Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

courtney walsh

The power of words to heal: Review of Things Left Unsaid by Courtney Walsh

She’s done it again. Courtney Walsh has set a deeply moving story in the tourist town of Sweethaven and not only did I love this story but now I want to go back and re-read the other Sweethaven stories she’s written! (To read about her other Sweethaven novels, you can check out my reviews here, here and here.)

Things Left Unsaid brings us a new set of characters and a story that is full of tension, and Courtney delivers the story with grace and excellence. I could feel the weight of what the characters carried.

In Things Left Unsaid, nearly every character is living with a burden that could be lifted or lightened by speaking words aloud. Some have been holding their feelings and the truth inside for a decade. A wedding and a celebration of life for a tragedy that happened 10 years ago brings all the characters together again in Sweethaven, and since so many of the burdens are related to the night their friend and daughter died, the words they won’t say hover over them like a cloud.

Throughout the story, the burdens and secrets are hinted at, and I kind of enjoyed being in the dark about the specifics until the very end.

While the story started out a little bit slow for me, mostly because I was reorienting myself to Sweethaven, by about one-third of the way through, I couldn’t put it down. I think that’s about the time all the characters came together in Sweethaven. The tension built and I kept turning the pages to find out what would happen.

Things Left Unsaid is such a powerful reminder of the importance of saying things out loud when we’re carrying burdens and secrets and how much freedom we can find when that happens.

Disclosure: I read an advanced copy of the book. Review reflects my honest opinion.

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.

SaveSave