The Innkeeper's Sister

Starred review from June 1, 2017

Mysteries dating back 150 years are finally sorted out in this conclusion to Goodnight's "Honey Ridge" trilogy (after The Rain Sparrow and The Memory House). Valery Carter drinks too much because of secrets she's kept since she was a teenager. She helps her sister, Julia, run the Peach Orchard Inn in Honey Ridge, TN, out of guilt as much as affection. Grayson Blake is back in town with his brother to renovate the old mill into another restaurant in their portfolio of upscale eateries. Gray first met Valery when they were both kids--she was the cool girl, he was the nerd--and he never forgot her. The discovery of bones during the mill's excavation brings up painful history surrounding the Portland family, the original owners of Peach Orchard Farm, and their legacy of slavery and brutality, presented in chapters set in 1875. With edge-of-your-seat suspense, Goodnight's deliciously intricate series draws to a close through the story of Valery and Grayson. Many truths are slowly revealed as love overtakes regret, then and now. VERDICT Fans of romance, women's fiction, and historical novels will be swept away.--Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal

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