TLC Book Tours for THE COTTAGE AT FIREFLY LAKE by Jen Gilroy

3/7/2017

Some mistakes can never be fixed and some secrets never forgiven . . . but some loves can never be forgotten.

Charlotte Gibbs wants nothing more than to put the past behind her, once and for all. But now that she's back at Firefly Lake to sell her mother's cottage, the overwhelming flood of memories reminds her of what she's been missing. Sun-drenched days. Late-night kisses that still shake her to the core. The gentle breeze off the lake, the scent of pine in the air, and the promise of Sean's touch on her skin . . . True, she got her dream job traveling the world. But at what cost?

Sean Carmichael still doesn't know why Charlie disappeared that summer, but after eighteen years, a divorce, and a teenage son he loves more than anything in the world, he's still not over her. All this time and her body still fits against his like a glove. She walked away once when he needed her the most. How can he convince her to stay now?

A story about family, loyalty, forgiveness, and falling in love, learning to make compromises, and building up the kind of life that suits you despite the circumstances and expectations from others.
Charlotte Gibbs has faced tragedy and loss several times during her life, not only as a reporter but in her personal life as well. She is tough and resilient until her cup runs over, and she needs time to heal, not only from the wounds in her body but in her mind and nightmares as well. Charlotte never felt that she was enough for her parents, and to prove that, to get the acceptance and approval she pushed herself hard to be the best, to show that she can.
Sean Carmichael has worked hard to make the family business the success it is today. He is looking after everyone in the family, keeping it going, keeping them employed, safe, and happy. His heart was broken by Charlotte long time ago, and those wounds are still sore, the doubts, the mistrust, and hurt still linger in his mind.
The story has a large cast of characters, and it is told from several points of view. Even Sean's son and Charlotte's niece gets their time in the limelight with the teenage crush. There are secrets that shatter hearts and minds, trust is not easy to come after being stretched and abused so many times. The characters are likable, yet far from perfect. I grew to care for them and wanted them to succeed, but they also frustrated me several times. I missed a little spark in the dialogue, little more depth with the characters, to connect with them on an emotional level as well. Charlotte had had to make some difficult decisions during her life, that still had the power to hurt others, and it was not always easy to like her or accept her choices.
There are lots of happening in the story, the small town events and life decisions weighing the characters minds making the plot move forwards on a leisurely tempo.
The activities made me remember the childhood summers and the fun to be had at the lake, making me smile. I think this is a great novel for vacation, or if you want to escape to the hot, unhurried, summer days with a little romance, family drama, and life troubles on the side.
~ Three Spoons with a teaspoon on the side

The Cottage at Firefly Lake is the first book in the Firefly Lake series. The next book, Summer on Firefly Lake, comes out on July 25, 2017.

Growing up under the big sky of western Canada and spending summers in a little Ontario town, books were my passport to other worlds. Pioneering Laura Ingalls, Jo March and her sisters, the English girls in Noel Streatfeild’s books and L.M. Montgomery’s independent, nature-loving heroines all became friends.

I started writing poems and stories in elementary school and, as a teenager, reached the semi-finals in a local short story contest. Even after all these years, I still remember the thrill of the judge encouraging me to keep writing.

I earned undergraduate and graduate degrees, setting fiction writing aside to teach at universities, write and publish academic research and work in marketing communications and international business development.

Along the way, I read romances, escaping into a world where a happy ending was guaranteed. One day, though, I realized that by losing my creative writing, I’d also lost part of what makes me who I am.

Now I write the kind of stories I like to read–heartwarming romances about finding home, family and community–where ordinary women overcome sometimes extraordinary challenges to earn their happy ever after.

I’m an RWA® Golden Heart® finalist 2015 in Contemporary Romance, and that manuscript sold to Hachette Book Group USA, Grand Central Publishing, Forever. It releases on January 31, 2017 as THE COTTAGE AT FIREFLY LAKE.

I’m a member of RWA® and the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA). And despite a few detours along the way, I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do since childhood.

After many years in England with my husband, a tech guy who’s still a small-town boy at heart, and our tween daughter, an English rose, who teaches me to cherish the blessings in the everyday, I’ve come home to my roots and live in a small town in Ontario’s Rideau Valley.

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