There are two basic types of people you’ll come across in small towns. Planters have the land in their blood and want to stay forever. Dreamers long for the day they will finally escape. Holly Christian? Definitely a planter. She’s never considered leaving for greener pastures, but it’ll be a whole lot easier to move forward when people finally stop telling her that will never happen. Thank … goodness she has an ally in Hunter Pearce. He has no desire to leave now that he has what he’s always wanted. Well…almost. The words he can’t take back are still clinging closer than a humid summer afternoon.
Then there’s Gatlin Moore, who leans more in the dreamer direction. He used to imagine a future away from his hometown, but circumstances changed his plans long ago. Now he can’t stop thinking about bringing some of his dreams back to life, namely the ones that involve Brooke Langdon. Breaking up in their small town was hard, but getting back together might prove impossible. She may not be around long, unless she rediscovers what she used to love about the place. Putting her future in order by piecing together the past could mend her heart…or break it for keeps.
Welcome to Hope Canyon. This is our backroads story.
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Amazing! In the first book, Written in the Stars, Ms. Coryell takes you to the small town of Hope Canyon and sets the stage. Then in this second book, Written in the Dust, she delivers what you’ve been waiting for: restoration, redemption of “wasted” years, the moving forward you so desperately are hoping for at the end of the first book. You feel like you’re in every poignant scene as it unfolds, like you’re walking the streets of Hope Canyon yourself and hearing the conversations that happen. Ms. Coryell has “small town” down and I love that she so wonderfully immerses me in the backroads story of Brooke and Gatlin and Holly and Hunter. This is a book that is easy to get lost in, one of those where you lose track of time as you read.
Those of you who read my review of Written in the Stars know that I enjoyed the book, but wanted more from the ending. Written in the Dust is the perfect conclusion to Written in the Stars. It does not disappoint! I loved getting to unwrap more of the story and the history of these characters, finding out more about where they’re coming from, what has made them who they are and getting the pleasure of seeing them find hope, find redemption and freedom from the things that have been holding them back. Each character as a an individual has some personal demons to overcome if they want to move forward. Each couple has some obstacles to remove from their path if they want a future together. This second book really lets you in on those aspects of their stories. The glimpses into the pasts of each couple and each individual really open them up to you, to seeing them, to getting to understand them, offering a little bit clearer perspective of why they’ve made the decisions and choices they have and revealing a little bit of the role they themselves played in the directions their lives have gone. All of which adds such depth to the moments they take steps to surmount the obstacles, to move forward, to reach out and grasp what they’ve longed for.
I loved the memories interwoven by Ms. Coryell into the story. They added such bittersweetness, poignancy, and emotion to the book, in particular to Brooke and Gatlin’s story. The dance between the two as they come face to face with each other and the decisions of their past is filled with emotion, tension, passion, hope, and so much more. And let me tell you that the chemistry, the development of both couple’s love stories, the dance as they figure out their relationships was some seriously heart melting, swoon worthy stuff! Mere kisses will have you fanning yourself because their love stories are so wonderfully developed and their histories so emotionally charged. The wait they’ve gone through has been more than worth it to find themselves finally holding the very thing they’ve desired and longed after for so long.
In case, you couldn’t tell from my thoughts above, I highly recommend Ms. Coryell’s Backroads series. It is a fantastically written story that pulls you in and takes you for a ride with a beautiful ending.
**I received a copy of this book from the author and have chosen to review it. My opinions are my own.