DEEP RIVER PROMISE

Astrid and Damon find lasting love and family in the second of Ashenden's Alaska Homecoming series.

Caleb West was the owner of the self-proclaimed "middle of nowhere" village of Deep River, Alaska. Dead in a plane crash, he willed the town to his three Army buddies, Silas, Zeke, and Damon. But to Damon Fitzgerald, he also sent a very special letter, asking his friend to look after Connor, the teenage son he'd fathered at 17 and abandoned. Connor's mother, Astrid James, had found sanctuary in Deep River five years ago after fleeing an abusive relationship. With nowhere to go, she'd reached out to Caleb, who gave her and Connor a place to live in the small, eccentric town, where she has thrived. Astrid became the town mayor. She's also its librarian; she started the hot yoga class; she's putting together a food cooperative so that vegetables don't have to be airlifted to the Alaska wilderness. And she's working on tourism ideas so that villagers won't sell their land to oil companies, which have located petroleum underneath the town. But there’s one thing she hasn't done in five years: She hasn't felt like a woman. Damon, an Alaska bush pilot and the handsomest man she's ever seen, was on his way home to Los Angeles to look after his sick mother. Instead, loyal to a fault, he comes to Deep River to keep his promise to his friend. Damon had also had a child at 17, but his daughter, Ella, died of cancer and her mother left him, and now he likes to live life on the surface: no emotions, no commitments, and absolutely no serious relationships with women. He sees Astrid as a Snow Queen. But in fact it's Damon who melts. Both wounded and hurting in different ways, the couple discover that love conquers pain, and putting down roots in a community trumps living an uninvolved life.

A few mentions of snow-peaked mountains aside, this heartfelt journey—with sex—could transfer anywhere.