By Raeanne Thayne
Publisher: Harlequin HQN
Release Date: September 25, 2012
Outside, Hope’s Crossing is a winter wonderland of snow and
lights; inside, Dog-Eared Books & Brew is decorated for the Christmas
season. Maura McKnight-Parker has prepared the goodies and gifts for the annual
Books and Bites book club Christmas party that is set to begin in her bookstore
any minute now. The only thing she hasn’t prepared is her heart. It’s still
locked in deep mourning and has been since spring when the unthinkable happened
and her younger teenage daughter was killed in an accident. But Maura is
determined to make her worried family and friends believe that healing has
begun and she is rejoining the living. Her highest hope is to just maintain her
act through December when the festive season is over and her daughter Sage has
returned to college.
About the time the book club members begin arriving, Maura
recognizes the strange man who just entered the bookstore. It takes a bit
longer to realize that the woman with him is Sage. She’s still reeling over the
shock of seeing Sage with the last man Maura ever expected to see her with when
a brittle Sage introduces the stranger to everyone within hearing distance as
Jackson Lange, her father.
Jackson Lange left Hope’s Crossing twenty years ago, a proud
and angry eighteen-year-old, rejecting his father and all he stands for. Jack vowed
never to return. He’s no longer a small-town boy. Now he’s a cosmopolitan
architect with an international reputation, a San Francisco apartment, a
short-lived marriage—and a nineteen-year-old daughter he’s known for three days
who already alternately delights and terrifies him. He’s not sure of much right
now, but the one thing he does know is that he intends to be part of his
daughter’s life now that he’s found her.
This is the third book in Thayne’s Hope Crossing series,
following Blackberry Summer and Woodrose Mountain. I enjoyed the others, but I
think Sweet Laurel Falls is the best of the three. The accident in which Maura’s daughter Layla
was killed links the three stories, and I have been hoping since the first book
to see Maura begin to heal. Thayne does a wonderful job of showing both Maura’s
near-paralyzing grief and gradual understanding that even a life irrevocably
changed must go on.
There were so many ways that Thayne could have gone for the
trite and ended up with a lesser book, but she rejects the knee-jerk response
every time. First, there’s the combination of Christmas and loss. Anyone who
has lost someone she loves knows the pain of the first special days without
him/her. I can only imagine that the first Christmas after a child’s death must
be difficult beyond words. I’ve read books where characters in similar
situations retreated into their grief and added to the burden other loved ones
bear. I think it says a great deal about Maura that she refuses to do this.
Second, there’s the anger that Sage, Jack, and Maura all
feel about the past and the secret of Sage’s birth. Sage’s anger when she
reveals her father’s identity in the bookstore is almost palpable. And she has
a right to be angry that her mother lied to her. Jack is angry too, angry that
Maura never told him about Sage, angry at all the time he lost with his
daughter that cannot be reclaimed. His anger too seems eminently justifiable.
Maura is angry as well, angry that Jack followed her father’s pattern of
leaving, angry that Jack’s arrival has turned upside down a world that has
already been rocked on its axis. Her anger may be less logical, but it makes
sense emotionally. Yet none of these characters use their anger as a weapon or
a wall, or at least they do so only briefly. Sage tells her mother how angry
she is, but in the next breath assures her that she loves her. Jack reminds
himself when anger at Maura threatens to consume him that she was a
seventeen-year-old making decisions in an impossible situation and that he left
with no thought of consequences. Maura understands that Sage and Jack need to
build a relationship, and she realizes that her resentments of him stems from her
fear that she’s losing Sage. Through all the turmoil, these people talk to one
another.
Finally, it’s a small point, but one I really liked. Maura’s
marriage to Chris Parker lasted only five years, but he was a good stepfather
to Sage and has continued to be involved in her life since the divorce. Sage
loves him and still enjoys a good relationship with him. Since the man is the
frontman in a rock band, it was especially refreshing to see him presented as a
responsible and caring adult.
I haven’t even touched upon the strong sense of community
that makes Hope’s Crossing a warm, wonderful—although imperfect—place. There’s
a subplot with Jack’s father that adds interest, and for readers who have read the
other books, there’s the satisfaction of seeing familiar characters again.
Despite their appearance, I think this book can be read as a standalone. The
only thing that kept this from being a five-star read for me is a complication
in Sage’s life that seemed unnecessary to me.
There is sadness in this book, and it’s a sadness that will
never completely disappear. But there is also redemption and joy and love in
many dimensions. And, of course, there’s hope. We are in Hope’s Crossing after
all.
~Janga
http://justjanga.blogspot.com
~Janga
http://justjanga.blogspot.com
Thanks, Janga! I love RaeAnne Thayne's stories!
ReplyDeleteI just finished this book yesterday. This is a great series. I love the way they all support each other. Great review Hangar.
ReplyDeleteOops. Janga. I HATE auto correct.
ReplyDeleteGreat review! Love the cover of this book.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it's good to find a bit of sadness in a novel because it keeps it truly real. Life isn't always a bed of roses, but when we read a book and find that characters face times and are able to get over them, it gives us hope in our own lives.
ReplyDeleteThis review is super and very thorough. Wouldn't you just love to sit on that bench and gaze out over the water while reading this? I would!