Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

sweethaven

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.

Christmas in October: Review of A Sweethaven Christmas by Courtney Walsh

All good things must come to an end, right? Sad but true. And for the gals of Sweethaven, it had to happen sooner or later.

The third and final book in Courtney Walsh’s Sweethaven series, A Sweethaven Christmas, released earlier this month and has me ready to trim the tree, make cookies and play endless hours of Christmas music. (It’s too soon, right?)

If you’re new to the series, check out my reviews of the first two books: A Sweethaven Summer and A Sweethaven Homecoming.

The holidays are in full swing in Sweethaven as the families start celebrating this special time of year. With the hurt and healing of the summer still fresh in their lives, Campbell, Jane, Lila, Adele, and Meghan look to the future with promise of good things to come.

Courtney has done an amazing job creating the community of Sweethaven, and the Christmas setting of this book had me pining for a small-town Christmas celebration. If you’ve never had the pleasure of attending a Christmas walk or seeing a winter holiday parade, you’re missing out. Both my hometown and the town where I live now have a Christmas/holiday celebration that warms my heart despite the chill in the air. The Sweethaven celebration was everything a small-town holiday event should be.

Jane’s weight-loss journey in this book was particularly moving for me, although for a couple of chapters I got tired of her whining and insecurity about her weight. (Then I was reminded how tiring my own whining and insecurity about my weight are. Touche.) Her insecurities may be the most obvious of all the women, but they all deal with it in different ways. And that’s what I’ve loved about this journey. After three books, I feel like I know these women. Shoot, I AM these women, in some way or another. Courtney has encapsulated in these women the myriad issues we women deal with. And she’s given us hope that with God, good friends and gumption, we can get through, and even over, the stuff that messes up our lives.

I didn’t realize how much these women meant to me (I know they’re just characters in a book, but they’ve become my friends!) until I found myself crying, on the brink of a major sobfest, as the book drew to a close. The only reason I didn’t have a complete breakdown is that my husband was sitting on the couch across the room, and I didn’t want him to think something was wrong with me. (Confession: Something IS wrong with me.)

The road these women have traveled was long, and I’m glad to have been a companion on the journey. The end of Sweethaven is bittersweet, and I imagine as an author, that takes on a new meaning. Personally, I can’t wait to see what Courtney has cooking next.