When Noah and Josephine discover
their divorce was never actually finalized, their lives are turned upside down.
Following his divorce,
Noah gave up his dream job and settled at a remote horse ranch in the Blue
Ridge Mountains of northern Georgia, putting much-needed distance between
himself and the former love of his life. But then Noah gets a letter from the
IRS claiming he and Josephine are still married. When he confronts Josephine,
they discover that she missed the final step in filing the paperwork and they
are, in fact, still married.
Josephine is no
happier about the news than Noah. Maybe the failed marriage—and botched
divorce—was her fault, but her heart was shattered right alongside his, more
than he would ever believe. The sooner they put this marriage behind them, the
better for both of their sakes.
But when Josephine
delivers the final paperwork to his ranch, the two become stranded in his
cottage during the worst spring snowstorm in a decade. Being trapped with
Josephine is a test of Noah’s endurance. He wrestles with resentment and an
unmistakable pull to his wife—still beautiful, still brave, and still more
intriguing than any woman he’s ever known.
As they find themselves
confronted with each other and their shared past, old wounds surface and
tempers flare. But when they are forced out into the storm, they must rely on
each other in a way they never have before. Josephine finally opens up about
her tragic past, and Noah realizes she’s never been loved unconditionally by
anyone—including him. Will Noah accept the challenge to pursue Josephine’s
heart? And can she finally find the courage to trust Noah?
Sweetbriar Cottage is
Denise Hunter’s most recent stand-alone novel, but definitely isn’t the first
book that I have read by her. Denise has been one of my all-time favorite
authors ever since I read Barefoot Summer
back in 2015, so I buy just about everything she releases, even if I don’t
have a clue what it’s about before I order it. I already know it’s going to be
fantastic because she wrote it, and this book was no exception. Just knowing
that this was going to be a struggle between a man and wife—who were supposedly
divorced—made me sure that this would be an interesting story full of secrets
and truths and the longing of people who quite possibly shouldn’t have gotten
separated in the first place. And believe me, I wasn’t disappointed.
One of the things I really loved about this novel is the way
it went back and forth from present day to the past, whether their shared past
from their meeting and dating days or from their early days of marriage, or
Josephine’s own past that it was so very unfair she had to go through. When it
went back and forth like that, I felt more like I was able to get the full
story, to really understand how their beginning got them to where they had
come, and what her “tragic past” had to do with it. I didn’t feel like an outsider
looking in and trying to figure out what made them the way that they were and
what their marriage was like from the very beginning, instead I got a clear
picture of it and then was able to better understand their present and what
they needed to do to get themselves on a better path than where they were
currently going.
Also, I just couldn’t help loving Noah. Don’t get me wrong, I
loved Josephine too and I really couldn’t stand all that she had been through,
but it was Noah who I loved the most. The way he loved Josephine—really loved
her, even after all they had been through and the way she made it seem she didn’t
love him back—was just the sweetest thing to behold. Through him, I got a
little bit of a picture of something very close to unconditional love, and it
really inspired me and touched my heart. Even though he didn’t know her past or
what made her who she was, he loved her,
and that was enough.
Besides all that, this story definitely had many unexpected
twists and turns that kept me guessing as to what would happen next. It wasn’t
just a run of the mill, they get caught together and argue back and forth until
somehow they forget everything and go back to being in love kind of story. There
were events, circumstances, that changed things, that caused the truth to come
out, and that surprised me at every turn. So, all in all, I really couldn’t
imagine not giving this story all five bookshelves, and a place on my all-time
favorites list. It was just the sweetest, most heartwarming story, that also
held just the perfect amount of the unexpected, all wrapped together with the
truth and reality that sometimes comes in life. I highly recommend this novel,
and basically anything that Denise has written, because she is fantastic.
Happy reading!
To see where I’m linking up, check out my Where I Party
page.
All credit for the italicized synopsis goes to Denise Hunter
and Thomas Nelson Publishing.
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