Moonglotexas“Reading people was part of Wyatt Jennings’s job, and judging by the look on his boss’s face, the news wasn’t good.”
Opening line of “Autumn Skies” by Denise Hunter
Having thoroughly enjoyed “Lake Season”, and “Carolina Breeze, it was with eager anticipation I opened “Autumn Skies”, the final book in the Bluebell Inn Romance series. Denise Hunter delivers a cozy romance mystery like none other! I love spending time with these characters in this town, each carefully created, warm and sincere.
We finally get to hear Grace’s story and she is both delightful and complex. She is struggling to accept her future as her siblings plan to leave Bluebell Inn. Though it was always the plan, Grace is concerned she will be lonely in their absence. A childhood trauma taints her ability to accept herself and she struggles with worthiness.
Secret service agent, Wyatt, arrives in Bluebell to investigate a mystery in his past. Trauma clouds his memory and he hopes revisiting the scene will jolt him into recalling key details. In putting the past to bed, he hopes to find a purpose and acceptance in his future.
Bluebell Inn is Wyatt’s former home and so, in staying there, he connects with Grace and hires her to help him navigate the area. The two go on an adventure in the wilderness, discovering more about themselves and each other. Whilst the mystery is sad, the combination of Wyatt and Grace is full of humour. They encounter all sorts of challenges and have to draw on each other’s strength and faith to get through it.
It’s with the first two in the series, I thoroughly enjoyed this one and highly recommend it! It’s a five out of five on the enJOYment scale.
From the back cover:
The Bluebell Inn is turning a profit, and it’s time for the Bennett siblings to sell it and move on. Only Grace has plans to stay in the small lake town of Bluebell, North Carolina, where she hopes her growing outfitters business will save her from the loneliness of her siblings’ departure and the persistent sense of unworthiness in her life.
A gunshot wound resurrects the past for Secret Service agent Wyatt Jennings, and a mandatory leave of absence lands him in Bluebell. There he must come to grips with the tragedy that altered his life fourteen years ago.
When Wyatt books a room at the Bluebell Inn, sparks fly between him and Grace. She volunteers to be his mountain guide, and he soon opens up to her, drawn to her strength and sense of humor. But both are reticent to talk about the survivor’s guilt they each carry, and when their pasts finally collide, their budding romance might not survive the truth.
I received a complimentary copy of the book from Thomas Nelson – FictIon through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
