Amanda Cabot brings a lovely romantic tale with great life lessons in her second installment of the Texas Crossroads series, “In Firefly Valley.”
Marisa St. George has returned home to Dupree, Texas, to work as the business manager at the Rainbow’s End resort. She has a bigger problem than giving up her big city dreams though. Marisa has still not learned how to get past the anger and resentment toward her father. You see, Eric St. George was an alcoholic (“the town drunk”) who missed out on much of Marisa’s childhood, and then abandoned her and her mother eight years ago. They don’t even know if Eric is still alive. And for that, Marisa cannot forgive him.
Blake Kendall, who is secretly a bestselling author, comes to Rainbow’s End to escape his writer’s block and move past the issues of anger and disappointment from his life.
As the two quickly fall in love, and several trying circumstances come into their lives, Marisa especially must learn that she is feeling bitter and angry at both her earthly father, Eric, and her heavenly father, and that she must rely on God to get past it.
“In Firefly Valley” deals with deep emotions and topics like betrayal, abandonment, anger, trust, forgiveness, and having false hope versus believing that God can work a miracle in every situation.
Cabot portrays her characters as very real and very flawed. It’s incredible how long Marisa holds on to her anger toward both her father and Blake, but if we’re all honest, wouldn’t we be exactly the same? We all like to hold a grudge for as long as possible.
Readers will also fall in love with other characters, like her mother, Carmen, cook extraordinaire; Greg and Kate, owners of Rainbow’s End; and Marisa’s best friend, Lauren, who is a widow and mom to 7-year-old feisty, mismatched-sock-wearing Fiona.
“In Firefly Valley” does an excellent job of making us think about the hold anger and betrayal can have in our lives and reminds us of that old expression: “Let go, and let God.”
Even though this is the second book, you can definitely read it as a standalone. I look forward to reading the story of Gillian, Kate’s pianist friend who suffers a crushing accident, in the next installment out Spring 2016.
Five stars out of five.
Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, provided this complimentary copy for my honest, unbiased review.
“In Firefly Valley” (Texas Crossroads series, #2) by Amanda Cabot