Esmerelda is a small town where stories and gossip spread unmercifully like a rampaging wild fire. Willow Mackenzie was an unfortunate victim of Esmerelda's small town wickedness. She was an innocent high school student with many good things going for her plus the passionate love of JW Dalton. He was next in line to become sheriff.
Upset with their good fortune, his cousin, Kenny Miller, and her mother had other plans in store for the two lovebirds.

Willow's mother and Kenny were sinking deeper into the drug lifestyle. They disliked JW and Willow's close relationship and happiness. They also didn't like the fact that his becoming the sheriff could make some serious problems for their drug use activities. So they set about to destroy the relationship no matter what the cost.

Willow was too young and naive at the time to withstand negative suspicions and humiliation. She left town for the next ten years only to return upon her mother's death to settle some legal loose ends, face her fears and try to make amends with her first and only true love, JW.

JW had always loved her. He found it almost impossible to get over the terrible things she was accused of doing and was unable to proceed with his life. All of his thoughts, his heart and soul still belonged to Willow. Her returning to Esmerelda, no longer as a young girl but now as a beautiful woman, caused emotions and curiosity once again to stir deep inside JW, prompting him to also face the difficult unanswered questions he'd had locked inside for so many years.

Their relationship was renewed, empowered, validated and taken to a new level once they did some investigating and learned the truth behind the scandalous set up that separated them for all those years.

Those who supposedly loved her had caused everything that was ruined and taken from her. Her mother's greed, desperation for drugs and lies destroyed Willow's heart, soul and self esteem for years, leaving her with a dark and empty longing to recapture that complete happiness she lost, finding solace only in her memories.

This story has strong passion, suspense and romance from beginning to end. The story line was quite real and believable. I can totally relate to the main character as I lost a wonderful love once to an unfortunate misunderstanding and never got the opportunity to make amends or discuss what happened. Tastefully executed romantic interludes between main characters made it quite enjoyable. I really liked reading this book. It was a nice smooth read. It held my interest and I was able to complete it in about thirty minutes. I would recommend this book to others.

twoschues
© July 2004