I have heard someone say, you can never outrun your problems and that is true. No matter how far you run, one day you will have to face them. The problem with running is that it only delays them but never makes them disappear as much as we would like. That is true for both of the main characters we meet in The Red Door Inn, by Liz Johnson. This is the first novel in the Prince Edward Island Dreams Series, and one I thoroughly enjoyed from cover to cover. Marie Carrington is running all right, the only problem is that she has run out of money before she gets to where she wanted to go. Prince Edward Island. Not to mention that she is hungry and with only a handful of dollars, she is about to come to the end of her journey. Jack Sloane can see it in her eyes even though she won't admit it, that she needs help. If his wife Rose was still alive, she would have seen it sooner. He just hopes he is able to convince her to let him. When Jack poses questions about colors on an Inn he is restoring, she seems to have all the right answers. So he offers her a job working with him and his grandson in restoring an old Inn into a Bed and Breakfast.
Jack's offer is perfect! A way to arrive at her dream location, and have a place to stay and earn some money doing what she loves the most. Feeling that Jack is just finding excuses to help her out of her dire situation however, she relents if only to get to the island. She can always leave anytime she is ready. Without it, she doesn't know what she will do. The last thing she expects is to be under the scrutiny of Jack's grandson, Seth, who believes that Marie is only after her grandfather's money. Like every good book, one can not be too quick to judge it only by the cover, but Seth knows what that feels like. He trusted his finacè until she convinced him to set up a joint bank account before they were married. Merely a technicality she called it and one less thing to worry about doing after they were married. But it soon robbed him of more than his financial with holdings, it stole his business right out from under him and convinced him that people aren't who they say they are. Trust is now a huge issue for him and he doesn't need Marie helping them to get the Inn open anyway.
It will take more than simply all of them working together to fulfill Jack's dream of opening this Inn as he promised Rose, it will take learning how to trust, how to be honest, and how to learn to love again despite the odds facing them all. It will teach them all a lesson in what family truly means and it may not just be the one you were born into that makes a difference. Sometimes it is difficulties that draw us to one another, other times, it is the desire to help when people simply want to keep walls around themselves to prevent people from hurting them anymore. Like any great restoration project, sometimes you have to tear things down to discover the beauty that lies beneath.
I received The Red Door Inn by Liz Johnson compliments of Revell Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation, aside from a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and personal evaluation. I love the entire premise behind this novel, a beautiful secluded island where you can't run from your problems, and that small town feel that comes with getting to know the people who live there. From the delicious breakfast treats baked by Caden that makes you crave anything Liz describes in her novel, to the charming antiques that are sold by Aretha Franklin, not the singer! This is the perfect novel for those looking for a virtual vacation into something truly wonderful! I inhaled this one in hours while sick in bed and for a time, it made my life something sweeter than it was at the moment. It took me to another place in time and when an author can do that, it's a winner in my mind. This one truly deserves 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion.
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enjoyed the review
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