SIMPLE WISHES

Author: Lisa Dale ISBN: 0446406899 1/2009 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: GRAND CENTRAL

Adele Matin couldn't wait to put her lonely childhood and hometown behind her. Amid the bright lights and hustle and bustle of New York, she built a life for herself-until one terrible mistake brought it crashing down. Now Adele is running again, this time to a cottage she inherited from her mother in rural Pennsylvania. And she's about to realize that a small town has more to offer than she ever dreamed. An artist and woodworker, Jay Westvelt knows a thing or two about living in the country. Adele is intrigued by her mysterious and sexy green-eyed neighbor, a man who took care of her house and soon cares deeply for her. But even as Adele's steely heart begins to soften toward him, dark secrets from her mother's past threaten to send her running once again. Can Jay convince her to stay with him? Only if she can learn an important truth: that happiness begins with Simple Wishes.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Lisa Dale's engaging voice and flawless writing style makes reading SIMPLE WISHES  a dream. This is a tender tale about acceptance and growth, and shows that home is truly where anyone's story begins.

There isn't anything about this novel that I didn't enjoy. Adele returns to her deceased mother's cottage, Grumble Knot, at a time when she feels adrift. While she never dreams she will find true contentment in the place that has haunted her for so long, she finds her perceptions and remembrances are slightly skewed. She meets people who knew her mother, and they welcome her with open hearts and arms. When she enters the cottage for the first time, she meets a young woman who is as angst riddled as she was when she was the same age. There is, too, a hero who comes to Adele's rescue the first morning she is in the cottage. He helps her settle in and it doesn't take long before there are definite sparks flying between this pair.

SIMPLE WISHES reads like an old friend telling a story across the kitchen table. It is sweet, but not overly so, tender without being sappy and so well-written the hours just fly by. In a heartbeat, it seemed, I'd reached the end of this. My own simple wish? That the story could have gone on and on—it was that good.

Kay James