Customer Reviews

Love Will Find a Way

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved this heart-warming story about a single mom who finds love the second time around. This book has some quirky characters, small town charm and everything you want in a Barbara Freethy romance. I really loved the legends of the apples.

Highly recommended
The characters in Barbara Freethy's books are always so well drawn. They feel very real and come alive for me. Rachel is dealing with the loss of her husband while still trying to hold the rest of her family together. Dylan is dealing with the loss of his best friend and the feelings he's always had for Rachel. These two have to come together to find the truth and it's a very well-written story. I enjoyed it a great deal.

Dylan has always been in love with Rachel, but she has been a forbidden fruit, as she was married to his business partner, Gary. They shared a passionate kiss on the eve of her wedding, when she expressed doubts about her wedding. Dylan has managed to keep his distance for the last nine years, only to be thrust back into her world after Gary dies in a tragic car accident. Rachel discovers that Gary might have led a double life and wants Dylan's help in piecing together Gary's last days.

Upon arriving at Rachel's family farm, he is saddened to see the frame of the dream house that Gary designed for Rachel. This was the one project that Dylan could not bring himself to complete with Gary, but decides that he will do this one last thing for Gary. This brings him closer to Rachel and her family. Little do they both know that they still have feelings for each other, and that passionate kiss is still on both their minds.

This is a poignant tale of first love, loss, and finding a way to love again. With a romantic sub-story about a magical apple tree that bears fruit that casts a spell on lovers; according to legend. It also begs the question of who Rachel was really meant to ultimately be with.

Two months before his death, architect Gary Tanner took out a half million-dollar life insurance policy on himself. Six months after his death the insurance company finds it highly suspicious that Gary died driving off the side of a mountain road near Lake Tahoe. They refuse to pay for accidental death when suicide is more likely the cause.

Gary's widow Rachel turns to his best friend and business partner Dylan Prescott to help her prove that his death was an accident. However, as they begin to dig into Gary's life the duo finds secrets he kept from them. While Gary lived, Dylan and Rachel ignored their attraction to one another, but with him dead they begin to open up and fall in love. However, not only the memories of Gary stand in their way. Gary and Rachel's preadolescent son is in denial about the death symbolized by the deceased's incomplete dream house.

When LOVE WILL FIND A WAY stays within the subplot of mourning for a lost loved one while falling in love, the tale is superb. When the novel spins a subplot (no secrets revealed here) involving Gary's clandestine activities, though well written, it feels like a different tale. Still the lead couple, Rachel's son, another pair from Gary's secret life, and Gary are all fully developed to the point that the audience will feel they are family. Barbara Freethy has written a poignant tale of grieving and renewal that fans will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

I've been slowly collecting Barbara Freethy's backlist since falling in love with her romantic suspense books.

Six months after the death of Rachel Tanner's husband Gary, the insurance company informs her they suspect suicide and therefore won't pay. The half-million dollar policy had been taken out just six months before his death, and he'd driven his car off a steep mountain road.

So Rachel turns to Gary's best friend and business partner, Dylan Prescott. Together they begin digging into Gary's life, and Rachel discovers she didn't know her husband as well as she'd thought he did.

Dylan, for his part, has been enamored of Rachel since the day he and Gary both met her. But she'd always been focused on Gary, so he's kept his distance. Gary might be dead now, but he's still between them. Yet, the more he learns about Gary's home life, the more he realizes that Gary wasn't the husband and father he'd thought he was.

Love Will Find a Way is full of Freethy's intense, real emotions. I kept expecting to discover that Gary's secret was really horrible, but it wasn't, which makes the story all the more affecting. There's also a secondary romance for Rachel's younger sister Carly which echoes in some ways Rachel's romantic experiences, so it adds to and illuminates the main story.

But the reason Rachel was so sure Gary was The One for her was that she'd given him an apple from the magic apple tree in their back yard. Legend has it that if a member of the family gives an apple from the tree to someone and they eat it, true love will result. You can probably guess the punch line now--I certainly did.

And while the magic apples give the story a nice fairy-tale feel, and Carly's antics with trying to get an apple to the man she wants added some fun comic relief, they reduce the effectiveness of a wonderfully emotional story for me. All those emotions get reduced to something imposed from the outside, rather than something they chose themselves, and it all feels false. I need both the brain and the heart involved to find a romance satisfying. It's why I don't believe in love at first sight--I staunchly believe it's lust at first sight (emotional reaction), and it may develop into love once they get to know each other (involving their brains as well).

One really cool thing, though--this helped me figure out why I'm not as fond of love-at-first-sight or soul mate stories if they don't also include the development of what I think of as "real" love.

Ms. Freethy has delivered another poignant tale of love and family and relationships that leaves the reader breathless. Like LaVyrle Spencer, she never fails to show how a couple's burgeoning love affects others around them as well. In this case, I especially liked the way she dealt with Rachel's son. I also liked the resolution of the "mystery" about Rachel's husband. All in all, a wonderful book, highly recommended.

Such an enthralling story that keeps you reading till the end. Involves just about a little of everything, love, mystery, deception, suicide, death, children, etc etc. I couldn't stop reading this novel til it was done. Best book about love I've read so far. I've enjoyed so many novels by Barbara Freethy that I highly recommend!!

I don't know how Ms. Freethy keeps doing it.. book after book they just keep getting better. You can never go wrong with one of her books, she is fast becoming one of my "go to" authors when i need a book to read..

Gary Married Rachel at the age of 19.. he was a "big city" guy and Rachel was the "country" girl.. after an accident that leave Rachel not only now a single mother but a widow as well.. she begins questioning everything that her marriage was.. which brings us to Dylan how has been best friend with Gary since grade school.. who also has been in love with Rachel since the first time he saw her....

Rachel has very mixed feelings about going to Dylan for help.. she has to find out if Gary killed himself or if the accident really was just that.. she knows that Dylan may have some of the answers that she needs or could find out the answers to them. She has always had feelings for Dylan as well but believe that a "special" item was the key to the heart..

your going to want a couple of tissues with this one as well.. Thank you Ms. Freethy for a great book and a great love story!

I am a big Barbara Freethy fan. I usually really enjoy her books. This one is totally blah. The main female character is weak, tepid, timid, immature and in my opinion just stupid. Her sister would have made a better lead. As a result I'm just not interested in her story. I find myself just skipping whole pages on my kindle just to get to the mystery being solved. I would not recommend this book to anyone although I usually enjoy Freethy's books. This one must have been written as filler for her contract. Boring!!

I stayed up very late last night finishing LOVE WILL FIND A WAY. I couldn't put it down. It was a warm-hearted story that has a terrific "ahhh factor" and touches the heart. Barbara Freethy writes books that explore different aspects of modern life, and this one was terrific! I have all her books, and can't wait for the next one.
But don't miss this one!