At Bluebonnet Lake by Amanda Cabot

At Bluebonnet Lake

Playful cover, isn’t it?

Let’s begin with the summary:

Marketing maven Kate Sherwood's world is fast-paced, challenging, and always changing. The last thing she wants to do is slow down to a crawl at Rainbow's End, a dilapidated resort in the Texas Hill Country. But she cannot deny her ailing grandmother's request to visit the place where she and her deceased husband spent one glorious week (albeit fifty years ago). There Kate meets Greg Vange, the resort's handyman. But there's more to Greg than meets the eye--billions more, in fact, as he recently sold his successful software company and is at the resort in search of what's next for his life.

Kate isn't looking for romance, but she can't deny the sparks of attraction that fly every time she and Greg are together. She even starts to see potential in the rundown resort. Could there be a future there? Or will Kate's long-sought promotion take her back to the big city?

Amanda Cabot invites readers to step away from the pressures of the daily grind. They might be surprised by what they find at Rainbow's End.

And now, my review:

Based on the cover, I assumed this novel was a romance. What is it they say about not judging a book by its cover? Well, the back cover might have helped. According to the publisher's barcode box, this is a contemporary fiction title—(still a Christian fiction title.) Some of the endorsements mention romance too.

So, when I began reading it, I expected a bit more of a spark between the leading male and female characters. Instead, I was a bit confused to find a woman calling her grandmother by her first name when in the woman’s POV. Later, this was explained, but at first, it was jarring. Some other aspects were confusing too as I read the opening chapters of this story.

I’ve enjoyed Amanda Cabot’s books in the past, but I couldn’t seem to get into this one. At times I felt the narrative wasn’t matching the heroine’s age. The heroine had to give up her usual connectedness via the internet and cell service, which I could relate to having visited places that were out of network. But I couldn’t sympathize with the heroine or like her very much. And when the hero was introduced, I didn’t find anything distinctive about him, either.

It's possible, had I kept reading, I may have enjoyed the book. I've discovered that without a strong romantic thread/focus/hook, I tend to lose interest rather quickly and move on to the next book in my to-be-read pile. I wish the author and publishing team all the best.

(I was given a free copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.)