I can't say enough about Mary McNear's debut novel UP AT
BUTTERNUT
LAKE. This is an emotional and heartwarming tale that is
sure to appeal to
many many readers. It's got that small town feel with
awesome and very
real characters and a little romance thrown in. UP AT
BUTTERNUT LAKE is the perfect comfort read!
Grab a cup of coffee, snag your favorite blanket, and get on
the couch with
this book! UP AT BUTTERNUT LAKE is the first in The
Butternut Lake
Trilogy, with the second one, Butternut Summer, out
later this summer and I
can't wait to read it!
Allie's husband, Gregg, was killed in Afghanistan a few
years ago and she
and her five year old son Wyatt are still trying to deal
with the grief of it all.
Allie decides to move them up to Butternut Lake where her
family owns a
cabin and where she spent many happy summers growing up.
Maybe this
will be a place of healing and starting over for her and
Wyatt. She hasn't
been there for years and Gregg was never there so maybe it
won't hurt so
much for them like their current house does. Everywhere she
looks and
everywhere she goes, she sees Gregg.
The town of Butternut Lake takes in Allie and Wyatt like
they have known
them all their lives. There's Caroline who runs the local
diner and is
struggling with missing her daughter since she left home for
college. It's
always been the two of them and she is having a hard time
dealing with her
empty nest. Needless to say she welcomes Allie and Wyatt
with open
arms. Then there is Allie's friend Jax who she has missed
terribly and is
exactly what Allie and Wyatt need. Jax has her own family
now with kids of
her own but they accept Allie and Wyatt into their family in
no time. Last but
not least, there is the hot and gorgeous Walker who owns a
boatyard who
is taken with Allie's beauty from the very first glimpse he
has of her.
As the months go on, Allie can't help her attraction to
Walker and Wyatt
really likes him. He also lives across the lake from her and
she finds herself
staring for hours on end at his cabin and wondering about
Walker. Yet Allie
feels guilty for being attracted to him and even for
thinking of maybe having
a relationship with a man. In order for Allie to move
forward she has to face
her past and finally say goodbye to her husband. The
question is can she
do that and does she even want to? Walker tries to be
patient with her, but
Allie can't get past the guilt and asks Walker for some
time. Now things are
going to get very interesting as well as frustrating for
them both.
I can see UP AT BUTTERNUT LAKE being chosen for a book club
read as
it deals with many different emotions and problems . There
is heartache,
grieving, loneliness, lies, but also forgiveness, healing,
and letting go. Mary
McNear does a great job of Allie going through the healing
process and you
feel like you are right there with her, feeling her guilt
and her self doubt. UP
AT BUTTERNUT LAKE is the perfect way to spend a day getting
lost in a
book. Once you start, you want be able to keep yourself from
flipping
through the pages. I was hooked from the very first page.
Mary grabbed
my heart strings and never let them go until the very last
page.
In the tradition of Kristin Hannah and Susan Wiggs, Mary
McNear introduces readers to the town of Butternut Lake and
to the unforgettable people who call it home.
It's summer, and after ten years away, Allie Beckett has
returned to her family's cabin beside tranquil Butternut
Lake, where as a teenager she spent so many carefree days.
She's promised her five-year-old son, Wyatt, they will be
happy there. She's promised herself this is the place to
begin again after her husband's death in Afghanistan. The
cabin holds so many wonderful memories, but from the moment
she crosses its threshold Allie is seized with doubts. Has
she done the right thing uprooting her little boy from the
only home he's ever known?
Allie and her son are embraced by the townsfolk, and her
reunions with old acquaintances—her friend Jax, now a young
mother of three with one more on the way, and Caroline, the
owner of the local coffee shop—are joyous ones. And then
there are newcomers like Walker Ford, who mostly keeps to
himself—until he takes a shine to Wyatt . . . and to Allie.
Everyone knows that moving forward is never easy, and as the
long, lazy days of summer take hold, Allie must learn to
unlock the hidden longings of her heart, and to accept that
in order to face the future she must also confront—and
understand—what has come before.
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