I received this book for free from the TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Series: Bluebell Inn Romance #1
Published by Thomas Nelson on November 12, 2019
Genres: Adult, Christian Fiction, Contemporary, Family, Historical, Romance
Pages: 320
Source: TLC Book Tours
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A lost letter, a new love, and old secrets beckon this summer at the Bluebell Inn.
When their parents die in a tragic accident, Molly Bennett and her siblings pull together to fulfill their parents’ dream: turning their historic Bluebell, North Carolina home back into an inn. The situation would just be temporary—three years at the most—then they would sell the inn and Molly could get back to chasing her own dreams.
Adam Bradford (aka bestselling author Nathanial Grey) 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 immediately 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 embarks on a mission with Adam to find the star-crossed lovers and bring them the closure they deserve. But Adam has secrets of his own. Past and present collide as truths are revealed, and Molly and Adam will have to decide if love is worth trusting.
I read one of Denise Hunter’s books last year, Honeysuckle Dreams, and I enjoyed the characters and writing style. Denise is kicking off a new series featuring a new family and setting with Lake Season, which is book one in the Bluebell Inn Romance series. Levi, Molly, and Grace’s parents’ unexpectedly die in a car accident, and they inherit their historic childhood home that their parents have been lovingly restoring back into the inn it once was. While their parents’ dream was to run the inn in their retirement, the three siblings have very different dreams for themselves. Grace is still in high school, playing volleyball and worrying about boys. Levi lives on the west coast with a career of his own, while Molly is in college with an internship in Italy on the horizon.
Molly and Levi put their lives on hold so Grace can finish out high school and live in their childhood home while they all pitch in and finish the renovations and run the historic inn together for a few years until they can sell it for a profit. At least that is the plan until Molly finds a long lost letter that was stuck in the mail slot that had been boarded over from the inn’s time as the town’s post office. Molly is moved by the letter and how it never reached it’s intended recipient more than fifty years ago, so she enlists the help of their summer-long occupant at the inn to help track down the writer of the letter and who the letter was addressed to.
Adam Bradford is in the picturesque lakeside town to hopefully break his writer’s block for his next book, and he’s instantly taken with Molly’s charm, non-stop talking to fill the silence, as well as her girl-next-door beauty. But Adam writes under a pen name since he’s very private and insecure when it comes to his success, and he’s horrified to find out that he’s Molly’s favorite writer. When Molly finds the letter in the wall, he’s quickly sucked into her plan to find closure for the subjects of the letter, and he needs to follow it through no matter what happens between he and Molly as the summer progresses.
Molly is such a smart, friendly, book-loving friend to all that meet her, that you can’t help but like her. But she’s been burned by her last boyfriend, so she has some deep trust issues when it comes to men. Adam has some very big self-esteem issues, especially when it comes to his success and worthiness in regards to his intellect. Both their relationship together and with their families were very real and nice to read about. I especially enjoyed the bickering and teasing between Molly and her siblings, but they backed each up other so much as well. Adam’s relationship with his mother was very supportive and realistic as well. I wished we saw a bit more of those two.
I give Lake Season a 4.5 out of 5. I really loved the complicated characters, small town vibe, and blossoming romance with a few complications thrown in for good measure. This is Christian fiction so it is a clean read, but there are definitely elements of a complicated nature both in the historical flashbacks and present day. While some of the things that happened were a bit predictable, I still enjoyed the journey since Denise Hunter infuses such emotion and realism into the situations. Everything is wrapped up in this book, so you’re not left hanging waiting for book two. I’m looking forward to seeing who gets to be front and center in the next book in this series.
Find Lake Season
Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
About Denise Hunter
Denise Hunter is the internationally published bestselling author of more than 25 books, including A December Bride and The Convenient Groom, which have been adapted into original Hallmark Channel movies. She has won The Holt Medallion Award, The Reader’s Choice Award, The Carol Award, The Foreword Book of the Year Award, and is a RITA finalist. When Denise isn’t orchestrating love lives on the written page, she enjoys traveling with her family, drinking green tea, and playing drums. Denise makes her home in Indiana where she and her husband are rapidly approaching an empty nest.
Connect with Denise Hunter
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
Denise Hunter’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS for LAKE SEASON:
Instagram tour:
Monday, November 11th: @bookswithbean
Monday, November 11th: @nsiabblog
Tuesday, November 12th: @one_more_paige
Tuesday, November 12th: @classiccourt12
Wednesday, November 13th: @southernbellereading
Thursday, November 14th: @cassies_books_reviews
Thursday, November 14th: @lesa_cap
Friday, November 15th: @allmybookthoughts
Saturday, November 16th: @escape_in_a_book
Sunday, November 17th: @bookishwinterwitch
Review tour:
Monday, November 11th: Wellreadtraveler and @wellreadtraveler
Tuesday, November 12th: Bewitched Bookworms
Wednesday, November 13th: The Book Date
Thursday, November 14th: Run Wright
Thursday, November 14th: Book Reviews and More by Kathy
Monday, November 18th: @megsbookclub
Tuesday, November 19th: Nurse Bookie and @nursebookie
Wednesday, November 20th: Into the Hall of Books
Thursday, November 21st: @angelareadsbooks
Friday, November 22nd: @careylovestobook
Monday, November 25th: Books and Cats and Coffee
Tuesday, November 26th: Tar Heel Reader and @tarheelreader
Friday, November 29th: Blunt Scissors Book Reviews and @bluntscissorsreviews
Monday, December 2nd: Pacific Northwest Bookworm and @pnwbookworm
Tuesday, December 3rd: A Chick Who Reads
Wednesday, December 4th: Audio Killed the Bookmark and @beritaudiokilledthebookmark
Thursday, December 5th: Girl Who Reads
Friday, December 6th: @barr_bookworm
Monday, December 9th: Read Eat Repeat
Tuesday, December 10th: @books_faith_love
Wednesday, December 11th: The Romance Dish
Thursday, December 12th: Treestand Book Reviews
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I’ve read two, possibly three, of her books before and I enjoyed them, so I should add this to my list. I’m a sucker for a series. Thank you for being on this tour! Sara @ TLC Book Tours
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