Zoe Kastain wants to be happy, but just the sight of Washington Nolan standing beside Kin at his wedding has her choking the life from her gloves. The man who once dazzled her with promises of love and commitment now will hardly look at her. Even through the haze of red clouding her vision, she realizes it is probably better this way. Because after he'd returned, injured, she'd gone and laid her heart at his feet. He'd slammed his door in her face, and she never wanted to feel that incomprehensible rejection again. But as Kin and Cora exchange rings and kisses, Zoe realizes her best efforts to quash her love for Wash Nolan have been hopeless. Not only that but what if his rejection was a test to see if she would stand by him?! And she walked away! She needed to fix this! Make him realize she still loved him. But how? Her gaze settles on Kin and Cora leaving the church to the cheers of their guests. What was the biggest gesture of love, but marriage? No! She couldn't, could she? It was preposterous madness!
Wash stumbles out of the church, chastising himself for letting Kin talk him into being here today. He ought to have known that seeing Zoe again would bring nothing but heartache. They could have built a life together if not for his injury that rendered him unable to provide for a family. Despite all that, it felt good to have escaped the cabin. He needed to make an effort to get out more. He'd been pretty detached from, well, everything since his return. He just needed to make his escapes to places where Zoe Kastain would not be, because seeing her was temptation itself. The soft light of invitation in her eyes could downright make a man forget his limitations. And this was not the time for that, especially not with all the strange things happening at the farm.
Series
7 primary booksWyldhaven is a 7-book series with 7 primary works first released in 2017 with contributions by Lynnette Bonner.
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For me, a three star review means the book was all right. That pretty much describes how I felt about Beside Still Waters. It was a nice story, but there were elements about it that didn't quite connect with me.
But first, let me share what I liked about the book.
I liked the small town/community feel of the story. There was some humor that made me chuckle, and Lynnette has a writing style that kept me turning pages. The faith content was good, and the story had an over-arching theme of how the Lord is our Shepard who can be trusted to lead us through all circumstances.
The first part that didn't resonate with me came when Zoe marched to Washington Nolan's house and proposed to him. I'm not fond of girl's “pushing the question” in real life–and I'm even less fond of it in fiction.
The next turning off point had to do with the bad guys of the story. I like to feel concerned about what a bad guy is about to do, but in this book, I couldn't help laughing out loud as I read the scenes where the bad guys appeared. I'll lay the blame on my brother, who has made me a big fight scene critic.
And the the last reason I couldn't fully enjoy the story was another personal preference. I counted twelve viewpoints in the story–twelve different characters offering a look into their heads. Lynnette managed the story in a way that made it easy to keep track of who was who, but it wasn't a style I was particularly fond of. I prefer not knowing what all the characters are thinking and would rather be able to make my own guesses about what a side character's motives could be.
All that said, if none of the above-mentioned is your pet peeve, then Beside Still Waters is a lovely read that will sweep you back to a simpler time.
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book, but my thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.
