Wildflower Haven: A Review

 Readers who have enjoyed Lin Stepp's other Mountain Home books are likely to enjoy the latest one: Wildflower Haven. The cover depicts the setting nicely: a mountain range in the background and wildflowers in the foreground. Both mountains and native plants are important to the book.

The back cover gives hints of the main characters and the plot:

 

Like previous Mountain Home books, Wildflower Haven is rich in family values, a strong sense of faith, connection to the land, family traditions as well as local traditions, and—of course—romance. The Mountain Home novels also characteristically have a happy ending, but the road to getting there is a bit rocky and sometimes surprising.  

 

Wildflower Haven could be classified as an Appalachian novel, a Christian romance, a women's novel, or a blend of all. But it's an entertaining read however you classify it.

 

When the cats wake up, they will decide who reads Wildflower Haven first.
 

The novel—set in Cosby, a small town in the Smoky Mountains—gets its name from Wildflower Haven, a nursery and garden store that's been in the same family since it was established in 1889. Valerie Merton and her sister Senna help their grandparents and great-grandfather run the family business. 

Both sisters are college graduates who chose to return to their roots. At college, each was involved with a man, but Senna divorced her husband who wanted her to return to Ireland with him, and she and her daughter returned home. Valerie rejected her college suitor when he wanted her to move far way with him. But both women have found their niche back home—Valerie tends the herbs and gives lectures on plant use and care, and Senna tends the beehives. Senna's former high school sweetheart, Emmett, lives nearby and is still in love with her, but she isn't interested in rekindling their relationship. When Valerie encounters Patrick, a handsome college professor who just bought the house next door, she isn't attracted to him—at first. However, in both cases, love finds a way, but the way has many twists, turns, and complications. 

 

There are some other complications, too.  Plants and shrubs are being stolen from neighboring greenhouses and garden centers, and the Mertons worry that theirs will be hit. The son of neighbors—who also have a nursery business in the area—returns home after years of being away and returns to his former obsession with Senna, who can't stand him. Plus Senna has a secret that only a few know. . . .  Of course, there's a lot more to the plot.

The setting is important, and Stepp uses plenty of description so readers feel as if they're almost there. For instance, hiking is a major activity in the book, so the trails are described in depth and let the reader see the wonders of the Smokies. When Patrick lets Valerie know he enjoys hiking, she invites him to show him some area trails. Of course, they discover many of their common interest as they hike.  

 

Typically, Stepp includes a map of where her characters live. Here's part of the map that shows where the nursery is. . .

. . . and the part that shows where the Mertons' house is and where Patrick's house is.

 

Wildflower Haven will be available on Amazon in paperback on March 7, 2026, and is currently available for pre-order from Amazon. It will be available for Kindle soon.

 

Looks like Charlotte is going to read Wildflower Haven first.

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Red Mill Bookstore Review

The Red Mill Bookstore is the latest in Lin Stepp's Smoky Mountain series. I've enjoyed  other books in this series—Happy Valley, Downsizing, Eight at the Lake, Seeking Ayita, and Shop on the Corner—and I also enjoyed this one. 

Some of the resident cats were interested in the book:

Grover: Look Otis! I heard there's a black and white cat in this book.
Otis: Grover, I don't think it's about you, though.

Grover is right—there is a black and white cat. Plus an orange cat and a calico.

Chloe: Did you hear that, Rufus? There are cats that look like us!
Rufus: I'll take a look after I finish my nap.

 

Like some of Stepp's other Smoky Mountain novels, The Red Mill Bookstore features a main character who is faced with a problem and who either finds her way to a new home or else finds her way back to her home or hometown. 

Ella Quinn is left adrift when her boss and good friend dies, and the Boston bookstore where Ella works must close. Ella had hoped to eventually own the bookstore, but now her dream can't come true. To make matters, Ella's father calls from England with news that her grandmother in Townsend Tennessee broke her arm and needs someone to help her. He's already arranged for Ella's plane ticket and will cover her expenses—but she has to leave Monday and it's already Friday. Ella goes to her condo and starts packing. While her two best friends visit, her boyfriend shows up and is surprised that Ella isn't dressed for the symphony. She tries to explain that she forgot and that she has to leave soon to help her grandmother and she'll be gone about six weeks, but her boyfriend is angry that she's leaving—after he spent $100 each for the tickets that will now go to waste. Ella's friend Cora, still dressed up for work, offers to go with him so the tickets will be used.

When Ella arrives in Tennessee, a childhood friend—Jesse Helton, whom she hasn't seen in fourteen years—is waiting at the airport to drive her to Townsend. While Jesse works in his family's business, Helton Repairs, he also sometimes works for Ella's father, Hershel Quinn, who owns the Red Mill. So, Jesse and Ella will be seeing a lot of each other while she's in town. 

