“ … a tender story of healing and finding a place to belong. This sweet, Southern romance doesn’t disappoint.” – Liz Talley Robin Lancaster, a twenty-six-year-old former kindergarten teacher, has her summer and her life all figured out. She’s ready to be on her own, writing and illustrating her children’s stories at her family’s beloved lake house. Once there, she intends to rekindle a romance … with Caleb Jackson, the area’s top hunting and fishing guide, and bag him for herself.Complications arise from the start when Robin finds out her mother has rented the lake house to a man they know nothing about. Matthew McLaughlin, forty-year-old widowed university professor and author from California, shows up at Pine Lake in crisis. A sabbatical might be his only hope to save much more than his career. He needs a place of refuge. Sharing the lake house with a lighthearted young woman and her dog is the last thing on his mind. Caleb Jackson has his own plans. He’s used to things going his way, but a man staying in Robin’s house presents unforeseen challenges. When paths unavoidably entangle for these three, hearts are on the line.
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I will reread this book, that’s how good it is. It was more believable than most books in the genre. This author is gifted.
Professor has an accident and struggles with his faith. Takes a subadical(sp), at a lake. Learns to live again and finds his faith. Great story! Thank you!
Wonderful characters & story. Loved it!
While the plot is very predictable, I thought it was a great book for anyone trying to overcome loss.
Another new author for me! I enjoyed this first read, and will look for others.
Oh I love it when a story takes place in the south! I really enjoyed the welcoming community of Pine Haven, Georgia.
Refuge at Pine Lake is a tender and emotive story dealing with loss, healing, friendship, and second chances. I’m in #booklove at the moment, so please forgive me as I gush…
Robin, Caleb, and Matthew make a perfect love triangle. The two men are vastly different, yet I understood Robin’s pull toward both of them (in the beginning, anyway.) Her passions, desires, and struggles felt authentic, and I never once had the urge to shake sense into her. Ha.
The main and secondary characters’ outside relationships and individual battles gave the story so much depth. I connected to Robin with ease, I was leery of Caleb (though I didn’t have a concrete reason) and I sympathized and rooted for Matt. (Gush. Me thinks me has a crush.) I wanted to hug him and encourage him on his sabbatical of healing. With Robin and Matt having similar interests and passions, their friendship had a solid, believable foundation to build from.
The two things that I enjoyed most about this story were the pacing and the heart (no pun intended.) The story took its time—not in a dragging-out-so-I-wanted-to-skip-pages kind of way, but more like a savory simmer that kept me enticed, and then completely sated in the end. The pacing in this story made me so happy, because oftentimes authors move this kind of relationship too quickly. The slow-boil romance here was perfect.
I can’t wait to visit this endearing Pine Haven community again and to soak in the soothing peace it provides. I love when I close a book with a sigh.
Sigh…
Source: I received a complimentary copy of this book as part of SLB Tours. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
#RefugeAtPineLake #PineHaven #SouthernFiction
Delicious prose wrapped this reader from the first pages. I was drawn to Robin (and not just because of her name!) because she’s an artist and a writer, and because she has an overbearing mother. While I admire her tenacity, I wanted to throttle her for her obstinate attraction to the wrong guy!
Though not for the same reasons, I felt Matthew’s crushed spirit, his lack of motivation. And though I’ve not been there, I understood his resentment at his friend’s intervention.
The setting was vivid, the telling captivating, and I felt as though I was right in the scenes, a silent witness to the secrets and twists in this story.
Ms. Johnson peeled back this story, bit by bit and layer at a time, as both Robin and Matt worked through their issues, and faced the future—and grappled with their growing attraction to each other—and kept this reader turning page after page.
ROBIN’S FEATHERS
ALL | THE | FEATHERS!
I received a complimentary copy of this book, but was under no obligation to read the book or to post a review. I offer my review of my own free will. The opinions expressed in my review are my honest thoughts and reaction to this book.
#Blogwords, Tuesday Reviews-Day, #TRD, Book Review, Refuge at Pine Lake, Rose Chandler Johnson, Singing Librarian Books Tours
I had a hard time with “Refuge at Pine Lake”. The premise looked promising; alas, this was not the book for me.
Robin came across as self-centered and immature. I actually thought she was in high school until a passing comment alerted me that she was a recent college graduate.
Her mom appeared in the beginning, but quickly disappeared, waved off the scene as Robin “exerted her independence” and insisted on staying at the lake, even with a new tenant.
The plot also felt weak to me. I didn’t feel a compelling urge toward or likability of the characters to keep reading about how they passed their days at the lake.
I received a copy of the book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.
I really enjoyed Refuge at Pine Lake. It is a clean contemporary romance. I was quickly drawn into the story and wanted to keep reading. I loved the main characters. This is the first book I’ve read by author Rose Chandler Johnson and I will be looking for more of her sweet books!