Heartlight Falls
Legends and riddles.
Ivy Bloom and Cash Underwood have a podcast where they “take the drama out of dramatization”. They basically narrate books, and more often than not, give them the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment. One episode goes viral when they talk about a book by one Hawthorn Halloway, who apparently has no idea how to write any kind of affection or romance in his best-selling Detective Dunmore novels.
This leads to the publishing company sending Ivy and Cash to the reclusive writer’s home town of Valentine Falls, in order to ride that wave, because there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?
When Ivy meets Porter, a grumpy man who comes out to help her and Cash after they locked their keys in their rental, she feels a connection. Little does she know that he’s going to be a big part of her life.
I’m going to tell you right now that this book absolutely destroyed me in the best way. Devastatingly beautiful, this.
It’s not just a love story, and it’s not just about a writer trying to figure out how to write compelling closed-door romance scenes. This is a small town, and when one is wounded, all are.
Like the Detective Dunmore novels, there is a cold case to be solved. It is so quietly and expertly introduced that I didn’t realize it was going to be a big part of the story until I was halfway through the book. As I am not a spoilsport, I will give no information about this mystery. You’ll just have to read the book.
This the first time I’ve read this author, and I can confidently say now that I would read anything she writes. She crafts a mystery that keeps you guessing without making you feel dumb. She rewards you for going the distance. She sucks you in with the quiet moments, as well as the big ones. In short, read this book. It is more than just a love story or a mystery; it’s a beautiful book about finding who you really are, and what you stand for.
