Sweetbriar Cottage

Book description:  " Noah and Josephine Mitchell discover their divorce was never actually finalized, their lives are turned upside down.

Following his divorce, Noah gave up his dream job, settling at a remote horse ranch in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Georgia, putting much-needed distance between himself and the former love of his life. But then Noah gets a letter from the IRS claiming he and Josephine are still married. When he confronts Josephine for the first time in months, they discover that she missed the final step in filing the paperwork and they are, in fact, still married.

Josephine is no happier about the news than Noah. Maybe the failed marriage—and okay, the botched divorce—was her fault, but her heart was shattered right alongside his, more than he would ever believe. The sooner they put this marriage behind them, the better for both of their sakes.

But when Josephine delivers the final paperwork to his ranch, the two become stranded in his cottage during the worst spring snowstorm in a decade. Being trapped with Josephine is a test of Noah’s endurance. He wrestles with resentment and an unmistakable pull to his wife—still beautiful, still brave, and still more intriguing than any woman he’s ever known.

As they find themselves confronted with each other and their shared past, old wounds surface and tempers flare. But when they are forced out into the storm, they must rely on each other in a way they never have before. Josephine finally opens up about her tragic past, and Noah realizes she’s never been loved unconditionally by anyone—including him. Will Noah accept the challenge to pursue Josephine’s heart? And can she finally find the courage to trust Noah?"

My review:  While the book description gives the impression that at least part of the plot is fun and light-hearted, it really is the absolute opposite. There are definitely some light-hearted and funny moments, but the author, Denise Hunter, delves into some very difficult subjects. The story unfolds carefully, and I appreciated the "flashbacks" that gave a lot of the back story. It would take much more than one book to really unpack the depth and gravity some of these topics contain, but for the amount of space she had in one book, Denise Hunter handled it very well. Some of the circumstances that Noah and Josephine found themselves in were a bit unrealistic, at least with all of them put together in just a few short days. But this is a work of fiction after all, so that is to be expected to some degree anyway. I really enjoyed this book and wish that it wasn't a stand-alone novel so that I could read more about Noah and Josephine. I received a copy of this book from the publisher through the Booklook Blogger Program. All opinions are my own.