🏡 The Hideaway 🏡 (2017) - Book Review
MY REVIEW
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (April 11,
2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0718084225
ISBN-13: 978-0718084226
“After her last remaining family member dies, Sara Jenkins goes home to The Hideaway, her grandmother Mags’s ramshackle B&B in Sweet Bay. She intends to quickly tie up loose ends then return to her busy life and thriving antique shop in New Orleans. Instead, she learns Mags has willed The Hideaway to her and charged her with renovating it—no small task considering her grandmother’s best friends, a motley crew of senior citizens, still live there.
Rather
than hurrying back to New Orleans, Sara stays in Sweet Bay and begins the
biggest house-rehabbing project of her career. Amid drywall dust, old memories,
and a charming contractor, she discovers that slipping back into life at The
Hideaway is easier than she expected.
Then she
discovers a box Mags left in the attic with clues to a life Sara never imagined
for her grandmother. With help from Mags’s friends, Sara begins to piece
together the mysterious life of bravery, passion, and choices that changed her
grandmother’s destiny in both marvelous and devastating ways.
When an
opportunistic land developer threatens to seize The Hideaway, Sara is forced to
make a choice—stay in Sweet Bay and fight for the house and the people she’s
grown to love or leave again and return to her successful but solitary life in
New Orleans.
In The
Hideaway, Lauren Denton tells a gripping story of love and loyalty
as Sara Jenkins must choose either to fight for the people she has come to
love, or return to her life of solitude and simplicity.”
I was introduced to Lauren K Denton’s work in March 2019 during a JustRead Publicity social media tour four “Glory Road”. As I liked the novel, my mother gave me Denton’s two previous ones for my birthday.
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| [Hurricane Season & The Hideaway by Lauren K. Denton. Got these for my birthday in April 2019] |
“The Hideaway” is
Denton’s debut novel, a southern and Christian themed book. Normally I read a
good book in 2-3 days time. The reason this was a long read was not due to the
book itself, but rather outside influences in the middle of reading it. I say
this so that anyone looking at the review won’t hold it against the book that
it took me 16 days to read it. It isn’t indicative of the book’s content or my
interests.
Anyway …
The book is told between
Mags’ and Sara’s points of view. Mags from the past and Sara from current day.
Sara is in Sweet Bay after
the death of her beloved grandmother, Mags (Margaret Van Buren]. Sara thinks it
is a simple reading of the will and she can return to her solitary life in New
Orleans immediately. But, Sara becomes the new owner of “The Hideaway”, a
run-down bed and breakfast which has seen better days. She’s instructed by her
grandmother to fix it up to its former glory, even better than when Mags got
it. Sara is given a choice to keep it or sell it, but she has to inform the
current residents in advance. Residents who are also like family to Sara.
Sara decides that it
needs to be renovated anyway so why not spruce the old place up?
She hires a contractor
(Crawford) and sets out to do what has been asked of her. In the process she
begins to learn about her grandmother’s past and what led the older woman to
the Hideaway in Sweet Bay and how she came to possess it. The story that others
tell about Mags is vastly different from the life Sarah uncovers. How is it she
knew nothing of this? Why did her grandmother keep the secrets she did?
Sarah also learns the
truth about her mother and her own past. But, Sara now seemingly has a future
there in Sweet Bay – especially with Crawford.
But, Sara also has her
life in New Orleans, or believes she does. The longer she stays in Sweet Bay,
the less she wants to return to her prior life. When a land developer starts
making plans for the property, Sara is torn between staying and fighting for
the Hideaway and returning back to the life she’s crafted for herself. Sara is
also wondering if she wants to make the same mistake her grandmother did when
it came to love? The Hideaway is more than a place to visit; it holds deep
memories and love.
For her first outing,
Denton does a remarkable with this story. It blends the past and present together
to weave a beautiful story. It has romance with a not-so-happy ending. It
reveals that often we don’t know those we’re closest to. The story also teaches
us that what we want isn’t what we need.
For some readers their
pet peeve was that Mags’ unrequited love story and Sara’s current love story
are almost mirror image. I found it interesting in that Sara learned from her
grandmother’s mistake. I found it a beautiful part of the story.
This book can seem to
drag on, but it can also draw one in. I was drawn into and found there were
times I couldn’t put it down. As I said previously “life” came between me and
this book. I think on a subsequent book it would be a 2-4 day read.
If you’ve never read any
of Denton’s works – this book and “Glory Road” are stand alone stories so the
reader can start with any one of them. If you’ve read “Glory Road” and enjoyed
it, you will likely enjoy this. Denton’s second novel is “Hurricane Season”,
again, a standalone title.
This, like “Glory Road”,
is a clean Christian Romance read. There are no “sex” scenes in it. The
language is mild and completely inoffensive. For those who are fans of “clean”
romance reads, this one definitely fits into that category.
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born and
raised in Mobile, Alabama, Lauren K. Denton now lives with her husband and two
daughters in Homewood, just outside Birmingham. In addition to her fiction, she
writes a monthly newsletter column about life, faith, and how funny (and hard)
it is to be a parent. On any given day, she’d rather be at the beach with her
family and a stack of books. The Hideaway is her first novel.
You can
follow her on the following social media accounts:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LaurenKDenton
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