Summer of Joy by Ann H. Gabhart

I absolutely love this cover. It perfectly tells me the time period this book is written in. I even love the faded colors that made it appear older.  It's very eye-catching and appealing.  Nice work on that!

Summer of Joy is a novel that is an easy read, but to me, it did have some suspense.  It wasn't the scary type of suspense, but it was waiting for people to be revealed and resolved. The book is not fast-moving, but is evenly paced and draws the reader in.

As you can probably guess by the cover, the story is set in the 1960s. Hollyhill, Kentucky seems like a quaint place to live.  It's a town that knows everyone and takes care of their own.  They watch out for each other.  No one could help but love Leigh.  David is such a sweet man with an imperfect family that is easy for the reader to relate to.  He has to not only overcome many things in his life in order to marry Leigh, but Leigh has to let her guard down and realize that it is possible that someone loves her and wants to be with her.  Despite their age difference, they must figure out how to make a relationship work and look beyond themselves.

Every time I read a book by Ann Gabhart, I am continually amazed at her broad range of writing.  She has written in so many different genres that it's amazing to watch her excel in each one that she writes.  I have missed the first books in this series, so I'll be going back to read them now.

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I received this book free from Revell Publishers in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.