SOMEBODY TO LOVE by Sharon Sala

As soon as the name Butterman is mentioned, as all Sharon Sala fans will surely do, I smiled. It's going to be another tale of life in Blessings with new and old friends. Delightful for sure. SOMEBODY TO LOVE is the story about the Knox family. On the surface a loving family with a devoted mother and four siblings. But a hurtful secret created a huge chasm. One that never has had the opportunity to heal. And unless the truth behind that family secret is aired, it doesn't look as if much healing will be done. No matter what the sibling relationship was or has become there is still an overall fear of their secret being exposed. We know the life-altering effect it had on the oldest Hunt, his mother, and youngest sister Birdie. But the mother took the secret to her grave. Hunt and Birdie look at their siblings with disdain.

Hunt left Blessings right after high school. His goal was college, but someone stole that dream from Hunt. Someone in his family. After years in the military Hunt uses his helicopter training to ferry oil rig workers, never returning home. But for all these years Hunt had kept in touch with his mother. His siblings were unaware of this and even more unprepared for the fact that as executor of her will Hunt had a job to do.

Family rifts are tough. People get hurt, anger seems to simmer, and forgiveness is impossible. Now back in Blessings, Hunt has a chance to see his hometown as a grown man. Many changes. Some good. But the Knox family has been living with a lie burning a hole through any semblance of a good life. Hunt can fix up the family home, and get it ready for sale as he promised his mother. But can Hunt fix his family? Not sure if he wanted to do that. Time will tell.

SOMEBODY TO LOVE is about coming to grips with family, life, and love. Even when there are no expectations, folks still unconsciously told onto hope. Such is the case with Hunt and Ava, longtime family friends. Nothing wrong with holding onto a dream, and sometimes it is time to walk away from a nightmare. In Blessings, the townspeople believe in goodness. That doesn't make them blind to evil or bad intentions. In the end, Sharon Sala reminds us to keep faith that goodness will prevail. and

SOMEBODY TO LOVE is a reminder of that faith, sometimes gentle and at times less so. Sharon Sala is a truly gifted writer, and her heart shows through in every she writes. SOMEBODY TO LOVE is a gracious addition to the stories based on the town of Blessings. I have been reading and reviewing for a long time now and remember when Sharon Sala wrote under the pen name of Dinah McCall. And that's how long I've been a fan.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Sharon Sala continues the bestselling Blessings, Georgia series.

Not only did a family member steal the money Hunt Knox had saved for college, three of his siblings and his father hid the truth and told him to get over it. Betrayed by their lies and thievery, eighteen-year-old Hunt joined the army and wound up flying Apache helicopters during the war in Iraq. Fifteen years later, he's a chopper pilot for an oil company in Houston, Texas. His father has been dead for six years, and he still hasn't been home, but he returns to Blessings at his mother's dying request.

Ava Ridley, the little girl his mother used to babysit, has grown up and is now a nurse at his mother's bedside when he arrives. Ava is overjoyed to see him. She had a childhood crush on Hunt, which turned to love as she got older, but he never knew because to him she was just a kid.

After his mother passes, Hunt's determined to grant her dying wish and remodel the old family home to sell. He never expected to fall in love, but he does. Then, just as it appears he and Ava are headed for a happy ever after, she becomes a victim of violence at the hospital ER in Blessings, and suffers an injury that stops her heart. Hunt performs CPR until the doctor arrives with a defibrillator to restart her heart. After that, it's hours and hours of wait and see, to find out if she will fully recover.

In all this, Hunt finally learns the truth about the secret that tore his family apart. Ava heals, Hunt and his siblings repair their relationship, and Hunt and Ava leave to begin a new life together in Houston.