Contemporary Romance published by Berkley 23 Feb 21
This is a sweet, feel-good, second-chance-at-love romance by a new-to-me author. Hope and Donovan were torn apart by a fatal accident that killed her sister and his brother and life was never the same again. Donovan moved away from the small town where he grew up, joined the Army, learned to love programming, and became a success. Hope was left behind, pregnant and alone in a small town, struggling to provide for her daughter and make ends meet. Change is once again in the air and Donovan is back for a flying visit to close up and sell his assets in town. How can two people stand a chance when fate, a cute ghost, signs from the grave, and an entire town all take a hand in match making?
Hope’s daughter is a rebellious teenager who’s taken a liking for alcohol. All of Hope’s lectures fall on deaf ears. I’m sure we can all relate, since we’ve been there, determined to rebel against draconian parental authority. If things aren’t difficult already, Hope is floored with the news that Donovan is in town. She has never lived down the guilt of that long ago New Year’s Eve party when she was driving with Donovan, her sister Izzie, and his brother Beau in the back seat, slightly impaired. She lost control of the car, killing Beau and Izzie. She’s haunted by the memories, but she’s got Izzie’s spirit who visits her with sage advice from the beyond.
Donovan is back in town to sell off the inn and shop that his grandparents once owned and operated. He can’t wait to finish his business in town and get back to his life. He makes a visit to his brother’s grave, and signs and portents suggest that it’s time for him to forgive Hope and move on with his life – but that is before he finds out that he has a teenage daughter that he knew nothing about. Of course, their daughter has no idea, having been brought up to believe that her father is dead. Not a happy situation when all is revealed.
I absolutely loved the quilting circle and the making of quilts. Clearly, Hope has used her skills to keep herself and her daughter clothed in hard times, but all the references to creating homemade quilts and the meaning and emotion that goes into them is heartwarming.
I truly enjoyed watching the relationship between Hope and Donovan strengthen and grow under the benevolent eye of Izzie, the friendly ghost, and the townspeople. I will be looking for the author’s new stories in this series but plan to go back and read some of her stories from her earlier series.
Grade: A
Summary:
A woman struggling to raise her daughter alone in a small Alaskan town finds her simple existence upended when the father of her child returns. . . .
Sweet Home, Alaska, was once a thriving, idyllic town, where A Stone’s Throw Hardware and Haberdashery and the Sisterhood of the Quilt were the cornerstones of the community. Then, in one fatal moment, two young lives were cut short, and everything changed. Now the Stone family businesses have closed, the diner is in the red, and the population has dwindled to 573.
After the tragic accident that took her sister’s life, Hope McKnight discovered she was pregnant, and gave up her dreams of college to raise her daughter. When Donovan Stone returns to sell his family’s properties and to cut final ties with Sweet Home, he’s shocked to find Hope still there–and a single mother. The pull between Hope and Donovan is as powerful as ever. But so are the secrets and lies stemming from that long-ago tragedy. Will they be able to overcome the past, or will the heartbreak of bygone days destroy their love again?
No excerpt available.
