Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Low Country Hero by Lee Tobin McClain - #review


Mass Market Paperback: 384 Pages

Publisher: HQN; Original edition (February 26, 2019)

Welcome to Safe Haven, where love—and a second chance—is just around the corner…

Sunny, carefree days splashing in the ocean—it’s the life Anna George has always wanted for her five-year-old twins. And now that they’ve made it to Safe Haven, South Carolina, she won’t let anyone stand in her way. Not the abusive ex she’s just escaped and not the rugged contractor who caught her setting up house in the shuttered beachfront cabins he’s refurbishing. When he offers Anna and her daughters a place to stay in exchange for her help with renovations, she’s tempted. His gentle way with her girls makes her want to trust him, but she’s been wrong before…

A family is the last thing contractor and former military man Sean O’Dwyer wants right now. But when he discovers Anna and her girls, he recognizes kindred spirits. They’re survivors who’ve seen the worst of people, just like he has, and he’ll do anything he can to help them. As he and Anna spend their days bringing the cottages back to life and their nights sharing kisses in the warm bayou breezes, Sean must choose between the life he always wanted and the family he can’t live without.


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MY REVIEW

I've read a number of books set in South Carolina, that I almost feel at home there.  Unfortunately, the O'Dwyer boys (Sean, Cash and Liam) had quite a different experience with the town of Safe Haven.  When they were quite young (only Sean was over 10 at the time), they and their mother fled to Safe Haven away from a horribly abusive husband and father.  He found them, didn't give a crap about his sons, but dragged the mother off and after assaulting her, left her for dead on the side of the road.  So the boys grew up in foster care.

Flash forward to the present day, and it seems like history is repeating itself.  Anna George is hiding out with her two young daughters, holing up in a seemingly abandoned motel.  I say seemingly because Sean happens to be fixing up the place, because the owner wants to reopen the motel for business.

It seems like the majority of Safe Haven's citizens have a somewhat similar story to tell.  Maybe that is why they seem more accepting of strangers (with little background info) and if something affects one resident, it affects them all.  Of course, no small town is complete without a few 'regular commuters of the crazy train', but the other residents seem to have a way of co-ordinating counteraction on the fly, so things rarely get truly out of hand.

The unfortunate flip side of most of the residents having had trouble in some sort in their pasts makes it hard for them to trust.  It is gratifying to see how Safe Haven helps the mending of lives begin.

There is a lot of tension building with various characters during the book, and the not-to-be-missed ending had my heart in my throat. 

One thing I truly appreciated about Low Country Hero, is Ms. McClain's ability to pair a satisfying ending to one character's part of the story while also indicating that there are still other peoples' paths to be explored. 

And I want an invite to one of Ma's Friday night dinners!

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MEET THE AUTHOR



Lee Tobin McClain read Gone With The Wind in the third grade and has been an incurable romantic ever since. When she’s not writing emotional love stories with happy endings, she’s probably driving around a carload of snarky teen girls, playing with her rescue dog and cat, or teaching aspiring writers in Seton Hill University’s MFA program. She is probably not cleaning her house.

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(Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher(s) via TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest review.)

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