by Melissa Meyers
Welcome to Deep Haven, a fictional town, set along the northern shores of Lake Superior. This actually is a series of six books and has a short story Christmas collection. So if you are looking for something to get you over the winter blues this just might be the series for you. The creator of this world is USA Today’s best selling author, Susan May Warren. She has a heart for mentorship and raising up new authors. So, she created a publishing house, Sunrise Publishing, that does just that.
For this series, she brought along three new authors to write two books a piece in the Deep Haven Collection, Rachel D. Russell, Andrea Christenson, and Michelle Sass Aleckson. They are the authors of the books, but Warren was their mentor and coach throughout the process. With the authors, she worked hard to create a uniform voice, so the world and characters read cohesively.
This combination created some light hearted fun romantic reads. I’ll briefly cover the first three books.
Still the One by Rachel D. Russell: This book focuses on the story of recently divorced former ranger, Cole Barrett, who returns reluctantly to Deep Haven to put his grandfather’s house on the market. His goal is to accomplish this as quick as possible to escape the past that haunts him. Little did he know that he would run into Megan Carter, his childhood crush, who he once promised to marry. She is living in the garage apartment that his grandfather rented out, with her nine-year-old son, and refuses to move. Cole lives in the main house, while he is getting ready to sell it. The close next door proximity causes them to continually bump into each other, until they are forced to confront that their feelings from all those years earlier still exists.
Can’t Buy Me Love by Andrea Christenson: I have to share that Andrea is a personal friend of mine from childhood. She was a church friend of one of my best friends growing up. She is now a pastor’s wife with two lovely daughters. I remember that she always loved to read, and it has been fun for me to read her books. Can’t Buy Me love is a modern day Cinderella tale that begins when Ella Bradley, housekeeper and cleaning- product-entrepreneur, gets stuck in an elevator with the adult son of a real estate tycoon, Adrian Vassos. They instantly clash in the elevator, but serendipity brings them together again, in the form of community service. The irritation that they had when they first met each other begins to subside into something else.
Crazy for You by Michelle Sass Aleckson: Former soldier, Veronica Morales, otherwise known as Ronnie, moves to Deep Haven to for a paramedic job on a crisis response team. She brings along her little brother, Tiago, because she wants him to grow up in a safer place, outside the influence of the gangs in his neighborhood. In her new role as community paramedic she meets Fire Chief, Peter Dahlquist, who is related to almost everyone in town. The two hit it off and become fast friends. Peter is caught up between his two extended families when he is the swaying vote for a landmark project. When Tiago gets into some trouble, the town blames him for a tragedy. Then Peter has to chose who he is going to support. Will he support his new girlfriend or the people of the town that raised him?
Melissa Meyers is co-editor of The Stir, wife to John, and mother to Malcolm (20) and Emily (17). She is a Neonatal Nurse and Creative Writer, who is always looking for ways to communicate God’s truth through stories. She is the author of, Beneath the Ancient Dust: Inspirational Stories from Nine Years in Afghanistan and The Snow Trillium. Her hobbies are drinking coffee, reading, and taking long walks. She will accept an invitation for coffee anytime and loves to hear how God is working in your life.