Deborah Raney's Forever After ~ Reviewed

Forever After: A Hanover Falls Novel

Deborah Raney

Paperback: 416 pages

Publisher: Howard Books; Original edition (June 14, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1416599932

Description:

A fire killed his best friend and his lifelong dream of being a firefighter. The same fire killed her husband and hopes for a family. Can new dreams replace old?

Lucas Vermontez was a proud firefighter like his father. Now, not only has he lost his father and his best friend, Zach, in the fire at the Grove Street homeless shelter, but the devoted rookie can no longer do the work he loves after being crippled in the tragic event. When friendship with his buddy’s beautiful widow turns into more, he wonders, what could he possibly offer Jenna? Jenna Morgan is trying to grieve her husband’s death like a proper widow, but the truth is, she never really loved Zach. His death feels more like a relief to her. But that relief is short-lived when she loses her home and the financial support of her in-laws. Now the secrets of her past threaten to destroy her future.

Can the two forget the painful past and discover new reasons to live and love?

Review:

I have always enjoyed Deborah Raney's books for their depth, authenticity and heartfelt message and her latest Hanover Falls novel, Forever After, has all those things in spades! Lucas and Jenna's love story is one of the most genuine and realistic I have read in a long time. Attraction, wariness, fear, excitement and conflict mark their interactions as they experience the ups and downs of love, discovering each others' strengths and weaknesses and making choices to stay the course. Jenna's meaningful but increasingly difficult relationship with her former in-laws and Luc's widowed mother's interest in another man provide great insight into families who have lost loved ones. Forever After is a rich and captivating story about overcoming grief and rediscovering love ~ don't miss it on what it has to offer.

Reviewed by: Rel Mollet