The Red Door Inn (Prince Edward Island Dreams Book #1)

For those who will forever love the setting of the red headed orphan, this helps fill that void.

Enjoyed the characters, settings, and storyline. This is a book I will recommend to my friends.

Enjoyed it.

Prince Edward Island is well-known by legions of fans of L.M. Montgomery and her red-haired orphan Anne. Less well known is the Northern shores of the island, and where the story takes place as our characters work to rehabilitate an old and run-down Bed and Breakfast, and perhaps find some renewal for their own lives. The story starts with Marie, desperate to leave Boston, her memories and her father behind her, but without any substantive means to do so. She runs for a dream of new beginnings and sanctuary on PEI, but with no viable means of support – things are pretty desperate. Enter Jack Sloane, a kindly man who sees the young woman hurting and in need, and offers her a place to stay in exchange for help in his renovations. Renovations of a disused and disheveled Bed and Breakfast that is also providing his nephew Seth with work and a new start.

From the start, Marie is closed off and obviously hurting, with tension and anxiety that flares every time she and Seth encounter one another. While Seth is more than a bit prickly, he can’t trust this stranger or his uncle’s judgment, he sees her through his own veil of hurt after a disastrous relationship and now his sanctuary on the island is disrupted by this interloper. There are plenty of issues, miscommunications and mistrust that weigh heavily on both Seth and Marie, and their tentative steps to build bridges are fraught with perils. Slowly Marie’s story unfolds, and we are able to understand her trust issues, her need for new beginnings, and her affinity for the always kind and gentle Jack. This isn’t a quick-fix story – many elements combine, from the peace of the setting to the characters primary and secondary to bring growth and allow our couple to come closer together.

Narration is provided by Amy Melissa Bentley who gives a clear sense of each character with differentiation in delivery, tone, accent and a gradual ‘loosening’ of inhibitions” as the story progresses and backstories are shared. With lovely soft intonations and intentions brought forth in Jack and the parishioners as well as a lightness and youth from young Ruby. With frequent moments that feel familiar to those who have visited PEI in person, or just through the tales of Anne, there are plenty of moments that bring a sense of the known here. More importantly, even as Johnson uses an underlying message of connection to faith, family, self and surroundings, that message never reaches the level of preachy or overbearing, allowing each character to find their own path to that faith in their own time. With a couple that comes together through the slow process of friendship to love, the story will please fans who, like me, prefer their faith-heavy reads to carry a softer message that arrives through character growth and discovery rather than a heavy reliance on text or gospel.

I received an AudioBook copy of the title from Tantor Audio for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.