Up At Butternut Lake

Sometimes the hardest thing for anyone to do is to move forward in a difficult situation like losing the love of your life when you least expected it. Even well meaning friends and family often times mean well with what they say, but it's still a bitter pill to swallow. Especially when you have a young son to put your best face on for. How do you find the strength to go on? Do you simply walk away from all those memories, your home, your friends? Or do you stay put and hope that one day it will hurt less than the day before?

For Allie Beckett, losing the only man she ever loved to a war on foreign soil seemed to occupy all her thoughts. Everywhere she looked, there were reminders of Gregg. Now she simply needed a break, a way to catch her breath. So she sold her home and moved into the families cabin on Butternut Lake. Was it the smartest decision she could make? For now, it was. Her son, Wyatt, needs to start over as well. He needs to realize that while his dad can't always be there he knows that he is watching over him in all he does from heaven. At first it was just Allie's cabin on the lake, but now she realizes she has a new neighbor, Walker Ford who manages the local boatyard.

Walker is dealing with his own issues with his failed relationship with Caitlin and dealing with his unresolved feelings of guilt and pain. She was the only women that he had wanted to make things work with even if the circumstances surrounding their marriage was left than perfect. But then again, that is what life has to offer. It doesn't come in cardboard boxes all wrapped up neat and pretty, more than likely it is an unexpected surprise in the making. Now he find himself drawn towards Allie as he spends time fishing with her son Wyatt and learning a bit about himself in the process. Something that he had never considered until he met Wyatt. Will they be able to forge a bond that will allow them both to heal from the pain of their pasts?

I received Up At Butternut Lake by Mary McNear compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own. I love the small town feel of the town of Butternut Lake that Mary has so beautifully created. From the warmth from Caroline and the coffee shop she runs while dealing with her own empty nest to Allie's best friend Jax she knew growing up spending her summers at the lake. Now that Jax is happily married, she too must come face to face with her past which may very well jeopardize the happy ever after life that everyone believes she has with her husband Jeremy and their four kids. It seems that everyone in this charming novel finds healing through helping one another realize that sometimes we all need to rely on others to help us move forward on our own. The death of a loved one, deception, a failed marriage, the darker parts of our past - all of these things can threaten the present and overshadow the future unless we can confront them head-on, and this is what each of these characters do in this novel. I easily give this one a 5 out of 5 stars and hope that Mary McNear will chose to add more novels with her characters from this novel in future books!

For more information about Up At Butternut Lake, Mary McNear or where to preorder a copy of this book which is slated for release in April of 2014, please click on the links below:

Up At Butternut Lake by Mary McNear

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To read more reviews on Up At Butternut Lake, please visit William Morrow's website. 

• Series: The Butternut Lake Trilogy (Book 1)
• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (April 8, 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062283146
• ISBN-13: 978-0062283146
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches