About the Book

Title: Just Let Go

Author: Courtney Walsh

Release Date: June 5, 2018

Genre: Contemporary Romance

For Quinn Collins, buying the flower shop in downtown Harbor Pointe fulfills a childhood dream, but also gives her the chance to stick it to her mom, who owned the store before skipping town twenty years ago and never looking back. Completing much-needed renovations, however, while also competing for a prestigious flower competition with her mother as the head judge, soon has Quinn in over her head. Not that she’d ever ask for help.

Luckily, she may not need to. Quinn’s father and his meddling friends find the perfect solution in notorious Olympic skier Grady Benson, who had only planned on passing through the old-fashioned lakeside town. But when a heated confrontation leads to property damage, helping Quinn as a community-service sentence seems like the quickest way out—and the best way to avoid more negative press.

Quinn finds Grady reckless and entitled; he thinks she’s uptight and too regimented. Yet as the two begin to hammer and saw, Quinn sees glimpses of the vulnerability behind the bravado, and Grady learns from her passion and determination, qualities he seems to have lost along the way. But when a well-intentioned omission has devastating consequences, Grady finds himself cast out of town—and Quinn’s life—possibly forever. Forced to face the hurt holding her back, Quinn must finally let go or risk missing out on the adventure of a lifetime.

Click here to purchase your copy!

About the Author

Courtney Walsh is a novelist, artist, theater director, and playwright. Her debut novel, A Sweethaven Summer, hit the New York Times and USA Today e-book bestseller lists and was a Carol Award finalist in the debut author category. She has written two more books in the Sweethaven series, as well as two craft books and several full-length musicals. Courtney lives in Illinois with her husband and three children. Visit her online at http://www.courtneywalshwrites.com.

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My Thoughts

I ADORE Courtney Walsh’s novels. She is such a wonderful storyteller. I really, really loved Just Look Up, so I was totally eager to read this sequel. And, boy, does Courtney Walsh deliver with Just Let Go. This book is excellent, and I am definitely adding it to my re-read pile.

One of my very favorite story lines in novels is when the heroine, at first, is NOT impressed by the hero. I like the friction between the two characters, and I love the journey they take to friendship and eventual romance. In Just Let Go, Quinn is definitely not impressed by Grady. In fact, I was not impressed with Grady. He rubbed me the wrong way. But, he really did grow on me. Once I got past his arrogant, tough-guy, cocky persona, I could see his really BIG heart and a ton of pain. Grady’s transformation throughout the story is one of my most favorite aspects. I found it incredibly realistic. He wants to change SO much, but then finds himself falling back into old patterns. He feels guilty and embarrassed by his old patterns, and runs away from people. Some time passes — enough for him to see both sides of a situation — and he knows he needs to apologize for his errors. He apologizes, and then tries again to be the better man. It can be a vicious cycle if these are the only steps we take to “fixing” ourselves. Many times we want to fix ourselves, but we leave out the most important thing — GOD! I can only speak for myself, but I have been there…just like Grady. I’ve been so sure I had changed and grown as a person, only to fall back into old patterns of behavior the second things got stressful or chaotic. I  would go back to lashing out. When I finally calmed down, guilt would set in and I would feel so stupid. I apologized to those I had failed, and then swore to do better next time. But until I recognized that I needed God to be successful, the pattern never changed, similar to what Grady experiences in Just Let Go.

The best part to Grady’s transformation, and my most favorite message in this book, is that real change can only happen if we LET GO and LET GOD. There is a moment in the text where Grady admits he has to “let go of any delusion that he was in control.” I absolutely love the word “delusion.” It perfectly describes all humans who think for one second that they have any control over the events in their lives. Grady goes on to explain how he is choosing to let go and is handing it all to God. He even whisper-prays, “You take control.” I admit that I teared up a little at this point. We humans love to believe that we are the ones in control — that we make the plans. Then, we’re shocked when things don’t go our way. It’s a strange kind of arrogance. But, once we realize that God is the Boss and He is in control of all of our steps in this life, we are set free from this delusion; and, life seems to be a little less out of control. God really is a great manager — we just need to let Him do His job and get out of the way.

Reading Just Let Go was a total blessing for me. There’s about 100 things I could talk about in regards to Quinn, who I am pretty sure is my fictional soul sister. Reading Quinn’s character was like staring into a mirror. I won’t say anything about Quinn and her personal struggles because I don’t want to accidentally give anything away, but she is my most favorite character in this book. She is an exceptionally well-written character.

Just Let Go is excellent on many levels. It’s a really engaging story that’s so fast paced, but it’s more than that. I feel like I went on a journey with these characters. As they were going through stuff, I was forced to look at myself and make changes too. I adore books that allow me to interact and wrestle with the subject material, and then come out of the experience a little better and a little wiser. This book is wonderful, and I highly recommend it. I’m going to stop gushing now so you can run to your nearest bookstore and purchase a copy of this fantastic book!

I received a review copy of this novel in eBook form from the author via Celebrate Lit. In no way has this influenced my review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

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GIVEAWAY

To celebrate her tour, Courtney Walsh is giving away a grand prize of a library of Courtney Walsh’s books and a $25 Amazon gift card!!

Click below to enter.

Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries!

 https://promosimple.com/ps/d0a4/just-let-go-celebration-tour-giveaway

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