Ella soon reconnects with family and neighbors and is a great help to her grandmother. Ella soon loves the town, the mill and the activities surrounding it, her family, neighbors, and—eventually—a certain young man. But her dream was to own a bookstore, and—eventually—this dream comes true. To find out how, you need to read the book.

One of the things I liked about The Red Mill Bookstore is the map that Stepp includes:

In The Red Mill Bookstore, setting is important. Stepp includes many of the local attractions—for instance, hiking trails and festivals. Townsend is a real town in Tennessee and some of its festivals, such as the Hot Air Balloon Festival mentioned in the book really do happen. 

The Red Mill Bookstore is rich in family and community values, a sense of commitment, and the importance of faith. While the story has several themes, probably the two most important  are that you can go home again and that dreams can come true. 

Rufus: We are a family, too!

Orville: Of course Rufus, We're brothers!

Chloe: Well, I'm not kin to you two, but we do share a bed.

The cats agree with me that The Red Mill Bookstore is a good read. 

Skippy: Nothing like reading a good book before you take a nap!

Rufus: There's nothing like curling up with a good book!

The book debuts on April 1, but you can pre-order from Amazon.

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Seeking Ayita Review

 Seeking Ayita is author Lin Stepp's latest book in her Mountain Home series. I've blogged about the three others in this stand-alone series: Happy Valley, Downsizing, and Eight at the Lake.

Like the others in the series, Seeking Ayita is strong on family values and a sense of place—and it involves a woman returning to her roots and finding herself. 

The novel begins when Yoni—a full-blooded Cherokee married to a Welshman and living in Hawaii—is dying from complications following a stroke, she makes her daughter Annalise promise to to take her ashes for burial in Cherokee, NC,  and also for Annalise to stay a few months and reconnect with her grandmother and her heritage. (Annaliese's middle name is Ayita, a Cherokee name.) Annalise, a widow with a young daughter, doesn't want to go. She's visited Cherokee a few times when she was younger, but Hawaii is her home. Plus she thinks her father will need her after he returns from his visit Wales. But she made a promise. . . . 

From the back of the book:

Of course, there are complications and obstacles to be overcome as well as decisions to be made. And therein lies an interesting tale. (FYI—I was so caught up in the story that I finished the book in two days.)

Like Stepp does in her other Mountain Home books, she includes a map in Seeking Ayita  and has her main characters visit places and hike the trails in the area. Having the map added to my enjoyment of the book.

I particularly enjoyed the book's themes—besides the strong sense of place and the importance of family, there was a lot of emphasis on the importance of heritage, particularly Cherokee heritage. I learned a lot about Cherokee customs from reading Seeking Ayita.

Seeking Ayita would be a good selection for a book club to study and discuss, and Stepp includes a study guide.

I thoroughly enjoyed Seeking Ayita, and I think the cats—who keep me company while I read it—enjoyed it too.

CHARLOTTE: I liked that there was a cat named Stella in the book.

ARLO: I liked that Stella didn't want to be petted by strangers.

OTIS: I got scared when Stella went missing.

RUFUS: I was happy when Stella got rescued.

OTIS: I was too, Rufus! It was a purrfect rescue—and a good book.

If you're seeking a good read with interesting characters, some twists and turns, and a satisfying resolution, you'll likely enjoy Seeking Ayita.

Seeking Ayita will release on April 1, 2023, but it's available to pre-order from Amazon now: https://www.amazon.com/Seeking-Ayita-Lin-Stepp/dp/B0BTRYN721/      

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Eight at the Lake: A Book Review

. . . with a little help from the cats:

GROVER: Wake up, Rufus! You have to help Mommy review a book!

RUFUS: Can't I sleep a little longer, Grover?
GROVER: No! Here's the book. Now get busy reading it!

When my husband saw me reading Lin Stepp's latest novel, he thought the cover picture was Smith Mountain Lake, which is only a couple of miles from us. But it wasn't. Eight at the Lake, Stepp's latest Mountain Home novel, takes place in Dandridge, Tennessee—which is a real place. 

As she does in her other Mountain Home or Smoky Mountain novels, Stepp provides a map—a feature I find useful. Since her novels have a strong sense of place, it's nice to see where important locations are.

In Eight at the Lake, the two main characters—Samantha King and Ford McDaniel—are both in their late 30s, both have challenging careers, and both have known loss. And they're both attracted to each other, though they resist the attraction. The book's back cover introduces them and the complications in their lives:  

Like many of Stepp's novels, Eight at the Lake conveys a strong sense of family. Ford—with help from his parents and his housekeeper Juanita—raises his own four childen as well as Samantha's late sister's four children. Samantha, in town for the summer while she recuperates from serious injuries she received while covering Hurricane Andrew the previous October, wants to get to know her nieces and nephews better before she returns to her job in the fall. 

