, and done in a way that only Beverly Jenkins can do. Simply superb!” - Brenda Jackson, New York Times bestselling author On Bernadine Brown's fifty-second birthday she received an unexpected gift—she caught her husband, Leo, cheating with his secretary. She was hurt—angry, too—but she didn't cry woe is me. Nope, she hired herself a top-notch lawyer and ended up with a cool $275 million. Having been raised in the church, she knew that when much is given much is expected, so she asked God to send her a purpose. The purpose turned out to be a town: Henry Adams, Kansas, one of the last surviving townships founded by freed slaves after the Civil War. The failing town had put itself up for sale on the Internet, so Bernadine bought it. Trent July is the mayor, and watching the town of his birth slide into debt and foreclosure is about the hardest thing he's ever done. When the buyer comes to town, he's impressed by her vision, strength, and the hope she wants to offer not only to the town and its few remaining residents, but to a handful of kids in desperate need of a second chance. Not everyone in town wants to get on board though; they don't want change. But Bernadine and Trent, along with his first love, Lily Fontaine, are determined to preserve the town's legacy while ushering in a new era with ties to its unique past and its promising future. Beverly Jenkins  is the recipient of the 2018 Michigan Author Award by the Michigan Library Association, the 2017 Romance Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the 2016 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for historical romance. She has been nominated for the NAACP Image Award in Literature and was featured in both the documentary  Love Between the Covers  and on  CBS Sunday Morning . Since the publication of  Night Song  in 1994, she has been leading the charge for inclusive romance and has been a constant darling of reviewers, fans, and her peers alike, garnering accolades for her work from the likes of  The Wall Street Journal ,  People magazine, and NPR. Bring on the Blessings By Beverly Jenkins HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Copyright © 2009 Beverly Jenkins All right reserved. ISBN: 9780061688409 Chapter One Trenton July, the mayor of Henry Adams, Kansas, called the emergency town meeting to order with a bang of his gavel. "All right. Let's get this started. Who wants to go first?" Riley Curry, the former mayor, rose to his feet. He was wearing his favorite pinstriped suit with its ever-present fake red carnation pinned to the shiny worn lapel. As always, he looked around for a moment to make sure all eyes were on him before speaking. "I'll start by demanding we rescind the offer." Murmurs of agreement rose from some of the thirty or so folks seated on the worn wooden folding chairs in the church's small sanctuary, but Trent saw disapproval on the faces of those who disagreed. "Offer's already been accepted, Riley. We signed the papers two weeks ago. Next person." "I'm not done." Trent sighed. "Go ahead." Riley cleared his throat, nodded at his wife, Genevieve, who was smiling up at him as if he