Books & Spoons Review SUNRISE CROSSING by Jodi Thomas

Return to peaceful Crossroads, Texas, where community comes first and love thrives in the unlikeliest places…  

Yancy Grey is slowly putting his life back together after serving time for petty theft. As he rebuilds an old house, he finally has a sense of stability, but he can't stop thinking of himself as just an ex-con. Until one night, he finds a mysterious dark-haired beauty hiding in his loft. But who is she, and what secret is she protecting? 

The art gallery Parker Lacey manages is her life—she has no time for friends, and certainly not lovers. But when her star artist begs Parker for help, she finds herself in a pickup truck, headed for the sleepy town of Crossroads. A truck driven by a strong, silent cowboy… 

Gabe Snow has been a drifter since he left Crossroads at seventeen after a violent incident. When he accepts a job in his hometown, he'll have to decide whether he can put the worst night of his life behind him and build a future in the community that raised him.

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Such an enjoyable story filled with life, love, friends, and neighbors, a little intrigue, and danger, some heartbreak, and sorrow, and lots of delightful characters in several parallel storylines. My heart was in the story, and at the end, it was filled with joy. 
I have been following the series from Crossroads, Texas, and even though this book continues with the loves and lives of the townfolks, it can easily be read as a standalone book, the author gives a great background information to the events before, without making it sound like repetition for those who have read the previous novels. 
Yancy has always been one of my favorite characters from the town, from the first moment he stepped out of the bus in the first book, I found his character compelling, his kindness and thoughtfulness admirable, him deserving all the goodness and happiness coming to his way. 
The different couples, the different storylines running parallel in the novel, are well built with details and fine points, so well plaited together, they fit seamlessly in-between the same covers. Each story unique, but with the same theme of finding love in the unexpected places and with people from very different walks of life. Yet finding the tune, the connection, the chemistry, and making it work, finding the compromises. There was laughter with the delectable dry humor the author drizzled into the tale, there were tears with the stories of the hard knocks of life, but mainly there was joy and jubilee of finding your place in this world, and tales of the sometimes awkward and amusing, but always thrilling and fascinating moments of falling in love and loving life. 
I loved how this tale was flowing off the pages, so well crafted, alluring and delicate, and somehow ageless, pulling me into the world of Crossroads, and holding me there, mesmerized, till the very end of the tale. 
~ Five Spoons

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