On Tour with Prism Book Tours
Welcome to the book tour for Light the Way, the first book in the new Lighthouse Sisters series by Lin Stepp! Today I'm sharing with you my thoughts about this novel. Be sure to follow the tour for even more, including my interview with the author at Candrel's Crafts, Cooks, and Characters. Best of luck entering the giveaway!
Light the Way
(The Lighthouse Sisters #1)
By Lin Stepp
Christian Fiction, Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 292 Pages
April 1, 2022 by Mountain Hill Press
In this new coastal series, Lin Stepp transports her readers into the rich, colorful lives of Burke and her sisters, Lila, Gwen, and Celeste, who grew up at the Deveaux Inn and Lighthouse on a windswept island, accessible only by boat. Get ready to be introduced to the ups and downs, joys and sorrows, challenges and adventures of a Lighthouse Keeper.
Life had grown hard for Burke Deveaux at the family inn and lighthouse since her father died. She missed his warmth and still expected to see him walking into a room, his big laugh booming. Burke and her mother were gradually adjusting to the change, and Lila had come home this winter to help, but the workload was heavy. With spring coming and tourism picking up in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Burke welcomed Hal Jenkins’ request for his son Waylon to work for them. Waylon, retiring early from the Navy, knew the island and the lighthouse, having grown up nearby. Burke also knew Waylon well since they’d grown up together. He’d always been older, and she wondered how he’d see her now.
Waylon had been away from Edisto Island for over twelve years now, traveling around the world in the military, but it felt good to be home. He’d hated learning Lloyd Deveaux was gone, the warm-hearted Lighthouse Keeper he’d followed around as a boy. But he liked the idea of coming to stay at the lodge at Watch Island to help the Deveaux family with the inn, lighthouse, and nearly five-hundred acres of land the Lighthouse Station occupied. He knew Burke had picked up many of her father’s old tasks and he looked forward to seeing her again. He’d kept feelings for her clamped down for years but one look at her brought them surging back. How would he handle that with them working together?
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“This book feels just as tranquil as Edisto and has a wonderful, laid back flow, like beautiful ocean waves lapping up on the shore … you can’t help but fall in love with every facet of this novel.” – Christ F. JUST READS Review
“From the stunning backdrop of the South Carolina Lowcountry … this book was like going home.” – Kim Standridge Boykin, Bestselling Author of Palmetto Moon
“Each book showcases Lin Stepp’s natural gift as a novelist for originality and narrative driven storytelling.” – MIDWEST REVIEW
**My thoughts**
Light the Way was a bit of a change of pace for me, but nevertheless an entertaining read. You have history, strong family bonds, a sort of second chance romance, and a touch of mystery and suspense.
I always love reading about bigger families and small towns. There is a special kind of chemistry and bond that you can't find elsewhere. I would love to see the stories of Burke's mom and sisters fleshed out more. I believe there will be future installments that will update us on them. I think a prequel of Etta and her late husband in their early days could also be fun!
As for the relationship between Burke and Waylon, which is the focus of this installment, I love when childhood crushes are realized and given a second chance. They fit together well. Their leap to boyfriend-girlfriend felt a little abrupt and out of sync at the moment where it happened, though. Their engagement was also fast and felt a bit out of place. But their relationship quickly fell into a great pace as they grew a lot as friends while they worked together on the island.
The author is clearly well-versed in the history of the area and of lighthouses. I enjoyed learning all of that. Lighthouses fascinate me. And while we have some here on Lake Ontario, I haven't yet delved as deeply as I would like into their stories and histories.
I just felt like the information was shared awkwardly at times via conversations that the characters were having. For example, as Burke is taking Waylon around the island, she is giving him a big history lesson as if he had never been there before. But if he grew up there and spent as much time with her family as is indicated, I feel like he should have known a lot of that already. Or sometimes characters talked about places to visit and would describe where they were in ways that you wouldn't in normal conversations with people who were from the same area. I appreciated the background knowledge to help me better understand the setting, but personally would have described it differently. It just felt like the characters were doing too much of the narration.
This is an enjoyable start to a new series and I am looking forward to seeing the future installments, because I really want to know what happens to the sisters as they embark upon new chapters in their own lives.
Thank you to the author and Prism Book Tours for fulfilling my review request. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
About the Author
Lin Stepp is a native Tennessean, businesswoman and educator. A New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Amazon best-selling international author, Lin has twenty published novels out now, including her twelve beloved Smoky Mountain novels, all set in different Tennessee and North Carolina locations, three Mountain Home books, a novella in one of Kensington’s Christmas anthologies, and four South Carolina coastal novels, including her three Edisto Trilogy books and her first release in the new Lighthouse Sisters series. Lin and her husband J.L. also write regional guidebooks, including a published Smoky Mountain hiking guide and a TN and a SC state parks guidebook, all filled with hundreds of color photos. Stepp’s latest 2022 releases are Eight at the Lake, set in Dandridge near the Smoky Mountains, and Light the Way, set at the SC coast. Writing and adventuring are her joys and more novels set in the Smokies and at the beach are on the way, as well as more colorful regional guidebooks. Lin’s title Claire At Edisto was the 2019 Best Book Award Winner in Fiction: Romance, sponsored by American Book Fest and her novel Welcome Back a finalist in the 2017 Selah Awards. Lin enjoys speaking for events, festivals, libraries, and book clubs. And she loves reading, hiking, exploring out of doors, and keeping up with her readers. Look for her pages on Facebook and Twitter and follow her monthly blog and newsletter, too, that you will find on her website at: www.linstepp.com
Tour Schedule
Tour Giveaway
Ends April 6, 2022
Thank you so much for featuring my book LIGHT THE WAY on your blog site ... and for the kind words in your review. I'm glad you're looking for the next books in The Lighthouse Sisters series! ... Happy Spring, Lin
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