Happy Release Day!
Congratulations Grace
on the release today of
Emerald Heart!
Emerald Heart: An Emerald Isle, NC Single Title Novel by Grace Greene
Women's Fiction, 328 pages
Published December 5, 2023 by Kersey Creek Books
Welcome to The Emerald Heart Hotel – The sign on the big gate is faded, and the gate is usually locked because the hotel closed two years ago when Mignon King lost her husband. His death, on top of the loss of their daughter many years before, has Mignon mired in grief. But it’s more than grief that has her trapped. Before she can move on, she must decide what to do with the hotel she and her husband owned and managed for more than two decades. She lives there alone with her dog, Galahad, though even Mignon would hardly call it living. She wants to be happy again, to find a new way forward, but she’s stuck.
Her longtime friend, Dominick, a real estate agent, wants her to sell the hotel property. Old hotel aside, the acreage alone in the town of Emerald Isle and fronting on Bogue Sound, is valuable and will bring many offers, but that’s also part of the problem. Mignon loves the Emerald Heart property and feels responsible for it and wants to protect her husband’s memory. What might new owners do with the property? What might they destroy?
On a strange day in early September, a man shows up unexpectedly on her dock. He’s charming. And he’s interested in the Emerald Heart property. On that same day, her long-estranged sister-in-law, Jeanette, returns, and Mignon’s troubles magnify as Jeannette’s arrival stirs up old anger and creates a volatile, emotional mix. Disquieting things begin to happen around the property, worrying Mignon. She knows she must make a decision, but she doesn’t know how to break with the past and move forward.
Dominick, Blake, Jeanette—who stands to gain if Mignon decides to sell? Who can she trust?
And the past . . . its hold on her is so strong that she’s not even sure she can trust herself.
My thoughts about Emerald Heart ~~
(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)
First line—"I am lost. It is only now, as I wake alone in my bed to face another day, that I realize how long I've been absent from my life—and how much I've missed."
What an amazingly beautiful, heartbreaking, while also heartwarming story! Mignon has had more than her share of loss and sadness in her life. First she loses her daughter at such a young age and then just a few years ago, her husband dies. She is the lonely widow living on the hill in a huge place that is getting more run down every day.
Of course, there are swarms of people wanting to purchase her property but Mignon is not sure she is ready to move on with her life. Maybe she's content to live in this old, closed down hotel that is full of her memories and love. She does have her faithful dog to keep her company, so there is that.
The stranger on the beach, her estranged sister-in-law who suddenly appears back in her life, and her long time realtor friend all seem to want something different from her but she doesn't even know what she wants for herself.
Grace Greene always writes very descriptive, beautiful stories that make me want to escape to the world she has created. I want to be a part of her characters' lives and be their friend. I devoured Emerald Heart and as Ms. Greene has written sequels for some of her previous books, I'm really hoping I'll get to visit the Emerald Heart again. I just feel like there are more stories there. I highly recommend Emerald Heart!
Thank you to Grace Greene for the ARC of Emerald Heart. This is my honest opinion of the book.
About the author
Grace Greene writes fiction with romance, suspense and inspiration ~ The Emerald Isle, NC Stories Series includes Beach Rental, Beach Winds, Beach Wedding, along with the Christmas novellas, Beach Christmas and Beach Walk. Her Virginia books are Women's Fiction with romance, suspense and mystery. Most are set in rural Cub Creek and include her bestselling The Memory of Butterflies and The Happiness In Between which were released in 2017. Two new Cub Creek books will be released in 2019. The first, Wildflower Heart, will be followed by a sequel later in 2019.
Grace is also an artist and photographer and these interests show up on the pages of the stories. She lives in central Virginia. ~ Goodreads
Connect with Grace
*********************
