Return to Willow Lake (Lakeshore Chronicles)

Return to Willow Lake
by Susan Wiggs
Release Date:  August 28, 2012
Publisher:  MIRA
Book #9 in the Lakeshore Chronicles
Number of pages:  303
Kindle Edition
Source: MCL
Contemporary Romance M/F
Rating: PG-13
Read 5/24/19 to 5/25/19

 

Sonnet Romano has the ideal career, the ideal boyfriend, and has just been offered a prestigious fellowship. But when she learns her mother is unexpectedly expecting in a high-risk pregnancy, she puts everything on hold and heads home to Avalon. Once her mom is out of danger, Sonnet intends to pick up her life where she left off.

But when her mother receives a devastating diagnosis, Sonnet must decide what really matters in life, even if that means staying in Avalon and taking a job that forces her to work alongside her biggest, and maybe her sweetest, mistake—award-winning filmmaker Zach Alger.

And in a summer of laughter and tears, of old dreams and new possibilities, Sonnet may find the home of her heart.

Almost as much as I was itching to read Daisy’s story in this series, I wanted to see Zach get his HEA.  More than that, I wanted to see Zach get the girl of his dreams.  So, for me, this was a cherry on my sundae after reading Marrying Daisy Bellamy.

Poor Zach has been through so much in this series.  He’s always in the background and working away, never quite getting his due.  He is just such a good guy.  Atoning for the sins of his father when he has no obligation to do so, still trying to keep a relationship with his father when he has every reason not to, always the one his friends can count on no matter what.  Yet the boy who is now a man never complains and never even lets on that he’s not 100% happy with the way things are going in his life.

Sonnet is always prepping for the next step in her life.  Whether it’s school, work, her relationships with friends and family, her love life, she has a plan.  She has an idea in her head as to what each step should look like.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t really leave her with any feelings of satisfaction.  She works hard and is getting ahead in her professional life, but what does that even mean?  Does what she is doing really make her happy or just make her happy that her father is proud?

While Sonnet and Zach have known each other since early childhood and always been the best of friends, their lives have taken drastically different turns.  They always find a way back to each other and their old rhythms when Sonnet is in town though.  It’s inevitable that they’ll someday open their eyes and see they are meant to be more than friends.  Not because a man and woman can’t be just friends…that is not something I believe at all.  But because nobody truly understands them the way they understand each other.  Nobody, not even Daisy, has been there for them through so many ups and downs in such an unwavering fashion as they have been for each other.  Before Sonnet went away for school and then her career, they weren’t ready for the depth their relationship had the potential to have.  Now they’re adults.  Now they have experienced life in many different ways.  Now they know what they truly want and need.

There are some fun and different elements to this story that surprised me.  The whole storyline with Jezebel was one I thought I would abhor.  The author did a beautiful job of showing two sides to the same coin while also giving the main characters their impartial sounding board.  While that was a fun part of the story, Nina’s health issues were gut wrenching.  Such a thought provoking and important storyline within this book.

Over the course of this series, I have truly found myself becoming fully invested in Avalon’s residents.  Each new story is going on a trip with beloved friends.

4 stars