Firefly Beach ~ Luanne Rice

Under the summer sky, anything is possible....

Coolly sophisticated and steadfastly single, Caroline Renwick has always been the sister everyone could count on. As she and Clea and Skye gathered at Firefly Hill, their childhood home, Caroline thought that they had all put the past behind them. But as summer gets under way, a mysterious man arrives -- a man who has the power to bring it all back....

Joe Connor was only six when his father died at Firefly Hill. Though he and Caroline had never met, the five-year-old girl reached out to him. They became pen pals and friends, until a teenaged Joe finally learned the truth about what had happened to his father that night. Now, after years of silence, Joe is suddenly here ... and Caroline still feels a connection. But she can't help but wonder if this handsome man holds the key to her family's healing -- or its destruction. And in his presence, how long will she be able to guard her heart?
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This is my first Luanne Rice novel and it will not be the last. This was a great book, so great and well written I was crying by the end of it. There were so many layers to this story. I was expecting a fluff love story, which in some small way I got, and so much more. A dysfunctional family was really the main line of story, but it was with the struggle the family fought to correct the wrongs of their past that I noticed the layering and depth.

There was the most adorable dog 'character' in the book. I say character, because he was so much a part of the family it was through him you could see the family learning to move forward. I'm curious if her future books, family pets play a pivotal part of the story developement or if this just the way of this story.