Healing In The Woodlands

‘Woodlands’ by Robin Jones Gunn is book 7 in the Glenbrooke Series of 8. This is a contemporary Christian romance series. Each book can be read separately, but Glenbrooke is a small town where everyone knows everyone, so you will run across other people from the other books in the series. This takes place about 3 ½ years after book 6.

Leah Hudson is the youngest of six girls and works in reception in the local hospital. She is seen as a helper, someone who you can count on to help out with various programs and projects, but no one has ever seen her as a serious possibility for a future wife. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride; until a stranger comes to town.

Seth Edwards has recently moved to a nearby town and gotten a job in Glenbrooke as a delivery man. His great-uncle Franklin Madison lives in town and not in great shape, so he had a likely reason why he moved there. But his real reason is more serious and private.

When the two of them get to talking, they find that they had similar upbringings and have many similar likes and dislikes. With some minor things, like Leah has wanted to explore the world and Seth has. He did his senior year in an exchange program Europe and then back packed for a while afterwards. He did return home to go to college, but then got a job in Costa Rica. Leah doesn’t understand why he would come back to boring America after being in those exotic countries. He explained that although those places where fun to visit and live for a while, none of them felt like home.

Leah has a secret too. Kenton, the editor and owner of the small town newspaper, wrote about a person who went around town doing good deeds anonymously and named them ‘The Glenbrooke Zorro’. Seth is the only one to figure out that Leah is that person. She just keeps an eye out for people who might need help. Like the people who had just had a baby and then the father had a hernia surgery a week later. So she bought them some groceries and diapers and left them on their doorstep. She’s also the one who left groceries for Jessica in the first book. Actually that was her first good deed.

There are some surprises in store for them and Leah has some bitterness she has to work through. This is a good book and a great continuation of the series. It comes in book and e-book formats.