In Jen Gilroy’s Back Home at Firefly Lake, Cat McGuire and Luc Simard find love and second chances in a heartwarming small-town romance that fans of Women’s Fiction and Susan Wiggs’ The Lakeshore Chronicles will love!
Rafflecopter for Back Home at Firefly Lake Blog Tour Giveaway:
Jen is offering one (1) lucky Grand Prize winner a $25 Amazon Gift Card and a paperback copy of Back Home at Firefly Lake. Five (5) runner-up winners will receive a paperback copy of their choice from the Firefly Lake series! This giveaway is open internationally. To enter, simply fill out the Rafflecopter below:
About Back Home at Firefly Lake (Firefly Lake #3):
Title: Back Home at Firefly Lake
Author: Jen Gilroy
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Women’s Fiction
Release Date: December 5, 2017
Publisher: Forever – Grand Central Publishing
Series: Firefly Lake
She has a million reasons to leave. Can he give her the one she needs to stay?
Cat McGuire’s return to Firefly Lake is turning into much more than she bargained for. Sure, she missed the crisp pine-scented air and the comfort of having her family around her. But being home makes her feel less like the successful single mom she is–and more like the awkward teen who never fit in. It doesn’t help that hockey-pro Luc Simard is back in town, too. Luc was her childhood crush, the hometown hero who never noticed her, and yet somehow he still makes her heart skip a beat.
Luc’s homecoming has been bittersweet. He’s lost his wife and his career, but there’s no better place to start over than Firefly Lake. Coaching the local kids’ hockey team makes him feel alive again, and he thinks his life is complete–until Cat arrives. The shy girl he always wanted to protect is now the gorgeous woman who’s stealing his heart and making him believe in second chances. But how can he convince Cat that Firefly Lake is where she truly belongs?
Now an Amazon Best Book of the Month!
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Excerpt:
Luc’s heart squeezed. [Cat] was embarrassed to ask her family for help, like he’d have been embarrassed asking his. Except, that would never be an issue because he had more money than he could spend in one lifetime. Money to finance the creamery expansion his dad had talked about for years, and to send his folks on that cruise they’d hankered after but could never afford because of the cost of raising four kids and putting most of them through college. Money for everything except what mattered most—taking care of his wife and their child like he’d planned.
“Pay for the hockey registration when your grant comes through.” He tried to smile. “I know you’re good for it.”
“Thanks.” Cat’s voice cracked and she took one hand away from her bag to rub it across her face. “Hockey means everything to Amy. I want her to be able to play, but she’s growing so fast right now.”
“Hockey’s an expensive sport.” He slid an arm around her shoulders and gave her a little squeeze. The same kind of friendly squeeze he’d given her all those times back in high school when she’d saved his butt in chemistry. Before today, however, his fingers had never tingled when he’d touched Cat. His body had never heated, either.
Cat started and pulled away at the same instant he did. “Hockey can be a dangerous sport too, and now Amy will be playing with boys. She hasn’t played with boys since she was seven. She could get hurt.
Like he had, hurt so bad it had ended his career. “Amy’s playing minor hockey. At her age, there is a rule about no body checking.” He tried to make his tone reassuring. “I promise I’ll keep a close eye on her.” It was his job as her coach, and he’d do the same for any kid. It had nothing to do with the strange and unexpected attraction he all of a sudden had for this woman he’d known his whole life, who he’d never really looked at until today.
A woman who wasn’t Maggie. Luc’s stomach clenched in a tangled lump of guilt and grief, tied tight with a slippery ribbon of disloyalty. Maggie was never coming back, but that didn’t mean Luc could forget her. Or that he wanted to.
(Copyright © Back Home at Firefly Lake 2017 by Jen Gilroy)
Tracey’s Review
Cat McGuire has mixed feelings about returning to her hometown of Firefly Lake, Vermont. She never quite fit in, preferring to spend time with her studies and her books to joining in with the other kids, and being back is enough to make her forget all of the successes she’s had since leaving. Luc Simard, hometown hero, was good at everything, but never made Cat feel anything less than accepted. Now that both are back in town, the feelings of friendship that they’d always shared are growing into something that neither one expected, and they’re not quite sure what to do about it.
