Touching Stars by Emilie Richards

Touching Stars is book 4 in Richards Shenandoah Album series.  (A delightful series!)  Gayle Fortman is a single mom teenage boys.  Her ex is a hot shot journalist seen all over the world reporting the latest crisis or scandal or other big news item.  They bought an inn together when the boys were you, but Eric quickly realized he was not meant to stay in one place... and so he left.  He has been in and out of his boys lives over the years, never really taking time to get to know them. Now he is recovering from a near-death experience in Afghanistan and he needs a place to rest.  Gayle opens her home, the Daughters of the Stars Bed-n-Breakfast to Eric hoping that while he is there he and the boys will make peace and connect.   What she doesn't expect are all the emotions that will resurface with Eric there.  The anger.. hurt.. love.. from days gone by.  Gayle finally realizes what everyone else has known, that she needs to step back in time and deal with her divorce and the feelings that have been pushed down all these years. Then and only then can she move forward with her life and love.

Lover's Knot by Emilie Richards

My reading time has been very limited the past month of so. I seem to either be running here and there or just too tired to read. Hopefully that will change in 2010!

I recently read the 3rd book in Emilie Richards' Shenandoah Album Series. A friend told me about these books. We are both quilters and the titles are quilt pattern names, plus a quilt or quilting plays into the storyline a bit.

I really enjoyed Lover's Knot. It was different than the earlier books in several ways, one being that portions of the book jump back in history to tell the story of someone who migrated to the Toms Brook area. It was easy to compare the character from the past, Leah, with the current day character, Kendra, whose husband is Leah's grandson. Both women suffered losses in their lives. Both had plans that were drastically changed by a sudden tragic event. Both persevered and became stronger as a result.

Kendra needs a break. She needs to get away from the city.... from her life... from her husband, Isaac. She chooses to spend time in an old cabin in the Shenandoah Valley that her husband inherited from his grandmother. Isaac was adopted as a child and knew nothing of his biological family and really wants nothing to do with them. Kendra, on the other hand, is drawn to the cabin in the woods and to the woman who lived there. She senses a story that needs telling.

The discovery of 2 skeletons in a cave... an odd quilt with mysterious names embroidered on it... and the cabin bring change to both Kendra and Isaac's lives. Change that is exhilarating at times and painful at others, but in the end ... change that is needed.. required.

A beautiful story of seeking the truth and finding that no matter what you find, it really does set you free. A story of learning what is really important in life. Of reconnecting.... renewal....reconciliation...revival.