Where She Belongs [Hardcover]

Nearly a decade has passed sine the logging tragedy killed the father and high school sweetheart of Jess Morgan. Grieving her dual loss, Jess cannot turn to her mom who found solace with another man. Jess left her hometown of Destiny Falls, British Columbia vowing to never return to the sight of her greatest trauma and betrayal.

However, when her stepfather dies, Jess the shoe buyer returns to Destiny Falls to briefly be there in order to persuade her mom to live with her in Toronto as she hopes to mend their estrangement. Jess is stunned by how much her mother needs her and how much forester Adam Wright wants her. Adam pushes for a permanent relationship amidst their families in Destiny Falls but fearful of relationships as loved ones die Jess prepares to flee back to Ontario.

This is an entertaining family drama starring a young woman unable to move past the losses of her dad and her boyfriend. Jess makes the tale as she brings realism with her trauma. Her mom's inability to cope then and now enhance how alone Jess felt back then. Although Adam is a bull in a china shop when his beloved needs gentle support, fans will enjoy visiting Destiny Falls in picaresque British Columbia.

Harriet Klausner

Stuck in a quagmire of heartbreaking experiences in her teens, Jess Morgan's ability to move on emotionally is stalled even though she functions at top speed in her upscale merchandizing career in Toronto. When she must return to Destiny Falls where she experienced these life-changing hurts, she is swamped with misgivings. Her veneer of big city sophistication gets chipped away little by little. Whether she feels like she has come "home" or not, the people of Destiny Falls believe she has and draw her into the web of small community living.

Adam Wright, whom Jess had a crush on when she was fourteen and he was seventeen, is Jess's best friend Molly's cousin and comes to pick Jess up at the airport while Molly stays with Jess's mother Nora, whose second husband has died.

Adam is comfortable in his own skin. He put his roots down deep in Destiny Falls and has that sense of belonging he needs. He is just as tenacious, steadfast, and persistent as his cousin Molly. He works to make Destiny Falls a better and more prosperous place to live He works hard in his business to obtain contracts that generate jobs and good wages for the local people. However, his attitude that others should like and be happy with what he is happy with has cost him dearly. Crysta and his unborn child are lost to him because of this attitude and now it colors his view of Jess whom he feels abandoned her mother and her hometown. He doesn't know the circumstances and is too quick to judge.

Nora, Jess's mother, is not blameless in Jess's feeling she doesn't really belong in Destiny Falls or anywhere else for that matter. Caught up in her own needs and loves over the years, Nora lost her connection with her only child. She feels she has no right to make demands on Jess even though grief and regrets have sapped her vitality. Some of her choices have driven Jess away, yet she longs for absolution.

As Jess inches her way toward a decision about where she belongs and about her willingness to risk being hurt again, she tells herself that being alone keeps her safe from hurt. However, as she and Nora open up to each other and Adam eases his way into her life, thoughts, and heart, Jess fears breaking free of her cocoon of isolation and feels a sense of panic about flying out into a world where emotional dangers abound.

Cindy Procter-King weaves together the lives of her characters with a skill that creates a beautiful pattern of love with just enough darkness in the design to highlight the beauty of unconditional friendship, familial love that ebbs and flows but never disappears, and best of all, she weaves in the love of a man and woman who suffered bitter grief and loss but come out of that dark part of life to the glorious light of true love.

Where She Belongs is a gentle story that touches the heart.

Originally posted at the Long and Short of It Romance Reviews

This story made me laugh and cry. I absolutely loved the characters and their love story. The plot was well developed and the writing was great. It is such a pleasure to read a book and not be constantly correcting the grammar and spelling.