Emerald Heart - by Grace Greene (Paperback)

About the Book

Against the backdrop of Bogue Sound on Emerald Isle, Mignon King's journey to break from the past unfolds within the walls of The Emerald Heart Hotel-an old property that was once a shared dream with her deceased husband Arthur.

Book Synopsis

Welcome to The Emerald Heart Hotel - The sign on the big gate is faded, and the gate is usually locked because the hotel closed two years ago when Mignon King lost her husband. His death, on top of the loss of their daughter many years before, has Mignon mired in grief. But it's more than grief that has her trapped. Before she can move on, she must decide what to do with the hotel she and her husband owned and managed for more than two decades. She lives there alone with her dog, Galahad, though even Mignon would hardly call it living. She wants to be happy again, to find a new way forward, but she's stuck.

Her longtime friend, Dominick, a real estate agent, wants her to sell the hotel property. Old hotel aside, the acreage alone in the town of Emerald Isle and fronting on Bogue Sound, is valuable and will bring many offers, but that's also part of the problem. Mignon loves the Emerald Heart property and feels responsible for it and wants to protect her husband's memory. What might new owners do with the property? What might they destroy?

On a strange day in early September, a man shows up unexpectedly on her dock. He's charming. And he's interested in the Emerald Heart property. On that same day, her long-estranged sister-in-law, Jeanette, returns, and Mignon's troubles magnify as Jeannette's arrival stirs up old anger and creates a volatile, emotional mix. Disquieting things begin to happen around the property, worrying Mignon. She knows she must make a decision, but she doesn't know how to break with the past and move forward.

Dominick, Blake, Jeanette-who stands to gain if Mignon decides to sell? Who can she trust?

And the past . . . its hold on her is so strong that she's not even sure she can trust herself.

Review Quotes

Sometimes Life Just Breaks You. If you find yourself in this place, this is the kind of book you *need* to read. It will hurt. You will cry. But maybe, just maybe, you'll find a modicum of catharsis here too.

Told with Greene's usual great care to characterization and description, you're both going to feel like you're there on Emerald Isle with these characters *and* you're going to feel their issues as though there were your own. Because, again, Greene shows us that no matter where we are in life, at some point nearly all of us will see ourselves in at least one of these characters and what they are going through in theirs.

And there, there is where Greene truly shows Grace - and hope.

Very much recommended - Five Stars - by Jeff (BookAnon)

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What an amazingly beautiful, heartbreaking, while also heartwarming story! Mignon has had more than her share of loss and sadness in her life. First she loses her daughter at such a young age and then just a few years ago, her husband dies. She is the lonely widow living on the hill in a huge place that is getting more run down every day.

Of course, there are swarms of people wanting to purchase her property but Mignon is not sure she is ready to move on with her life. Maybe she's content to live in this old, closed down hotel that is full of her memories and love. She does have her faithful dog to keep her company, so there is that.

The stranger on the beach, her estranged sister-in-law who suddenly appears back in her life, and her long time realtor friend all seem to want something different from her but she doesn't even know what she wants for herself.

Grace Greene always writes very descriptive, beautiful stories that make me want to escape to the world she has created. I want to be a part of her characters' lives and be their friend. I devoured Emerald Heart and as Ms. Greene has written sequels for some of her previous books, I'm really hoping I'll get to visit the Emerald Heart again. I just feel like there are more stories there. I highly recommend Emerald Heart! - Five Stars - Susan (The Book Bag)