Finding Hope, by Stacy Finz

Emily and Drew Mathews have had a terrible tragedy in their life, their daughter Hope was abducted from their backyard and has never been found. Emily blames herself because she left Hope outside alone for a few minutes to take a phone call. She and Drew could not take the pressure this brought and they have divorced. Now Emily is lost and alone.

Joe McCreedy and his boys, Justin and Cody, have had tragedy in their lives as well. Joe’s wife and the boys mother has died in a car accident, she was driving while intoxicated. But there is more to the story than just that.

What will happen when Emily and Joe meet? Can healing come for the both of them?

Emily is a food book editor and moves to Nugget, California to escape the past. Joe is a cattle rancher who happens to have been a Navy pilot and war hero who has come home to Nugget to take over the family business, a successful cattle ranch.

A friend of Emily’s is also a friend of Joe’s and arranges for Emily to rent a place to live on Joe’s ranch. The two will bring healing to each other from their past hurts. But it will take a good bit of time.

Emily tries her best to keep her secret about her past, but it follows her even to Nugget. But the people of this small community are much more inclined to be her friend and stay loyal to her than those that lived in the big city.

Stacy Finz writes a very compelling novel that is well developed, well detailed and one that builds up a multitude of characters that you want to embrace and learn even more about their lives.

Even though Joe and Emily are the main characters there are other relationships that develop that add to the story, there are back stories that bring history and intrigue, there is the Nugget Mafia (a bunch of old men who play cards at the barber shop) and the cooking clutch of women, The Baker’s Dozen, who give Emily a new lease on life.

You will fall in love with Stacy Finz’s writing style and will be left wanting more. I know that I was.

For my Religious Readers I will give a disclaimer here, the book has some scenes in it regarding love making that you might want to just skip over, it won’t detract from the book too much as it is just the development of intimacy that you can construe from what happens. This is the new reality of Romance Books, sex sells, but even if you skip it the story is great.

Enjoy!