AUTHOR: Laura V. Hilton & Cindy Loven
DATE: November 2014
PUBLISHER: Abingdon Press
STARS: *****
Sara doesn’t think she wants love. But her grandmother has other plans.
Sara Jane Morgan is trying to balance teaching with caring for her ailing, stubborn grandmother. When school lets out for the summer, the plans are for Grandma to teach Sara Jane to quilt as they finish up the Appalachian Ballad quilt Grandma started as a teenager. But things don’t always go as planned.
Andrew Stevenson is hiding from his past—and his future. He works as a handyman to pay the bills, but his heart is as an artisan, designing homemade brooms. When Sara Jane’s grandmother hires him to renovate her home, sparks fly between Drew and his new employer’s granddaughter.
Still, it doesn’t take Sara Jane long to see Drew isn’t what he seems. Questions arise, and she starts researching him online. What she discovers could change her life—and her heart—forever.
I love this story. I have to admit, characters burdened by insecurities are easy for me to identify with, and Sara Jane and Drew Stevenson both carry feelings of self-doubt. The tentative relationship between these two as well as their individual relationships with Sara Jane’s grandmother, Sari, swept me into their world of disappointments and longings.
The author’s skill at realistic dialogue and sweet romance shines in this story, and I didn’t want it to end. Her ability to weave the heartache of dementia, tragic losses, and troubled relationships into a tale full of sweetness and hope amazes me. Swept Away easily earns five stars.