For the month of December, I am going to post about some of my favorite books, favorite authors, and books I just can't forget about.    These are all books I'd recommend purchasing for Christmas gifts or for your own enjoyment. 

Jen Gilroy's is an author that I look for when I am feeling a sweet and easy to read book.    Her settings are marvelous, her characters are wonderful, and the storylines are perfect.    She writes stories about families that are realistic and it is so easy to find yourself falling into their stories.     

Her newest series starts with The Wishing Tree and I am excited to share that there is more from this series coming in 2020.    

My Thoughts…

This small-town story is perfect.   The amazing characters, the wonderful setting, and the beautiful families all made me fall into The Wishing Tree and never want to leave.    The characters were not perfect, they had their problems but they also had incredible families/friends that support them when it was needed.   

Seth is finding an entirely different life than what he left behind.   Irish Falls is his second chance at life.   While he doesn’t expect to like or stay in Irish Falls, he finds a family he didn’t know that he was missing.   Seth also finds Annie.  Annie opens his eyes to all a small town can offer and she also opens his heart to the love he didn’t know he was looking for. 

Jen Gilroy wrote a wonderful book.  The family, friends, forgiveness, and love are all things that I love about her books.  I would certainly recommend this book. 

My Thoughts…

Oh, how I wish I lived at Firefly Lake.   I want to be friends with Cat and Luc.   I want to be part of that amazing McGuire family.     The friendships, the families, and their relationships in this town are truly special.   The way they stand up for each other, protect each other, and go to the ends of the earth to help each other is amazing.  

Cat is an amazing mom.   Being a single mom is hard and rewarding.   Cat has decided to make Amy her whole world and has no time for a boyfriend.  Until she is reunited with Luc, her high school friend that she has always had a crush on, then feelings start to come around.    Yet, she has to figure out how to work a boyfriend into her life and not upset the careful balance she has. 

Luc has history he has to deal with.    He is a widow, losing his wife while he was on the road with the NHL.     He doesn’t talk about it, he never forgets, and he doesn’t know how to move past it.   He doesn’t know how to open his heart and learn how to love again.     

Everything about this book is wonderful, from the friendships to the families and the relationships all the way around.  I love the setting of Firefly Lake and the history of the town.    The rest of this series is one that I cannot wait to get my hands on.    

My Thoughts...

Summer at Firefly Lake is a story of second chances.    Mia needs a second chance from a controlling, cheating, loveless husband and Nick needs a second chance from a cheating marriage and bad role model father.    Neither of them were looking for each other, yet they had been in each other’s sights forever.   The chemistry was slow, worth the wait, and real.   Both characters fought the attraction, took steps to avoid falling in love yet love won out. 

The small town setting was wonderful.   The all knowing mother, the neighbors who know all your secrets and the gossip that spread like wild fire is exactly how every small town is.    Jen Gilroy did a great job portraying the small town and bringing it to life.       I could picture the quaint diner, the beautiful lake with the diving platform, and the wonderful cabins surrounding it.      Firefly Lake is somewhere I’d love to visit again and again.

I would recommend picking up your own copy of Summer at Firefly Lake and falling into this wonderful story full of small town charm.

Jen Gilroy lives in a small town in eastern Ontario, Canada where her Irish ancestors settled in the nineteenth century. She's worked in higher education and international marketing but, after spending too much time in airports and away from her family, traded the 9-5 to write romantic women’s fiction to bring readers' hearts home.

Jen likes ice cream, diners, vintage style and all things country. Her husband is her real-life romance hero, and her teen daughter teaches her to cherish the blessings in the everyday.

The Cottage at Firefly Lake, the first book in her Firefly Lake series, was a finalist for Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart® award in 2015. It was also shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Joan Hessayon Award 2017.