FINDING YOU

In this debut romance, the rebuilding of a devastated town may bring a long-sundered couple back together.

When huge portions of the town of Harrow Springs, Mississippi, are destroyed by a tornado, the call goes out for large-scale community involvement in order to assist with the daunting task of reconstruction. One such plea is delivered to this tale’s main character, Sara, by her friend Jamie. Jamie hopes Sara’s impressive organizational skills will help coordinate the various volunteer teams. Jamie’s own gift is for enthusiasm, so she convinces Sara to return to Harrow Springs even though the town is a source of painful memories. Sara was in love with a handsome man named Walt eight years ago and left town when he appeared to feel nothing for her in return. “Surely he’s married and has moved away by now,” she muses. “Surely he won’t even remember me. Just because I fell hard for him doesn’t mean he felt anything for me.” Unbeknown to Sara, Walt is also returning to help rebuild Harrow Springs. Soon, the two meet again, and each one’s fierce recollections of how things went between them often clash. “We’re a long way from that now,” Walt tells Sara at one point. “I’m sure you forgot all about that summer and that last meeting by now”—a moment that should cause readers to smile, since by then it’s become abundantly clear that she has thought about their fractured relationship every day since she left town. Eight long years and many questions separate them, and both are wary. But as Towery’s smoothly conceived and warmly written chapters unfold, longtime readers of romance fiction will have their hopes raised that these two will find a way to be together again. The author’s lightly overlaid element of Christianity will likewise reassure readers who enjoy such a facet in their romance novels. In addition, her handling of secondary characters is easily enjoyable enough to compensate for the essential lack of dramatic tension at the heart of her book.

An engaging and uplifting tale in which two estranged friends wonder if they can fall in love again.