A #25PagePreview Book Spotlight | “Light the Way” (Book One: Lighthouse Sisters series) by Lin Stepp

Acquired Book By: I started hosting with Prism Book Tours at the end of [2017], having noticed the badge on Tressa’s blog (Wishful Endings) whilst I was visiting as we would partake in the same blog tours and/or book blogosphere memes. I had to put the memes on hold for several months (until I started to resume them (with Top Ten Tuesday) in January 2018). When I enquired about hosting for Prism, I found I liked the niche of authors and stories they were featuring regularly. This is how I came to love discovering the Harlequin Heartwarming authors & series as much as it has been an honour to regularly request INSPY stories and authors. Whenever I host for Prism, I know I am in for an uplifting read and a journey into the stories which give me a lot of joy to find in my readerly queue of #nextreads. It is an honour to be a part of their team of book bloggers.

I received a complimentary copy of “Light the Way” direct from author Lin Stepp in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

On what draws me into Southern Romances & Lowcountry stories:

For many years now, I’ve appreciated reading Southern Contemporary stories and Southern Romances whilst my fascination with the sea-centric Lowcountry of South Carolina’s region has always held a strong interest since I used to follow the lives and blogs of the ladies behind Southern Belle View which was a blog for INSPY writers writing about the South – from Texas and Mississippi straight over into the Carolinas. There is a whole new appreciation for these kinds of stories when you place characters by the ocean and let their lives set to the rhythm of the sea as it is altogether a different kind of lifestyle.

It was one of the Southern Belle View authors who first tipped my hat towards knowing about Edisto Island but within the opening pages of “Light the Way” Stepp outlines the location and the outlying areas of this watery region very well as it is all interconnected by waterways in one fashion or another. It is a place I haven’t seen on the Eastern starboard of the States but one that I tend to read about off/on as I find certain voices in Southern Contemporary to be a keen fit for me as a reader.

Light the Way
Subtitle: The Lighthouse Sisters Book One
by Lin Stepp
Source: Author via Prism Book Tours

In this new coastal series, Lin Stepp transports her readers into the rich, colorful lives of Burke and her sisters, Lila, Gwen, and Celeste, who grew up at the Deveaux Inn and Lighthouse on a windswept island, accessible only by boat. Get ready to be introduced to the ups and downs, joys and sorrows, challenges and adventures of a Lighthouse Keeper.

Life had grown hard for Burke Deveaux at the family inn and lighthouse since her father died. She missed his warmth and still expected to see him walking into a room, his big laugh booming. Burke and her mother were gradually adjusting to the change, and Lila had come home this winter to help, but the workload was heavy. With spring coming and tourism picking up in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Burke welcomed Hal Jenkins’ request for his son Waylon to work for them. Waylon, retiring early from the Navy, knew the island and the lighthouse, having grown up nearby. Burke also knew Waylon well since they’d grown up together. He’d always been older, and she wondered how he’d see her now.

Waylon had been away from Edisto Island for over twelve years now, traveling around the world in the military, but it felt good to be home. He’d hated learning Lloyd Deveaux was gone, the warm-hearted Lighthouse Keeper he’d followed around as a boy. But he liked the idea of coming to stay at the lodge at Watch Island to help the Deveaux family with the inn, lighthouse, and nearly five-hundred acres of land the Lighthouse Station occupied. He knew Burke had picked up many of her father’s old tasks and he looked forward to seeing her again. He’d kept feelings for her clamped down for years but one look at her brought them surging back. How would he handle that with them working together?

Genres: Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Romance Fiction, Contemporary Romance

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 979-8985368123

Published by Mountain Hill Press

on 1st April, 2022

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 292

Lighthouse Sisters series:

Light the Way (Book One)

Lighten my Heart (Book Two)

Light in the Dark (Book Three)

The Light Continues (Book Four)

Formats Available: Trade Paperback and Ebook

Converse on Twitter via: #ContemporaryRomance & #EdistoIsland or #LighthouseSisters

| Light the Way by Lin Stepp |

Initially, your following in the footsteps of Burke – one of the Lighthouse sisters who live in a more remote section of Edisto Island in South Carolina. You tuck into her thoughts and start to see how her life is playing out being one of the lighthouse keepers – a job that is much more involved than people might first realise. It was here where Stepp first develops the rhythm and the tone she wants to have shifting forward in the story – where we take a bit of a slower turning through Burke’s life and find ourselves at a quieter place to live and work.

Here it is an intentional kind of living – where you take stock of the moments moreso than the hours and the beauty of the natural environment round you. There was one sentimental moment involving starfish which was especially pertinent – about how sometimes their presence can be a forbearance of change and how delicate life is for all of us. Stepp has a very gentle voice as a writer – where she leads you through her story by showcasing her characters each in line with each other. As it doesn’t take long to recognise this is a family operation – the lighthouse, the Inn and the ways in which this family has offered to have the outside world spend time within their own section of the Island. A kindness of sorts as this is a place outside of the sphere of regular time.

Stepp didn’t waste time to bring in another character who I felt was going to anchour us to the progression of movement to the story – Waylon was retiring from the Navy and needed a jump-start on civilian life. It felt like a perfect transition for him to become a part of Burke’s family business as he could still be close to the sea. This is a close-knit community – everyone knows each other and they have a firm sense of duty in helping each other out whenever work is needed to be done. This work ethic is part of the backbone of the story Stepp assembled and you can understand why as you read the opening chapters.

Lila is Burke’s younger sister – who stood out to me the most because she’s the artist of the two and has a kind spirit about herself. She takes time to let life alight on her shoulders and through her artistry she finds ways to say things others might overlook. She’s one of those deep thinkers who seeings the beauty and the darkness and tries to find a middle path between the two to find the inspiration she needs for both art and life. I felt she was going to be the focus of one of the stories in the series as soon as I met her on the page.

What was interesting of course, is how Burke and Waylon reunited – it wasn’t the kind of reunion I was expecting and I felt, Waylon would have agreed with me. Burke was letting her emotions overtake her when it came to Waylon – for whichever reason, she saw him more of a threat to her lifestyle than an asset which felt a bit strange to me as Stepp was setting the foundation of how this cosy comfortable close-knit community ebbed and flowed through the help of others; where neighbours were more like extended family members. It was true, he’d been gone for awhile working on his career in the Navy but his homecoming felt a bit too stilted for me to find believable because I couldn’t fathom why Burke would suddenly feel cold towards him.

The pacing slowed down considerably for me in the opening chapters – where I almost wish I could have seen more of what was being disclosed through the characters rather than feeling as if I were listening to the story being told to me directly. It is a different approach to how a story can evolve and sometimes I find these kinds of stories a bit harder to take root and stock inside as everything tends to take-on a neat and tidy pace of disclosure. Part of me was curious about how the four sisters (as Burke has three sisters) had grown up in this curious space of rivers and inlets which led into the sea but part of me was also finding the texture of how the story was told to be difficult to find my way inside the narrative.

Which is why I found myself feeling pulled out of the story rather than compelled to continue reading it at this time. I was also confused why a missing woman was mentioned in the storyline who is so far removed from Edisto Island that it just didn’t seem to jive with the story at hand. I know people like to talk about current events and the news but that slice of real life didn’t seem to fit within the context of what Stepp had already established for this novel. I wasn’t sure if it was referencing a larger part of this world or was just added to establish a part of the world outside the island community – whichever way it was intended I felt it just muddled the story a bit by focusing on something that didn’t need to be shared.

I am blessed to host for: Prism Book Tours

Sharing on behalf of the blog tour:

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