REVIEW: SOUL OF THE STORM - JEAN M. GRANT

Title: Soul of the Storm
Series: Deerbourne Inn
Author: Jean M. Grant
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc
Release Date: March 20, 2019
Pages: 133

Will love help her summit one last peak?

Charlotte MacGregor lost the thrill of conquering mountains five years ago when her sister disappeared on a hiking adventure without her. Still guilt-ridden, Charlotte heads for a vacation to rustic Vermont with a friend--where she's surrounded by reminders of her devastating loss and plagued with unanswered questions.

Matiu Christiansen is an outdoors buff. He works multiple jobs to save for his dream of owning an outfitter in New Zealand. He's never quite felt at home in the United States and he yearns for his Maori roots, but his attraction to Charlotte puts a kink in his plans to move home later this year.

Thrown together by coincidence, Charlotte and Matiu form a kindred bond through their shared love of the outdoors. Can Charlotte surmount her demons to assist Matiu on a rescue when a late-season snowstorm hits? And can Matiu help Charlotte heal from the pain of the past?

Available at Amazon.

Reviewed by Linda Tonis

Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team

It has been five years since Charlotte MacGregor’s sister Julie went missing in Patagonia, Chile on a mountain climb. Five years that Charlotte has blamed herself for her younger sister’s death because of her husband Sean, who refused to let her join in the trip. Unfortunately, she didn’t follow her heart but her husband’s demand and lost them both, him to cheating and possessiveness and Julie because of a storm.

Now still in mourning and still not allowing herself to really live and be happy, her best friend Veronica has pushed her out of her comfort zone and insisted she accompany her and her husband for a one-week vacation at the Deerbourne Inn in Vermont. Veronica was able to get her to take the trip, but she wasn’t very successful in getting her out of her room. Once loving hiking and the outdoors, now it all brings back bad memories of her lost sister. But, this is a romance so, of course, we must have a handsome man and that man is Matiu Christiansen who comes from New Zealand.

Matiu came to America ten years ago but his heart is still in New Zealand where he hopes to return and open an outfitter company. To fulfill his dream, he works every job possible to save as much money as he can for his new company and to help his cousin Kura who suffers from MS. When Matiu and Charlotte meet, he is determined to get past her reluctance to venture out of the hotel. He gets her to do some kayaking and hiking. For the first time in years she begins to feel alive, but she returns home to her teaching job in Boston in less than a week, so she knows this is a feeling that won’t last.

Matiu has just a short time to win Charlotte over. There is no doubt in his mind she is the one he wants. I know that there are many people who don’t believe that is possible but I was engaged to my husband of fifty eight years after only one month, so it happens. He has to get her to remember the good times she and Julie shared and put the bad memories away. Otherwise, she has no chance of a life, and he has no chance of convincing her to go to New Zealand with him.

A beautiful story that is much more than just a romance, it is a story of fulfilling dreams and starting to live again.