After tirelessly climbing the ranks of her Chicago-based interior design firm, Lane Kelley is about to land her dream promotion when devastating news about her brother draws her back home—a quaint tourist town full of memories she’d just as soon forget. With her cell phone and laptop always within reach, Lane aims to check on her brother while staying focused on work—something her eclectic family … family doesn’t understand.
Ryan Brooks never expected to settle down in Harbor Pointe, Michigan, but after his final tour of duty, it was the only place that felt like home. Now knee-deep in a renovation project that could boost tourism for the struggling town, he is thrilled to see Lane, the girl he secretly once loved, even if the circumstances of her homecoming aren’t ideal.
Their reunion gets off to a rocky start, however, when Ryan can’t find a trace of the girl he once knew in the woman she is today. As he slowly chips away at the walls Lane has built, secrets from his past collide with a terrible truth even he is reluctant to believe. Facing a crossroads that could define his future with Lane and jeopardize his relationship with the surrogate family he’s found in the Kelleys, Ryan hopes Lane can see that maybe what really matters has been right in front of her all along—if only she’d just look up.
more
I liked the way the characters were so realistic. They had flaws, but were a mixture of good, and bad like mist people really are. The main character internalized her hurt, and withdrew from her family. The family was really insensitive in their treatment of her, but eventually they worked things out. It was a great book.
I loved this book. Ryan is the perfect hero. He overcame so much to become a man of honor and steadfastness. Lane struggles to accept herself and believe in herself even after she’s become everything she ever wanted to be. Families are not always what we wish them to be but Ms. Walsh shows us that sometimes we just need to accept them, and ourselves, for what and who they are.
When I first saw the title of this book, my mind immediately got to thinking this was going to be about the need to ‘Look Up’ and see ourselves the way God see’s us. This isn’t the direction that Courtney takes us, however I cannot tell you how strongly this subliminal message resonated with me.
One thing I absolutely must do at the end of a book, is read the Author notes. Here I found this phrase ‘”Just look up!…Look around at everything you are missing!”‘ How often do we live our lives, buried deep in our work, our phones, our laptops & computers? Do we miss the beauty that surrounds us, the daily interactions within our homes? We need to stop focusing on what doesn’t ultimately matter, and cherish what does. Life will pass us by while we focus on the unnecessary. This message feeds all the way through this story, even including some of the minor characters. While the general message is one of career & technology holding us down, we also can recognize that Ryan’s Dad has missed his entire life due to Alcoholism. Lindsay lost a fragile relationship with her only sister over a bad choice. Lane, wonderful Lane, lost many years due to a focus on a unforgiveable (to her) hurt and pain, mingled in with a slew of unpleasant childhood experiences. Of course, with God, we are able to do the things we don’t feel capable of on our own. His grace can help us make changes in our lives to let go and look up. He can help us move past the hurts & sorrows. He can help us overcome addiction. I am so very grateful for every single message I took away from this beautiful story.
Lane Kelley, is a skillful Interior Designer based out of Chicago. She lives her life with one goal in mind. Success. She will do anything to retain it. That includes sacrificing nights, weekends, vacations, sleep & social life. She has one friend, her loyal assistant Chloe. Her loft apartment is her sanctity. She has the control she craved for so long. However, she is entangled into a corporate world that is so competitive even those within her team after using underhanded means in order to oust her. Lane has had her eye on the Creative Director position, and believes this next pitch will be the one that secures it. The call comes to notify Lane that her brother, Nate, the one member of her family who has been loyal to her, has been seriously injured and is in a coma. Will she drop everything and travel the 3 hours home to Harbor Pointe? A place she so desperately never wants to return to, she hasn’t been home in years. This could not have happened at a worse time.
Ryan Brooks, raised on the wrong side of the tracks and despite the abuse of an alcoholic father and abandoned by his mother, was rescued by Lane’s family as a teenager. Employed by her father to work in the family store in exchange for food and money for Ryan and his sister Hailey, Ryan slowly became a part of the Kelley Family. Escaping to enlist in the Army, he is now home and putting everything he has into a development of 12 vacation cottages. His hope is that by providing more lodging options to tourists he can give back to the town that has given him so much. When the motorcycle accident throws him and his best friend Nate Kelley into hospital, he encounters the one person that he has loved since the moment he first saw her. Never imaging that he would see Lane again, he is taken right back. Back to those years when his sole focus was to ease those little snippets of her personality that made her shine, and that she rarely showed anyone. I loved getting to know these characters. They are so complex, with every raw emotion jumping right out of the pages.
Courtney Walsh writes with such a depth of insight into each and every single one of her main characters. She masters this skill so well. Nothing is hurried. Everything is just right from the scene descriptions to the thoughts going through the characters minds. I love the shore of Lake Michigan, and Harbor Pointe is the perfect sleepy in winter, crazy busy in summer tourist town. The contrast of Chicago, which is a fun energetic city, was perfect. Two sharply differing worlds set against each other, for me there is only one winner – and that would be Harbor Pointe!
Utterly unpredictable, I could not put this book down. This was the best story to complete on Valentine’s Day, and has inspired me to make this day great. To put down the devices, and truly treasure every single moment.
Thank you so much to Tyndale & Netgalley for this complimentary advanced reader copy. Here is my honest review.
This my first book I’ve read by Courtney Walsh, but it will definitely not be my last.
Forced to take time off her job in Chicago because her brother is in a coma, Lane Kelly reluctantly returns home to Harbor Pointe and the insecurities buried there. Apart from the busy life she’s built for herself, Lane must face the sister who betrayed her trust, the family she’s still bitter towards, and Ryan Brooks, one of her few friends growing up. During their time taking care of her brother, Brooks gently questions Lane’s life in Chicago, pointing out the flaws in her view of success and the phone that controls her identity. Through Brooks’ persistence and perspective on life, Lane comes to realize that her identity is not found in her awards and success at work, but in the unconditional love of God. She does not have to constantly strive to be more- being who God created her is enough. Filled with relatable characters and a charming tourist town that I didn’t want to leave, the novel is a touching tale of forgiveness, unconditional love, and the beautiful life God has given us if we just look up.
Just Look Up by Courtney Walsh was an interesting and intriguing story filled with romance, humor, mystery and adventure.
Courtney Walsh is one of my favorite authors. Great characters and dialogue. I love the story line, very realistic.
This a very good book; the age-old story of two people who are total opposites and yet they fall totally in love. Lane is resistant to any thought of change to her successful life, but Brooks is patient, supportive and parsistent just long enough.
This book is not for the sophisticated reader. However, it does make you think about what is important in life!
I thought the book moved a bit slow in the beginning but once I got into it, I loved it.