Into the Starlight

 Into the Starlight is the third and final book in the Sweetwater Crossing series.  Joanna has come back home after being in Europe for a year.  She is heartbroken in more than one sense: she's been widowed, she has returned home after both of her parents died, and she has lost her capacity to play the piano for long periods of time.  To top it all off, she's pregnant.  The day she arrives back home, Burke Finley and his "aunt" Della have come to Sweetwater Crossing to get some answers.  Della was supposed to marry Burke's uncle, Clive Finley, and he disappeared without a trace.  

There is a fairly large cast of characters roaming through this novel, making up the warp and woof of the town.  It is not hard to keep track of the characters because they have shown up in other books in this series.  

There is a bit of mystery and a couple of romances brewing in this final offering from Sweetwater Crossing. The mystery surrounds Clive's disappearance and who the last people were who saw him.  The pastor finds a fondness for Della and Burke quickly finds himself falling for Joanna.  The love of the three sisters is something I could only wish for my own children. 

Amanda Cabot has a realism in her characters that evoke feelings of comradery and friendship.  Even though her characters live in a bygone era, they are real in the sense of having faults and foibles as well as qualities of genuineness.  I would love to have those sisters as friends.

The only thing that I didn't like in the book is that some of the issues were tied up too neatly as a vehicle to pull the series together.  

A Strong Four Star Book.  

Revell Publishing provided the copy I read for this review.