Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

The Weekly Read

Better every time: Review of Just Let Go by Courtney Walsh

Sometimes when I’ve read everything an author has written, I worry that I’m going to get more of the same, and I wonder if I could possibly love something new they’ve written as much as I love something they’ve previously written.

Am I the only reader who struggles with this? 

The best writers I know are constantly improving and their stories get better every time. Courtney Walsh is one of those writers and her latest novel, Just Let Go, might just be her best one yet. In Just Let Go, we return to Harbor Pointe, Michigan, the setting of a previous novel, Just Look Up, a small lakeside tourist town where Olympic skier Grady Benson has unexpectedly become stranded due to some personal setbacks. When he’s sentenced to community service to make up for some property damage, he finds himself stuck with the people of Harbor Pointe, including Quinn Collins, who recently bought the flower shop of her childhood dreams.

There is so much to love about this book. First of all, Harbor Pointe had a Stars Hollow (Gilmore Girls) feel to it, something I didn’t pick up on as much in the first book set here. In Just Let Go, I had an easier time picturing the downtown and the secondary characters who added to the personality of the place with their quirks.

(Also, can we talk about the cover? I love that flowers are front and center and there’s a guy in the background and the girl is seemingly the one receiving the flowers. I don’t know what it is for sure, but it’s refreshing to see something different on the cover of a romance novel.)

Secondly, Quinn and Grady seem all wrong for each other and their apparently mismatched pairing keeps the story moving forward. Seldom is there a surprise ending in contemporary romance stories–as a reader, I’m always pretty sure the two main characters are going to end up together–but the how of it all is what keeps me reading. And Courtney cooks up plenty of conflict and drama for these two characters.

Put this one on your summer reading list! It satisfies in all the best ways!

Disclosure: I received a copy of the book from the publisher as part of the Tyndale Blog Network. Review reflects my honest opinion.

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Learning from history with a sigh-worthy love story: Review of Together Forever by Jody Hedlund

Two things I know when I pick up a Jody Hedlund novel: I’m going to learn something about a real person or event from the past, and I’m going to read a sigh-worthy love story. Together Forever, the second in a series, taught me more about the orphan trains of the mid-1800s and the developing relationship between Marianne Neumann and Andrew Brady was what I’ve come to expect from Hedlund: charm, chemistry, conflict and curiosity (of the kind that keeps the pages turning so I find out how the whole thing will end!)

Part of my interest in this series is that the orphan trains head from New York City to Illinois, my home state, and I’m always interested in learning more about the real-life events that inspired these stories. That’s one of the strengths of Hedlund’s writing–a page-turning story based in history with evidence of extensive research wrapped in a romantic storyline. It’s a little bit of everything I love in a good book, consistently, which is why she is one of my go-to authors. (If you’ve regularly read my book reviews, you’ll know this is true. You can find my reviews for other books by Jody Hedlund here.)

I’d recommend reading book one first, although it isn’t strictly necessary for following along with this book, but it does provide some continuity.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher. Review reflects my honest opinion.