Summer is traditionally a time of lighter reading; quick, easy, beach reads if you will. The Innkeeper’s Sister by Linda Goodnight has some darker themes but overall falls into the category. I thank TLC Book Tours for sending me a copy at no charge for my honest review.
About The Innkeeper’s Sister:
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: HQN Books (July 25, 2017)
Welcome to Honey Ridge, Tennessee, where Southern hospitality and sweet peach tea beckon, and where long-buried secrets lead to some startling realizations…
Grayson Blake always has a purpose—and never a moment to lose. He’s come home to Honey Ridge to convert a historic gristmill into a restaurant, but his plans crumble like Tennessee clay when the excavation of a skeleton unearths a Civil War mystery…and leads him back to a beautiful and familiar stranger.
Once a ballet dancer, now co-owner of the Peach Orchard Inn, Valery Carter harbors pain as deep as the secrets buried beneath the mill. A bright facade can’t erase her regrets any more than a glass of bourbon can restore what she’s lost. But spending time with Grayson offers Valery a chance to let go of her past and imagine a happier future. And with the discovery of hidden messages in aged sheet music, both their hearts begin to open. Bound by attraction, and compelled to resolve an old crime that links the inn and the mill, Grayson and Valery encounter a song of hurt, truth…and hope.
About the Author:
NY Times and USA Bestseller, Linda Goodnight writes novels to touch the heart as well as to entertain. Her emotional stories of hope have won the RITA, the Carol, the Reviewer’s Choice, and numerous other industry awards. A small town girl, Linda remains close to her roots, making her home in rural Oklahoma. She and husband have a blended family of eight, including two teenagers recently adopted from Ukraine. Many of her books are about family and children and rightly so, as she draws her deeply emotional stories from her surroundings, her great love of family, and from personal experiences as a nurse and teacher.
Connect with Linda
My Opinion:
This is the final book in a trilogy – I was not aware of that until I had finished. I can’t say that I felt like I missed anything by not having read the first two books. Having now read the synopses I can see where bits of the story lines were woven into this tale. All three books are centered in a small Southern town called Honey Ridge and the Peach Orchard Inn. The Innkeeper’s Sister is Valery Carter and she helps at the inn but it’s not her calling as much as it is a placeholder for her. She and her sister restored the inn as therapy after Valery’s nephew was kidnapped. Valery’s sister Julia is the one who is committed to making the inn run smoothly and Valery is there to support her – but she has issues and feels that her sister and mother don’t trust her.
One day the Blake brothers return to town to turn the old grist mill in town into a restaurant. They stay at the Inn during the planning and start of work but the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton in the basement. This leads to a mystery that goes all the way back to the Civil War.
The book reveals it’s story and secrets in back and forth chapters in time showing how the body came to be in the basement and sharing lessons on love and redemption in both centuries.
Overall I enjoyed this book. The characters were interesting although I didn’t understand the angst driving Valery. I can’t share the what without ruining the plot but I can say it didn’t resonate with me nor could I understand the drama about it in this day and age. But beyond that the underlying story was good and it was an afternoon of pleasant reading.
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Rating:
4
Other Beach Reads:
The Summer House by Hannah McKinnon
Slightly South of Simply by Kristy Woodson Harvey
Two Empresses by Brandy Purdy
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