Can love heal old wounds? Mia Grant, a one-time pop star, still bears emotional scars caused by a stalker who terrorized her for years—a person she inadvertently welcomed into her inner circle. She has come a long way in learning to manage the crippling fear and anxiety his savage attack left her with, and she books into River’s Sigh B & B to begin the grueling task of what she hopes will be … task of what she hopes will be the final step in her recovery. Determined to reclaim her old independence and sense of adventure and possibility, she vows to never let anyone get close enough to fool or injure her again.
The disfiguring scars on Gray Robertson’s body are nothing compared to those marring his damaged heart and psyche. A loner by nature, the brutal murder of his young wife and son made him a hermit. He lives off-grid in the wilderness of northern Canada with only his dog for company, finding isolation far easier to survive than loving people and having them torn away.
When his closest neighbor, Jo at River’s Sigh B & B, ropes him into giving self-defense lessons to some washed up musician, Gray figures it’s a safe way to make a bit of cash to see him through winter.
As Mia and Gray get to know each other, neither are prepared for the tumultuous, conflicting emotions that leave them reeling. In him, a convoluted mix of desire, protectiveness, and misplaced fury. In her, a complex stew of appreciation, longing, and apprehension.
Then a foolish decision puts Mia’s life in peril and forces questions she and Gray are both scared to answer. Can love heal old wounds, or are they too damaged to risk further hurt?
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Every time I read one of this author’s River’s Sigh B & B novels, I want to escape to the this beautiful wilderness place and meet these people who are finding themselves and each other. This one is no exception. Mia Grant is a one-time pop star in hiding, one would think from fans or paparazzi, but hers is more internal than the obvious possible threats.
Gray Robertson has been running from his own ghosts of the past. He has physical injuries to contend with, but those in his mind are more damaging than anything physical he could experience. That’s why he has his own off-the-grid home nestled on a parcel of land connected with River’s Sigh’s acreage.
When a chance meeting between these two broken spirits causes sparks to fly, and not all good ones, it disrupts not only their despairing existences, but they each find something that opens a window to hope. The problem is that neither of them is sure they want to take that first step to healing. It takes a major event to make either of them even consider crossing that bridge. And it might just be too late.
Nothing compares to the sweet mishaps that bring this author’s characters together. It’s never easy from either point of view, and when she turns on the heat and a touch of steam, there is little anyone can do to stop the events that follow. Her characters are loveable in their brokenness and the situations that bring them to their end are occasions that can only happen in this little mountain corner of the author’s world. These stories draw the reader in and help us become a part of this isolated community, leaving us to wish we didn’t have to close the book. Another wonderful romance that brings us home to River’s Sigh. Can’t wait for our next visit.
Ev Bishop’s Reeling blew me away. She depicts such broken characters in a way that makes me not able to lay the book down until I have finished it. The story is not depressing because the characters are always growing, learning to deal with their lives, and growing into love. I really want to book a vacation at River’s Sigh B & B. This amazing place is an important part of the plot. I highly recommend this book – but do not start to read it late unless you do not plan to sleep! Wonderful story, great characters.
I couldn’t put down this heart wrenching but so brilliantly written story! Ev Bishop blew me away totally! So powerful and emotional! Two shattered in their past’s tragedies souls, Mia and Gray, thrown together by fate and making tiny steps of trust and healing in this picturesque setting of wilderness and isolation of River’s Sigh B&B. I really need a vacation there for myself even though it’s a fiction, or is it? There should be a place like this somewhere, right? Sighing..
I absolutely loved this book!
Another wonderful River’s Sigh story!
Reeling is the sixth book in the River’s Sigh B & B series but it also stands alone just fine. The whole series is full of wonderful stories, however, and I highly recommend all of them.
The blurb does an excellent job of describing what the book is all about so I’m going to describe how it made me feel while reading it. Mia and Gray have horrible things in their past and reading about them made me cry for what they’d been through. These things greatly impacted how they interacted with each other and also led to the main conflict that they had to overcome.
Mia was the first to come around and I wanted to shake Gray and tell him to wake up and live instead of hiding away. He had to figure things out on his own though and once he did I cried big fat happy tears for them.
Ev Bishop’s writing brings River’s Sigh to life; it feels like a real place to me, one that I’d love to visit and meet all of the wonderful characters from her stories. For me, Reeling is the best kind of book – one that makes me feel things deeply, cry sad and happy tears, and also laugh a bit – I love Gray’s dog, Wolf!
I hope Ev Bishop continues to write stories in this beautiful world she’s created. One character in particular still needs a book.
***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com***