When the tabloids publish pictures of up-and-coming actress Mia Emerson in what looks like a compromising position with her (married) leading man, Mia escapes Hollywood for the Bluebell Inn in North Carolina. After all, it’s the week of what was to have been her honeymoon, before her fiance broke it off.
Mia chose the Bluebell Inn for her honeymoon because her deceased grandparents used to own the building. She’s delighted to find the Inn’s library includes her grandmother’s journal, where she discovers unknown stories about her family history … including a missing jewel that is supposed to be hidden in the inn.
Meanwhile, Levi is hiding his own secrets. The inn is facing financial problems, something he’s been hiding from his sisters, who co-own the inn. If there really is a missing jewel and Levi could find it, then their financial problems would be over …
What follows is a Christian romance that’s more complex than many, as both Mia and Levi need to get past the lies and half-truths in their pasts to allow for a possible future together. I found it had to put the novel down once I’d started, because the characters and their situation was so compelling. As with many romances, there was an obvious answer … but what seems obvious to the reader isn’t so obvious for the characters.
Carolina Breeze is the second book in Denise Hunter’s Bluebell Inn Romance series, following Lake Season. You don’t have to read Lake Season first (I didn’t), but Carolina Breeze does contain a couple of spoilers for Lake Season. If that’s going to bother you, read Lake Season first.
Recommended for fans of contemporary Christian romance.
Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.
About Denise Hunter
Denise Hunter is the internationally published bestselling author of more than 30 books, including “The Convenient Groom” and “A December Bride” which have been made into Hallmark movies. She has appeared on the The 700 club and won awards such as The Holt Medallion Award, The Carol Award, The Reader’s Choice Award, The Foreword Book of the Year Award, and is a RITA finalist.
Denise writes heartwarming, small-town love stories. Her readers enjoy the vicarious thrill of falling in love and the promise of a happily-ever-after sigh as they savor the final pages of her books.
In 1996, inspired by the death of her grandfather, Denise began her first book, writing while her children napped. Two years later it was published, and she’s been writing ever since. Her husband says he inspires all her romantic stories, but Denise insists a good imagination helps too!
When Denise isn’t orchestrating love lives on the written page, she enjoys traveling with her family, drinking good coffee, and playing drums. Denise makes her home in Indiana where she and her husband raised three boys and are currently enjoying an empty nest.
Find Denise Hunter online at:
About Carolina Breeze
A jilted bride. A struggling innkeeper. And a romantic mountain getaway that changes everything.
Soon after her arrival at the Bluebell Inn, Mia meets Levi Bennett, who runs the inn along with his two younger sisters. Drawn to one another from the start, Mia trusts Levi to keep her location from the press, and Levi confides in Mia about the precarious financial state of the inn—a secret he’s been keeping from his sisters.
When Mia and Levi discover an old journal that hints at a rare diamond necklace hidden in the inn, they set off on a treasure hunt to find the long-lost heirloom. What they don’t expect to surface are feelings they thought were safely locked away. Mia and Levi must decide if falling in love again is too big a risk—or if it will uncover a treasure of its own instead.
You can find Carolina Breeze online at
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