Lake Season by Denise Hunter
Series: Bluebell Inn #1
Published by Thomas Nelson on November 12, 2019
Source: the publisher
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A lost letter, a new love, and old secrets beckon this summer at the Bluebell Inn.

When their parents die in a tragic accident, Molly Bennett and her siblings pull together to fulfill their parents’ dream: turning their historic Bluebell, North Carolina home back into an inn. The situation would just be temporary—three years at the most—then they would sell the inn and Molly could get back to chasing her own dreams.

Adam Bradford (aka bestselling author Nathanial Grey) is a reclusive novelist with a bad case of writer’s block. Desperate for inspiration as his deadline approaches, he travels to the setting of his next book, a North Carolina lake town. There he immediately meets his muse, a young innkeeper who fancies herself in love with his alter ego.

Molly and Adam strike up an instant friendship. When Molly finds a long-lost letter in the walls of her inn she embarks on a mission with Adam to find the star-crossed lovers and bring them the closure they deserve. But Adam has secrets of his own. Past and present collide as truths are revealed, and Molly and Adam will have to decide if love is worth trusting.

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review:

Lake Season by Denise Hunter is so good! When I found out that Ms. Hunter would be setting her newest series in North Carolina, I knew I needed to read it. I connected with the story right away and, honestly, it got better and better the further I read. I loved the ending.

Adam has come to Bluebell, NC to find the perfect setting for his newest novel. He writes under a pseudonym (Nathanial Grey) and has been wildly successful in his writing career. Nobody knows his true identity, including one of his biggest fans, who happens to be Innkeeper at the Bluebell Inn. Adam came to Bluebell Inn to book a room for an extended stay during the summer so he could do research and work on his next manuscript. When he and Molly strike up conversation, and then become good friends, he knows that he really needs to tell her his true identity. Especially since Molly is such a big fan of Nathanial Grey’s books.

The way that Adam and Molly become closer is so sweet and great to read. There are also other things at play in their relationship, including a mystery involving a long lost letter, some interference by Adam’s agent, and lingering fear from events that happened to both Adam and Molly in their individual pasts. I loved watching these two working to solve the mystery around the letter while working through their past hurts, but it was sometimes a little bit torturous to watch them wrestle with their complicated feelings. My own emotions related to this story intensified as I got closer to the end. I love the way Ms. Hunter weaved the present-day storyline in with the one from the past, and I love that these two stories had some common themes. There were a couple of twists thrown in that I didn’t see coming, and I was overjoyed at the way everything worked out. One scene near the end of the story was quite emotional and made my eyes sting with tears.

This is a strong start to the Bluebell Inn series, and I am impatient for the release of the next book. It seems to me that the next book will focus on Molly’s brother, and I’m excited to know more about him in (hopefully) this same Inn setting.

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