RUFUS: From what Mommy wrote about it so far, it sounds interesting.

When Ford's housekeeper won't let Samantha see her nieces and nephews, Samantha charges into Ford's office to protest. Eventually she is allowed to see the children if she follows Ford's rules, and all eight really like her. When the housekeeper has to take time off to attend to her mother's health problems, Samantha steps in to take care of the kids. With her experiece as a former camp counselor and her current job as a meteorologist, Samatha knows how to keep kids active and involved. Before long, the kids really like her and don't ant her to leave. Ford himself becomes attracted to her her, but he resists getting involved. Samantha is also attracted to him, but she'll be leaving in the fall and there's no way a long distance relationship could work. . . .

If you're a fan of small town fiction that features a strong sense of family, connections to the land, and two interesting and complex main characters, you'll enjoy Eight at the Lake.

RUFUS: I didn't think I'd like a book with a veterinarian in it,
but this veterinarian was really nice. It was a good book!

I've reviewed several of Lin Stepp's Smoky Mountain novels on this blog, and Eight at the Lake has now become my favorite. I really like Samantha—a strong, complex, and take-charge woman who is her own person, who enjoys her job, and who doesn't let setbacks get her down. Eight at the Lake will release April 1, but it can be preordered from Amazon.

OTIS: Dibs on reading this book next! Orville, you'll have to wait.

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Downsizing: A Mountain Home Novel

 Lin Stepp's latest Smoky Mountain novel, Downsizing, will be officially released on April 1, 2020, but is available now for pre-order from Amazon. I received my advance reader copy this week and spent a day and part of a night reading it—it's a compelling story, and I couldn't put it down until I finished.

Orville: "I'm glad you put it down. I want to rest on it."

Downsizing has several qualities I enjoy in a novel—a strong sense of place, a connection to the land, an appreciation of nature, family connections, interesting characters who are able to overcome their problems, inspirational passages, and a happy ending.

One of the things I like about Lin Stepp's novels is her inclusion of a map. It's helpful to see who lives where in this region of the Smoky Mountains, how they get from one place to another, and what trails they like to hike.

Another thing I particularly liked about Downsizing is that the main character is middle-aged. Mary Pat Latham, a 54-year-old mother of four grown children and wife of a cardiologist, lives in a big colonial home in a fashionable section of Knoxville and has an active social life. She appears to have it all— until her husband Russell unexpectedly comes home at lunchtime one day and announces he's getting a divorce, and he's already arranged for their home to soon be sold but he'll provide for her. They've grown apart, he tells her, plus she's gotten fat. Stunned, she escapes to her parents' former cottage near Gatlinburg which she and her family have used as a vacation getaway through the years.

In the small house where she grew up, Mary Pat finds herself—but it takes a while. Her childhood sweetheart Owen, retired from a military career, lives not far away, and he is the one who finds her crying her first day there. Former friends and neighbors soon welcome her back. After she's moved out of her Knoxville home, she explores the community and reconnects with her two best friends from high school. Though not yet sure what she'll do or where she'll go, Mary Pat decides to stay for a while until she can make some decisions. 

One decision she makes is to lose weight. After she overhears some teenage girls making fun of her fatness after she'd eaten a burger and piece of pie in a diner, she leaves in tears. On the way home, she sees a weight control center and stops in. She decides to take control of her weight. She also starts taking control of her life.

Orville:"Reading that part about food made me hungry."

I won't give away any more of the plot, but adventures abound in Downsizing: a wild bear in the kitchen, several weddings and one funeral, plus a couple of surprises—particularly where love is concerned.

Orville: "I worked so hard reading this book that I'm ready for a cat-nap."

With themes of coping with change, starting over, finding yourself, and opening yourself for new opportunities, Downsizing would be a good choice for a book club. Stepp handily includes a book club guide with discussion questions. On her website, she also includes a pdf. of the weight-loss book that Mary Pat used. 

More info about Downsizing is available on this page of Lin Stepp's website: https://linstepp.com/2020/12/31/downsizing-a-mountain-home-book/

Orville: "Zzzzzzzzzzz."

Orville and I really enjoyed this book.

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Happy Valley Review

If you're looking of something uplifting to read while you're sheltering in place, I'd like to recommend Lin Stepp's latest novel, Happy Valley. Claudine couldn't wait to get her paws on it.

You'd expect a book with the title Happy Valley to have a happy ending, and it does. This isn't a spoiler alert—fans of Lin Stepp's novels know they usually end happily—at least for some of the characters, but there are trials and tribulations along the way. In  Happy Valley, there are also mysteries and misunderstandings.

