Review: Summerlin Groves

Summerlin Groves book cover on blue background

Elizabeth Camden is an author where I've had the pleasure of reading all of her published works now after enjoying her contemporary debut novel, Summerlin Groves. While the setting and time period were different than her other books, I was no less entranced by her descriptive writing and the weight of history in reading Jenny's story.

Book Synopsis

Jenny Summerlin is struggling to save her dying orange grove when a baffling mystery upends her world. A skeleton buried with a priceless treasure has been found on her land, which brings of flood of investigators onto her property to study a decades old crime.

Captain Wyatt Rossiter is charged with solving the puzzling discovery. Unfortunately, he is also the man who broke Jenny's heart two years earlier. Plagued with regrets and unresolved feelings for Jenny, Wyatt resists getting drawn back into her world, but he cannot rest until he solves the unusual crime.

The former lovers are trapped on a case neither of them want. Soon they awaken a fifty-year old mystery involving Cold War espionage and a forbidden romance. Will resurrecting the old secrets endanger the survival of her grove and everything she holds dear?

Source: Amazon

Book Thoughts

This is a book that had me guessing until nearly the very end. Fans of Elizabeth Camden's detailed historical research will appreciate her contemporary debut, which continues in the same vein for a more modern time period. I love that she writes about indomitable women throughout history and that Jenny fits right into this description. I wasn't sure what to expect in learning more about a citrus grove, but by the end of the book, I was invested in the future of Summerlin Groves, especially after everything it had to endure, giving truth to the adage that we can plant, but God is the one who grows.

The themes of remaining steadfast in trusting God despite hardship and believing that God is still good even when innocent people suffer are both explored in this story. Combined with a compelling mystery, there is much suspense to keep readers guessing as ownership of a precious treasure becomes the key to solving multiple questions. Seeing the remnants of the Cold War fashioned together into a story about interracial relationships and agricultural law at the same time, Jenny's plight is memorable. Readers who enjoy a good underdog tale that is connected to larger geopolitical forces will find it fascinating to see how a very local orange grove can have international implications on history, all taking place as a woman holds fast to her faith in God.

Book Summary

Format of book: 📱
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Recommendation: 👍

Comments

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