From the publisher:
Can one summer house bring two broken hearts together?
Summer escapes to Lilac House have always been a source of comfort for Anna Harris. Though things will never be the same since her husband’s death, she knows that it is there, nestled in Lake Summers in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains, that she and her children Zac and Evie can begin to build a new life.
The house is just as beautiful as Anna remembers, and caught up in the rhythm of small town life, helping her Aunt Hope run the little shop on Main Street, Anna begins to feel a sense of herself she hasn’t felt in years. Then she meets Aidan. Handsome, strong and quiet, he also knows what it’s like to lose someone. In each other they recognise something they’ve both been missing and they feel a spark.
But Aidan’s past holds a different set of complications. He’s hiding a secret about why he came to Lake Summers. And just as the Lilac House finally starts to feel like home, Anna learns something devastating about Greg’s death that makes her question everything…
The summer might have brought Anna and Aidan together, but can Anna finally let go of the past now she really has the chance for a new beginning?
A beautiful story about moving on and finding yourself, The Lilac House will restore your faith in love and teach you that it’s never too late the find the person who will change your life. For fans of Carolyn Brown, Jenny Hale and Mary Alice Monroe.
Josselsohn (The Lily Garden) starts the Lake Summers series in a small summer resort town in New York’s Adirondack Mountains that holds special memories for recently widowed Anna Harris and her family. The whole family is grieving, but there are so many special memories in the Lilac House, where they summered every year of their marriage.
Anna’s Aunt Hope has opened a ballet school and store in town, so Anna gets to spend some time with her only relative. Her kids start camp, and she starts helping out in the store, which doesn’t seem to be doing all that well. The town has hired a business consultant, Aidan, and he is happy to help; Aidan is a widower, so he also knows grief, but there is more to his story. Aidan and Anna enjoy spending time together, but they are both apprehensive about getting too involved because of their situations; Anna isn’t sure she’s staying, and Aidan has a mysterious, troubling past.
More women’s fiction than romance; this is a sweet, small-town story that deals with some serious issues but is ultimately uplifting. Sure to please fans of Jodi Picoult or Carolyn Brown, and anyone who once enjoyed ballet lessons.
NOTE: This book is being reissued by Grand Central Publishing on Dec. 14, 2021. https://amzn.to/30ChITj
10/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
THE LILAC HOUSE by Barbara Josselsohn. Bookouture (March 10, 2020). ISBN: 978-1838881580. 280 pages.
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