Walker Logan, who has spent two years travelling across America, happens upon the town of Happy Valley in the Smokies,  is intrigued by an old rock house on a mountainside, and decides to buy it. Meanwhile, fiber artist and quilt-maker Juliette Hollander has temporarily left her job in North Carolina to return to Happy Valley and visit her grandparents on the family farm. One day, Juliette goes to a nearby abandoned place to pick some apples for her grandmother. When Juliette venutures a bit too far out on a limb, she falls—and lands on Walker, who is inspecting his new property. Although they feel an attraction to each other, Juliette returns to her life in North Carolina and Walker sets about making his property livable.

During the followig year, Walker not only restores the rock house but also buys an abandoned store and sets about renovating it. Some townfolks are curious about where this stranger came from and where he got so much money; some think trying to open a general store will be a disaster. But Walker doesn't reveal much about himself or his past—only that he's been traveling the country.

He opens his store about the time that Juliette returns to visit her grandparents again. Before long, she is working for Walker and selling some of her quilts at the store. This doesn't set well with a local boy, Dade Claiborne, who grew up near Julieete and always figured she would marry him. Juliette has no interesst in Dade despite his persistence, but she does find herself becoming increasingly attracted to the mysterious Walker. But she's only staying in Happy Valley temporarily, and she knows next to nothing about him. . . .

Several things happen during the next few months, but I'd be revealing too much if I recounted them. Suffice to say there are some complications, some conflicts both within Juliet's family and without, some misunderstandings, and some mysterious happenings that prevent Happy Valley from being as happy as it should be.

Because I live by choice in a rural area with mountains in the distance, I enjoy stories set in rural areas and in the mountains, and I enjoy settings that ship and develop character. Happy Valley does that. The inclusion of a map brings the setting home to the reader.

Stepp does a commendable job of capturing small town life. Her characters are believable, interesting and well-developed. If you're looking for a  novel with a strong sense of family and community, Happy Valley will lift your spirits in these troubled times.

TANNER: "I couldn't wait to get my paws on this either!"

NOTE: I received an advance reader copy of Happy Valley, which will be released in early April, but is available for pre-order from Amazon now.

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Lost Inheritance

TANNER: "My favorite character was the cat Sugar Lips."

Recently I received an advance reader copy of Lin Stepp's latest Smoky Mountain novel, Lost Inheritance. Published by Mountain Hill Press, the book will be available on April 3, but can be pre-ordered from Amazon now.

I've had the pleasure of reading several of Stepp's other Smoky Mountain novels, and I've posted reviews of Daddy's Girl,  Welcome Back, and Saving Laurel Springs on this blog. The new novel is as enjoyable as the others for many of the same reasons. Like the others, Lost Inheritance has a strong sense of place, and Stepp's detailed descriptions add to the reader's experience. The main characters are interesting and complex, and the plot has a few unexpected twists.

The back cover gives a good summary without telling you too much:

Lost Inheritance deals with themes of loss and redemption. Loss affects several characters. Not only has twenty-five-year-old Emily Lamont lost the inheritance that was promised to her, she has lost her job in the Philadelphia art gallery she expected to own. She has lost the god-parents who raised her as their own after she lost her parents in a car crash when she was ten. But she has inherited a small gallery in Gatlinburg, so that's where she goes.

Though it's been years, Cooper Garrison hasn't come to terms with the loss of his father from a heart attack or his older brother from a motorcycle accident. He's also resentful that his mother lost the opportunity to own the Creekside Gallery she's managed for years. While he's attracted to Emily, he doesn't want to get too involved.

Cooper's mother, Mamie Garrison, doesn't mind that she didn't inherit the art gallery and she real likes Emily. While Mamie's come to terms with the loss of her husband and son, she still misses not knowing who her real parents are and why her birth mother gave her to an orphanage.

ARLO: "Tanner, are you ready to share that book yet?"
TANNER: "No, I want to re-read the parts about Sugar  Lips. I like that cat's attitude."

The story eventually has a happy ending, but there are surprises and complications along the way. I won't give them away here—discovering them is part of the appeal of this book. I enjoyed the inclusion of dogs in the story—especially Emily's standard poodle Mercedes.

CHLOE: So, Tanner, how did you like the book?"
TANNER: "It was pretty good. But the cat should have helped Emily instead of that dog."
ARLO: "Shut up, Tanner! You're giving away too much!"

While Lost Inheritance is primarily a romance, it also has a couple of mysteries. One involves a traveling exhibition at the Creekside Gallery. When Emily notices someting odd about a picture in the Norman Rockwell exhibition, she starts asking questions. But if I told you what resulted, I'd be giving away too much. Ditto for the mystery of Mamie's parents.

If you like romance and mystery, the Smoky Mountains, and an interesting story, you'll enjoy Lost Inheritance.

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