Edgewater Road (Rumors in Ross County Series, Book 1) (Rumors in Ross County, 1) (The Rumors in Ross County, 1)

Edgewater Road 

(Rumors in Ross County Series, Book 1) 

March 1, 2022

by Shelley Shepard Gray  (Author)

The first in a new series from New York Times bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray, Edgewater Road invites us into a world of family mysteries, and small-town secrets.

When Jennifer Smiley's grandmother, Ginny, leaves her an old farmhouse on Edgewater Road in seemingly quiet Ross County, Ohio, Jennifer can't pass up the opportunity for a new beginning. Almost immediately she meets a group of men who generously help her move in. When she realizes that they work for Lincoln Bennett, her next-door neighbor, she's intrigued. Lincoln is gorgeous and has dark, lapis-blue eyes she could get lost in . . . but he doesn't seem all that friendly. She's torn between getting to know him and sticking with the solitude she knows so well. Maybe she could let down some of those walls she's built around her emotions?

Lincoln Bennett likes to keep his head down and get his work done. He's been to prison and he knows that a lot of folks don't take kindly to a man with that kind of history. Plus, he's busy helping other ex-cons get back on their feet. But when he meets Jennifer, he can't help but feel an instant attraction. Will she be able to look past his unsavory history? Will she be able to accept the men he's working so hard to help?

While Jennifer gets to know Lincoln and his friends, she also begins to unravel her grandmother's story, putting together the pieces from scraps of memories and things she finds in her new home. She soon discovers that Ginny Smiley harbored some dark secrets on Edgewater Road -- and that those secrets include both Lincoln and her own absent father. Is learning the truth worth the heartache it could bring?

As the weeks pass and she and Lincoln become closer, Jennifer learns there is a lot to uncover in Ross County -- wonderful friendships, darling towns ... and more than one secret that might be better left buried

My thoughts: Edgewater road is a different sort of Shelly Shepherd Gray book. Yes there is an Amish man in there, and there are cats, but otherwise the people are very chill as my teenage daughters would call them. Ex-cons living next to a single woman whose grandmother was an ex-con sort of. For the more conservative type there are some software words and a lot of beer drinking and there is absolutely no faith message but the Reed was interesting and one was kept sort of guessing although I did guess what the black moment might entail and I was sort of right. If you like romance that is clean with no sexual tension and no faith message then you would probably love Edgewater road and any of the other books that might be following in the series. I was a bit disappointed because maybe I didn't read the description well enough but I was thinking it was Amish and it wasn't except for the loan Amish men. Just may or may not be a book that you enjoy. I recommend it with reservations. I was given a copy free and all opinions on my own.