The Rest Is Just Gravy
Return To Edisto by Lin Stepp is a delightful, heart-warming contemporary Christian novel. It is the second book in the Edisto Trilogy but can be read as a stand-alone.
The reader immediately feels at home with the characters in the novel. We can sense the chemistry between the two lead characters and there is a wonderful feeling of community. Edisto is the place where everyone knows your name, and love and care are the order of the day. Your private business is in the public domain but it is a small price to pay in exchange for the community spirit.
“The island is a good place for healing.” Edisto, with its small town charm, spreads a blanket of love and compassion over the hurting.
Sometimes life pulls us away from God. “You might be mad at Him right now… but it’s you that’s distanced yourself from Him.” We sometimes transfer our feelings about others onto God. “Don’t be assigning blame to God for things He didn’t do.” God’s character is love. He will never hurt or reject us. He is with us in the good and the bad times, we just need to seek Him. “It’s never too late to come back to God.” No matter where we’ve been, no matter what we’ve done, we will never be out of reach of the Father’s arms.
Church is important. We need to find a church where our relationship with God can grow. We need a warm and welcoming church that is Christ centred.
We make our plans but life intervenes. The best plan is to seek God and His will for our lives. “I count myself fortunate I … didn’t get what I thought I wanted.” God doesn’t always give us what we want. He gives us what we need.
I love my ‘visits’ to Edisto. Lin Stepp paints the landscape in such a way that I can ‘see’ my way throughout the novel – from the walk along the seashore to the seaside cottages – there is a vivid picture in my mind. I cannot wait for the final book in this wonderful trilogy.
I received this book for free. A favourable review was not required and all views expressed are my own.
JULIA WILSON
Welcome to the Blog Tour & Giveaway for Happy Valley & Return to Edisto by Lin Stepp, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
ABOUT THE BOOKS
Title: Happy
Valley
Author: Lin Stepp
Publisher: Mountain Hill Press
Release Date: April 2, 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Escape to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee in this sweet tale of two young people who meet by chance, their paths soon overlapping and intertwining amid a cast of warm-hearted characters in the small rural community of Happy Valley.
With Grandpa suffering a heart attack, Juliette Hollander saw little choice but to head back to their Tennessee mountain farm in Happy Valley to help out. She didn’t expect, or want, to leave behind her life and work in North Carolina to return to her grandparents’ home so soon. Nor did she imagine meeting, and working with, the mysterious man she met briefly last summer and never thought to see again.
Walker Logan spent the last two years traveling the United States, seeing the beauty of the country and running from his past. But an old rock house he sees while hiking near Abrams Creek Campground unexpectedly calls to his soul. With danger close behind, he never stayed in one place long enough to put down roots. Yet now, with a new vision, he decides to take the risk.
PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Title: Return
to Edisto
Series: The Edisto Trilogy #2
Author: Lin Stepp
Publisher: Mountain Hill Press
Release Date: April 2, 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Return to Edisto Island in the rich, Lowcountry story of a young woman’s difficult decision to run from threat and danger, changing the course of her well-ordered life and, in turn, the life of the young man who loved and lost her.
It was a long trip back to Edisto Island, South Carolina, and the beach house that shaped so much of Mary Helen Avery’s early life. Now her mind flashed between anger and hurt over the difficult situation she’d left behind at the job she loved. Was she doing the right thing to leave? Should she have stayed to fight? She hoped at the quiet, beloved island she knew so well, she’d find the answers she needed and peace from all this turmoil.
J.T.’s heart took a familiar lurch when he saw the car with New Jersey plates parked at the Avery’s beach house. Even after ten years, the memory of Mary Helen Avery still tormented him. Finding her on the porch weeping lit old fires he thought long dead. Was he a fool to hope for something more between them with all their problems of the past? Probably so, but if she stayed long enough, he’d find one more chance to try.
PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lin Stepp is a native Tennessean, businesswoman and educator. A New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon best-selling international author, Lin has eighteen published books, including her twelve beloved Smoky Mountain novels, all set in different Tennessee and North Carolina locations, her newest Mountain Home book, a novella in one of Kensington’s Christmas anthologies, and two novels in her new Edisto Trilogy, set on the South Carolina coast. Lin and her husband J.L. also write regional guidebooks, including a Smoky Mountain hiking guide and a Tennessee state parks book.
Stepp’s latest 2020 releases are Happy Valley, set in a quiet rural valley near the Smoky Mountains, and Return to Edisto, set at Edisto Beach, South Carolina. Lin’s previous title Claire At Edisto was the 2019 Best Books Award Winner in Fiction: Romance, sponsored by American Book Fest, her novel Welcome Back a finalist in the 2017 Selah Awards, and Lin and her husband’s guidebook Discovering Tennessee State Parks a 2019 American Book Fest Best Books Award Finalist in Nonfiction: Travel Guides and Essays.
Lin enjoys speaking for events, festivals, libraries, and book clubs, reading, hiking, exploring out of doors, and keeping up with her readers on Facebook, Twitter, and through her monthly blog and newsletter which you will find on her website at: www.linstepp.com
CONNECT WITH LIN: Website | Facebook | Twitter
TOUR GIVEAWAY
(1) winner will receive a print copy of Happy Valley & Return to Edisto, matching bookmarks, and a $25 Amazon gift card!
Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule shown below. Giveaway will begin at midnight March 23, 2020 and last through 11:59 PM EST on March 30, 2020. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US mailing addresses only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
Thank you so much!
The books sound great.
Sounds like an incredible reads.
Thanks for sharing your thoughtful review!