Starred review from July 1, 2024
Looking at her latest restoration project--an isolated and crumbling lighthouse with expensive problems and rumors of ghosts--Josephina "Joey" Harris cannot help but compare the worn edifice to her own life. Vicious and unfounded accusations about her father's corrupt business practices have ruined her own entrepreneurial efforts and driven the rest of her family out of town. The lighthouse renovation job in Carolina's Outer Banks is a chance to restart her life, but strange happenings on the island might tank the restoration before it really starts. Soon Joey will cross paths with Finnegan O'Hare, who is tortured by past mistakes and just trying to do right by his grandfather but cannot quite get behind Joey's harebrained scheme to bring light back to Bleakpoint Island. There's also a secondary mystery, dating back to World War II when Axis U-boats prowled the East Coast, during which time the former lighthouse keeper and his daughter were lost at sea. VERDICT Will draw fans of redemptive family sagas that cross time and space, such as Amanda Dyke's Set the Stars Alight and Heidi Chiavaroli's Hope Beyond the Waves. Cox (He Should Have Told the Bees) is fast becoming an auto-buy for library collections.
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