Sweetwater Gap

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.