Into the Fire

Stay with Me by Becky Wade is the first book in the Misty River Romance Series. The prequel to this series is a novella titled Take A Chance on Me. 

There's a handsome, borderline angry, man standing there looking at the 30ish Genevieve Woodward when she wakes up in a strange room on a strange bed with a bare mattress and her various clothes strewn haphazardly over her body besides wearing her bathrobe backwards. Oops.

Chef, restaurant owner, and natural/organic farmer Sam Turner is not happy to find an unusual woman in his guesthouse. Once he decides she's not dead, he wants her trespassing body out of there. He sees through her story as she begins to tell her tale having examined the contents of her purse to determine who this stranger is.

Genevieve has returned home to Misty River in the Blue Ridge Mountains to catch up on her latest contracted Bible studies. A well known and loved author and speaker, she's overextended herself, convinced herself she still needs to take her OxyContin for the ankle surgery pain of a year ago, and can't seem to hear God's voice. Bottom line: she has an opioid addiction and now an attractive man who owns the cottage where she spent the night knows too. 

Mixed in with the challenges to Sam's solitude and Genevieve's addiction is a disturbing letter forwarded to her from her publisher which frames a threat for a secret about her and her older sister's (Natasha) parents who insist it's a prank letter when Genevieve allows them to hear its content. She and her sister decide to mine various city records to discover whether or not there's some truth to the ugly letter. 

Way back in Genevieve's history is the trauma of being a survivor of the Miracle Five with four other kids on a mission trip who lived in fear for many days in a collapsed building after a horrific El Salvador earthquake. Snatches of diary-like notes from each of those surviving kids are scattered throughout the story and lend some background to Genevieve and Natasha while hinting at the next stories in the series. 

The subplots of Stay with Me aren't nearly as entertaining as the Sam and Genevieve conflict and firestorm. Sam's painful past has led to his carefully constructed and adamantly observed solitude. Color him brown and gray with a formerly crushed tender heart. Genevieve sparkles wherever she goes with unbidden admirers of her Bible studies showing up to gather around her and praise what her studies have meant and/or done for them. Color her "technicolor" with an unquenchable urge to payback God for his miracle in saving her life. Awash with opposition, they struggle through their rules until their undeniable draw to each other begins to unravel all their restrictions and a fragile trust begins to form.

Two delightful – but frequently exasperating – characters both with delicate psyches battle an unexpected attraction to each other. Stay with Me tackles romance, some humor, a little mystery mixed with family drama, and survivors' guilt. The flame of romance burns the hottest. 

(Those of us who are fanatics about covers – like me – think this image of Genevieve works but of Sam? Not even a little bit.)

Father, please continue the blessings in Becky's life, the stories she's going to tell, and keep her safe along the journey. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.