Title: Lake Season by Denise Hunter
A Bluebell Inn Series Book One
Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Christian, Romance
Length: 352 pages
Book Rating: B+
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley
Summary:
The first story in a brand-new series, Lake Season invites readers to the Bluebell Inn in a small North Carolina town where a lost letter, a chance for new love, and old secrets beckon.
When their parents die in a tragic accident, Molly Bennett and her siblings pull together to fulfill their parents’ dream of turning their historic Bluebell, North Carolina, home back into an inn. Staying in town would be temporary—three years at most—then they plan to sell the inn, and Molly can get back to chasing her own dreams.
Adam Bradford (aka bestselling author Nathaniel Quinn) is a reclusive novelist with a bad case of writer’s block. Desperate for inspiration as his deadline approaches, he travels to the setting of his next book, a North Carolina lake town. There, he meets his muse, a young innkeeper who fancies herself in love with his alter ego.
Molly and Adam strike up an instant friendship. When Molly finds a long-lost letter in the walls of her inn, she and Adam embark on a mission to find the star-crossed lovers and bring them the closure they deserve. But Adam has secrets he isn’t ready to share. Past and present collide as truths surface, and Molly and Adam will have to decide if love is worth trusting.
Review:
The first installment in the Bluebell Inn series, Lake Season by Denise Hunter is a bittersweet novel of love and healing.
Molly Bennett and her siblings, Grace and Levi, decide to follow through with their deceased parents’ dream of turning their home into an inn. With Grace finishing high school, the majority of the work falls to Molly and Levi. Most of the renovation is almost complete as the summer tourist season is approaching when visitor Adam Bradford stops in hoping to reserve a room. Molly bends the rules a little since the inn has not undergone their inspection when she allows Adam to stay with them. After she discovers a lost letter within the inn’s walls, Molly and Adam team up and attempt to locate the letter writer and recipient. An unexpected friendship springs up between them but as their feelings for one another deepen, will their respective issues prevent Adam and Molly from giving love a chance to bloom into a lasting relationship?
Molly is a very outgoing, cheerful young woman who does not think twice about abandoning her dreams after her parents’ tragic deaths. With one failed relationship behind her, she is not in any hurry to take a chance on another man deceiving her like her previous boyfriend. After finding the lost letter, Molly becomes quite invested in trying to locate what appears to be a star-crossed couple.
Adam is a popular, best-selling author who guards closely guards his privacy and writes under a pseudonym. He is a quite intelligent and a little shy. Adam has an extensive backlist but he still struggles with insecurities and low self-worth. With a looming deadline on the horizon, he is struggling with writer’s block for the first time in his career. Since his research is not spurring his creativity, Adam instead offers to help Molly track down the author of the letter and addressee.
Chapters which flash back to the events leading up to the lost letter are interspersed with events playing out in the present. In 1962, a local young woman and a visitor unexpectedly fall in love over the course of the summer. Just as they are planning their future together, outside forces tear them apart. Is there any chance Molly and Adam will find the couple after so many years?
Lake Season is a delightful novel with a slight undercurrent of faith. Molly and Adam are charming characters whose strengths, self-doubts and shortcomings are realistically depicted. The main storyline is well-developed and will resonate with readers. The secondary story arc is poignant and tugs at the heartstrings. I absolutely loved and highly recommend this uplifting and engaging novel by Denise Hunter.
