The Inn at Hidden Run

GIVEAWAY

NEWPORT, OLIVIA
THE INN AT HIDDEN RUN

Tree of Life -- every family tree grows an unforgettable story.

Meri's family has been producing doctors for so many generations that no one remembers why, so when she flunks out of medical school, she runs as far from her family in Tennessee as she can. In the small mountain town of Canyon Mines, Colorado, she takes a job at the Inn at Hidden Run B&B. And waits. It's only a matter of time until they show up.

What she doesn't count on is genealogist Jillian Parisi-Duffy and her father, Nolan, having her back when it takes everything she has to stay and face the truth that only her family history can reveal. While Nolan works on keeping Meri calm -- and in town -- Jillian draws out gems of information Meri doesn't know she has and arranges them into a fascinating mosaic of a desperate epidemic in Memphis history.

But none of that changes the fact that Meri's family arrives to haul her back to her "real" life and duty to her family tree of doctors. If Meri disappears again, Nolan and Jillian may be out of time.

My Review:

"Sometimes in order to understand ourselves, we have to understand our families." (p 60)

There's something you need to know about me. I'm a stunted closet genealogist. I'm that person who watches and re-watches episodes of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and literally sobs my heart out over the stories he uncovers for his celebrity clients. I'm crying partly because the ancestor stories are so moving and partly because I can't find any stories related to the names and dates on my family tree. So I live vicariously through Mr. Gates....and now through this series. So Olivia Newport gets a hearty, fan-girling Eeeeepppp!!!!! from me. :-)

Though, I have to say that the synopsis is a tad misleading. While this book is about Meri's struggles with her family's expectations, it's told from the points of view of genealogist Jillian and her lawyer/mediator father, Nolan. At least, the contemporary time line is because...insert an image of me in wild biblio-girl jitterbugging abandon...this is a dual timeline story!!!!!!  And the 1878 Memphis epidemic timeline is told from Eliza's perspective. Whoa! Have the tissue boxes handy!

To say I was completely riveted by both stories would be an understatement. I loved the way Newport developed the plots to the point where they collide together in a Eureka! moment Meri and her family will never forgot. But there's a lot of angst and dysfunction before that happens.

Absolutely love the father/daughter dynamics between Nolan and Jillian. There's teasing and banter but a deep, underlying understanding between the two. And Nolan is full of patriarchal gems of wisdom -- "...the work will always be there later, but the moment is only here now." (p 52) The book is full of gentle undercurrents about family and faith and the way who we are is built upon who our ancestors were.

Now I'm super excited to get reading book two in The Tree of Life series -- In the Cradle Lies (a November 2019 release.) Then I'll be impatiently waiting for May and November 2020 when the next Tree of Life books will be released. Woot! Lots of Happy Reading in store for me!

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

If you would like a chance to win a copy of  The Inn at Hidden Run, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday December 28 2019. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck!