Book Review: "Larkspur Cove" by Lisa Wingate

Summary from BN.com: Adventure is the last thing on Andrea Henderson's mind when she moves to Moses Lake. After surviving the worst year of her life, she's struggling to build a new life for herself and her son as a social worker. Perhaps in doing a job that makes a difference, she can find some sense of purpose and solace in her shattered faith.

For new Moses Lake game warden Mart McClendon, finding a sense of purpose in life isn't an issue. He took the job to get out of southwest Texas and the constant reminders of a tragedy for which he can't forgive himself.

But when a little girl is seen with the town recluse, Mart and Andrea are drawn together in the search for her identity. The little girl offers them both a new chance at redemption and hope—and may bring them closer than either ever planned.

When going to a lake house, one usually goes there to find peace, tranquility and quietness. It's not usually supposed to bring adventure or unrest. That, unfortunately, is what happens to Andrea as she and her son have moved to Moses Lake and find themselves wrapped up in all sorts of events that they didn't see coming.

I really enjoyed the chemistry between Mart and Andrea. They start off on the wrong foot, have wrong first impressions about each other, but then circumstances force them to work together and then eventually fall for each other. Even though they have their differences, their concern over the welfare of the little girl at Len's outweighs everything else. The story alternates between Andrea's and Mart's points of view. It's nice to see the two different views of certain events as well as knowing exactly how each feels about each other and not having just to guess.

In other books that I have read, representatives from Child Protective Services often come off as the bad guys. In this book, they are portrayed as people who honestly care about children and their well being. While I understand that it might not always be the case, it was at least nice to see them being extremely helpful in the story. Len's situation as an unexpected guardian is quite sad and the circumstances that bring him to this new position are not the best one can wish for. Unfortunately, there are many children in this country that suffer from condition that Birdie faced and it's sad that not all of them will have the same ending that she did.

Even though faith is not about heavily in the story, refinding faith and keeping it is a strong part of the story. Past events in Andrea's life have caused her to lose her faith and her trust in God. The same happened with Mart. The two are therefore connected even though they don't realize it at first. These are two very realistic situations that can cause even the strongest of believers to question their faith and felt that Wingate handled them very well.

Overall, this is a wonderful book from Wingate. I've read her Daily, TX series and this is a nice departure from the humor that was in that series. The book handles a serious topic about the welfare of a child but mixes in some light romance and a parent/child relationship as well. I haven't read her other books published by NAL Accent yet but if they're anything like this one, I better get a move on it.

Larkspur Cove by Lisa Wingate is published by Bethany House (2011)

This review copy was provided for a blog tour with the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance