"Absorbing, sweet and beautifully written..."

• ASIN: ‎ B0CPHFWCHF
• Publisher: ‎ Black Rose Writing (March 28, 2024)
• Publication date: ‎ March 28, 2024
• Language: ‎ English
• Print length: ‎ 328 pages
• Genre:  American Historical Romance

The BookViral Review:

An engaging and charmingly written story that has an absorbing and life-affirming quality Elizabeth’s Mountain is a novel that will have its readers lingering on its pages and reflecting on the happenstance of life.

A multi-generational romance that returns us, if only for a couple of hours, to our dreams it’s one of those reads that’s pretty hard to resist as a guilty pleasure and one that may well wring a tear or two from its readers.

With so many new releases in the romance genre, the majority feel quite archaic, like dusty relics that have been unearthed from an antique store’s attic and polished off for publication but refreshingly Guarino gives her readers something fresh and unpredictable.

At its core Elizabeth’s Mountain is a story about falling in love and looking back on it, and it’s a credit to Guarino that she sidesteps many of the genre’s syrupy dangers as she navigates disparate timelines. There’s no sap-weeping dialogue or mind-numbing contrivance. It’s also one of those increasingly rare novels that treat people in the latter years as though their feelings were just as intense and their needs just as valid as those of people half their age.

When an unexpected and refreshingly tender bond swiftly forms between Amanda and Jesse, they bring out the best in one another and Guarino is able to move us, one small step at a time, into the hearts of her characters. But Elizabeth’s Mountain is first and foremost Elizabeth’s story, and it’s a beautiful story, filled with warmth and compassion as her relationship with Joe blossoms into love and marriage. But when you turn the last page, you’re not thinking, “My, what a lovely story!” When you turn the last page of Elizabeth’s Mountain, you think, “I’m really going to miss these folks,” because they feel so authentic.

Absorbing, sweet and beautifully written Elizabeth’s Mountain proves a superb debut from Guarino and is unreservedly recommended!