Sweetwater Gap
by Denise Hunter
Josie receives a call from her brother in-law Nate, who wants Josie to come and help out with the family orchard as Josies’ sister Laurel is pregnant. Josie struggles with this decision – knowing her fears from her past. Josie quits her job and lets her apartment go and heads for the orchard.
Arriving home, she finds that her sister is pregnant with twins, not one baby, but two!
Josie also finds herself face-to-face with the orchard manager Grady – who is not happy with the prospect of having to work with her at all.
Josie wants to prove herself to Grady and works very hard trying to keep up with him and the other workers. But, the family notices some things about Josie – lack of energy, then vomiting and the family and Grady assumes she is pregnant. However, Josie is trying to hide the illness – not wanting the family to know and especially Laurel who is having some complications with her pregnancy.
Between her illness and past fears, Josie had many obstacles to face. In the end, Grady is there to offer a helping hand and more.
This was a wonderful read. I found it hard to put down. The characters were very well developed. I found myself getting irritated with Miss. Josie at times. It was easy to fall into the character.
Loved the tension and struggles between Josie and Grady throughout the book. And Grady, was he a man to love or what! He became so patient and caring.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone.
Reviewed by Lori Noe
lorisbookden.blogspot.com/
editor December 30, 2008
Title: SWEETWATER GAP
Author: Denise Hunter
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
December 2008
ISBN: 9781595542595
Genre: Inspirational/romance
Josie Mitchell fled from the memories of her hometown years earlier. Rejected by her father, and feeling guilty over the death of their farm manager’s son, Josie left home at eighteen and never returned. Not even for her father’s funeral. But now, her sister Laurel is about to deliver twins, and Laurel’s husband, Nate, thinks Josie should go home, carry her weight on the farm, and spare Laurel the work. Plus, he hopes Josie will be able to talk Laurel into listing the orchard for sale.
Grady Mackenzie isn’t too thrilled with the arrangements. The last thing he needs is a troublesome woman showing up, telling him how to do his job, and then running back to the city. And Josie is everything he fears. Trouble. But Josie doesn’t try to tell Grady how to do his job, and she helps the migrant workers pick apples—except they are picking circles around her. Is she out of shape, or is it something more? And what will it take to bring Josie home for good?
I was looking forward to reading SWEETWATER GAP so was glad when I received a copy in the mail to review. The book was everything I imagined. I could almost smell the scent of the apples and taste the crispness as I read this book. Grady is a wonderfully delicious hero, the stuff of dreams. Josie had a lot of baggage to work through, but one couldn’t help but cheer for her, relate to her, and even want to throttle her.
The faith message really wasn’t as strong as I would have liked. That was resolved entirely too quickly and really didn’t have the resolution I would have liked. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and every moment spent reading it. Make sure you pick up your own copy of SWEETWATER GAP, and a bag of apples to enjoy with it. Discussion questions are included at the end of the book. $14.99. 320 pages.
Reviewed bu Laura V. Hilton
Janna Ryan December 30, 2008
This was a great book – I really enjoyed it and will be reviewing it in January on my blog!