Cat and Luc are both somewhat shut down in matters of the heart. While Cat has put her all into raising her daughter on her own, she hasn’t found a place in her heart to trust men. Both her father and the father of her child haven’t given her any good reason to open herself up, and it isn’t until seeing how much love has changed her brother, and reconnecting with her friend Luc, that Cat’s heart begins to make room for love.
Since the death of his wife, Luc has closed himself off emotionally. The guilt that he feels for choices that he made, and the way that things played out, has made him unable to even entertain the idea of another chance at love. Until Cat, that is. Because he’s seeing her in a completely different light, and it isn’t long before he can’t but give in to the feelings that he has.
When I reviewed SUMMER AT FIREFLY LAKE, the previous book in this heartwarming and feel-good series by author Jen Gilroy, I commented that sometimes going back home, to a place, and a group of people, is not only possible, but necessary. Jen cements this sentiment beautifully in BACK HOME AT FIREFLY LAKE, the third book in this series, and her most recent release. Full of redemption, passion, and second chances, BACK HOME AT FIREFLY LAKE is an emotional read that makes is easy to believe in the power of love. This small town, peopled with strong families and friends, is a pleasure to spend time in, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Cat and Luc get their chance at love. It is an easy 4 stars for me, and perfect for readers that enjoy a small town setting, supportive, if interfering, family and friends, and a sense of rightness that comes with finding out that you’ve ended up exactly where you’re supposed to be.
Other Books in the Firefly Lake Series:
The Cottage at Firefly Lake
Some mistakes can never be fixed and some secrets never forgiven … but some loves can never be forgotten.
Charlotte Gibbs wants nothing more than to put the past behind her, once and for all. Yet now that she’s back at Firefly Lake to sell her mother’s cottage, the overwhelming flood of memories reminds her of what she’s been missing. Sun-drenched days. Late-night kisses that still shake her to the core. The gentle breeze off the lake, the scent of pine in the air, and the promise of Sean’s touch on her skin…True, she got her dream job traveling the world. But at what cost?
Sean Carmichael still doesn’t know why Charlie disappeared that summer, but after eighteen years, a divorce, and a teenage son he loves more than anything in the world, he’s still not over her. All this time and her body still fits against his like a glove. She walked away once when he needed her the most. How can he convince her to stay now?
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Summer on Firefly Lake
Sometimes love is better the second time around.
Mia Gibbs spent her marriage putting her husband’s needs before her own. And now, after a painful divorce, she’s building a new life for herself and her two daughters back home at Firefly Lake. The last thing she needs is a man to complicate things. But former bad boy turned friend Nick McGuire—and the one kiss they’ve shared—has turned everything upside down.
Attorney Nick McGuire wasn’t meant to be a family man. His career has always been his focus, and after taking time out to help his mother, he’s ready to get back to the city…until Mia and her daughters arrive at Firefly Lake. Mia is beautiful and intriguing, and it doesn’t take long to realize being “just friends” will never be enough. As the summer nights turn colder, Nick will have to choose between the life he’s always wanted…and the woman he can’t live without.
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About Jen Gilroy:
Jen Gilroy lives in a small town in eastern Ontario, Canada where her Irish ancestors settled in the nineteenth century. She’s worked in higher education and international marketing but, after spending too much time in airports and away from her family, traded the 9-5 to write romantic women’s fiction to bring readers’ hearts home.
Jen likes ice cream, diners, vintage style and all things country. Her husband is her real-life romance hero, and her teen daughter teaches her to cherish the blessings in the everyday.
The Cottage at Firefly Lake, the first book in her Firefly Lake series, was a finalist for Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart® award in 2015. It was also shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Joan Hessayon Award 2017.
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