The Power of Secrets

Secrets can destroy relationships and lives. Sophie Caldwell has returned to Hickory Ridge. Growing up as an outcast orphan, she longed for acceptance. Now she's the owner of the newspaper, but will the town accept her. The mystery of her family, who and what she is still haunts her.

Ethan Heyward, an architect, has built the lovely resort of Blue Smoke above the town of Hickory Ridge. Ethan is successful and seems to have it all, but he carries a secret that eats into his soul.

Ethan and Sophie are immediately attracted to each other, but their secrets are like a wall keeping them apart, each afraid to allow the other into their hidden pain. As Sophie struggles to make the newspaper successful. Ethan struggles with his relationship with his irascible employer wondering whether he should stay in Hickory Ridge now that the resort is complete.

This is the final book of the Hickory Ridge Trilogy, however, it can easily be read as a stand alone novel. The author does a good job of introducing characters from the two previous novels without long descriptions of what happened before. The setting is delightful presenting a picture of a lavish resort and it's effect on a small town in the late 1800s. The characters are well drawn. Sophie's and Ethan's struggles with their pasts are realistic and the desire to know their secrets draws you into the book.

I highly recommend this book for readers of historical fiction with a Christian background.

I reviewed this book for the Thomas Nelson Booksneeze Program.