BOOK REVIEW: Leaving Liberty by Virginia Carmichael

SYNOPSIS

At eighteen, Daisy McConnell left Liberty, Colorado and never looked back. The only bright spot in a childhood of neglect and loneliness was the town librarian, Marie. Now settled as a teacher in sunny Fresno, Daisy does her best to forget everything about Liberty including her drunk father, her MIA mother, and the town she hated with every beat of her heart.

Lane Bennett’s life as a small town cop is pretty close to perfect. He’s got his dog, a pretty date when he needs one, and plenty of time to fish on the weekends. No other place can compare to his hometown and he’s happy to devote his life to keeping the folks of Liberty safe. When Marie passes away, Lane knows one of the best parts about living in Liberty is gone, along with the old Carnegie library. It needs repairs the city can’t afford and the city managers won’t pay the new flood insurance. It’s too bad, but safety comes first.

When Daisy comes home for Marie’s funeral and hears the only safe place she knew as a child is going to close, she refuses to let it happen. She hatches a plan to save the old library, run the summer reading program, and keep Marie’s legacy alive.

She once vowed never to come home and he’s vowed never to leave. Daisy and Lane discover together that true love happens when you least expect it and you should never say never in Liberty.

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REVIEW

I was born at a wide spot in the road in Pennsylvania (ok - they called it a town).  I spent most of the first ten years of my life in a small town in Maryland.  Then my family moved to Salt Lake City.  I had a child, got married (yes, in that order) and we moved to DFW. Eight years, and two children later, we all moved to rural Kentucky (near my husband's father's family).  This was, for me, the best move of my life.  So, I understand Daisy's desire to leave a small town, even though I'm on the opposite side of that fence.

Maybe it's because I'm older and a parent now, but I LOVE a good, clean romance, and Leaving Liberty provides that wonderfully.  I almost feel like a mother (or older female relative) to Daisy or Lane, delighted at seeing them getting to know each other and wanting to give them an affectionate shove once in a while to get past the awkward moments in a growing relationship.

And the other major story component (keeping the library going) is going to get a hearty thumbs up from me.  People in small towns have the same basic needs as do people in the largest cities.  We just don't have the same tax base, which leads to things like not being able to pay the flood insurance on the library.

I don't know if there are plans for a continuation of Daisy and Lane's story together, but I would love to read one!

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

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Virginia was born near the Rocky Mountains and although she has traveled around the world, the wilds of Colorado run in her veins. A big fan of the wide open sky and all four seasons, she believes in embracing the small moments of everyday life. A home schooling mom of six young children who rarely wear shoes, those moments usually involve a lot of noise, a lot of mess, or a whole bunch of warm cookies. Virginia holds degrees in Linguistics and Religious Studies from the University of Oregon. She lives with her habanero-eating husband, Crusberto, who is her polar opposite in all things except faith. They’ve learned to speak in short-hand code and look forward to the day they can actually finish a sentence. In the meantime, Virginia thanks God for the laughter and abundance of hugs that fill her day as she plots her next book.

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(Disclosure:  I received an ecopy of "Leaving Liberty" from the author and publisher via Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.)