AUTHOR: Sally Bayless
DATE: 2016
PUBLISHER: Kimberlin Belle Publishing
STARS: ****
A caterer who’s been burned by love. An artist who’s withdrawn from the world. A property battle that just might heal them both.
When struggling caterer Tess Palmer inherits her great-aunt’s home at Sunset Lake, Missouri, she thinks she’s found the way to save her business. Selling the property can provide just the infusion of capital she needs to pay off her debts and move to a larger commercial kitchen.
Wildlife painter Jack Hamlin, who lives across Sunset Lake, wants the area kept exactly as it is—a place where waterfowl can thrive and where he can find peace and solitude to ease his troubled heart. Although he’s drawn to Tess’s honesty and beauty, he’s appalled to learn she would welcome a deal with a developer, and he vows to stop her.
As Tess discovers the reasons why Jack is so passionate about protecting the lake, she finds him more and more attractive, and she takes a tentative step past her own emotional pain. But there seems to be no solution to the impasse over the property. As a sale becomes imminent, can Jack and Tess overcome the obstacles to trust and love, and finally find their hearts’ desire?
Love at Sunset Lake drew me in, first with the setting—who wouldn’t love to live beside a quiet lake? Then the characters, finely drawn and deeply layered, invited me to enter their lives. Tess’s business is in trouble, and she’s focussed on saving it, no matter what. At first.
Jack will do anything to save his precious lake from development, and his cousin is more than willing to help him. Oh dear. That’s all I can say without giving too much away.
I thoroughly enjoyed Love at Sunset Lake and award it four stars. Recommended. Disclaimer: I received this book through a BookBub ad, with no expectation of review. All opinions are my own.