The Inn at Oak Creek

Molly Porter had been headed for the Olympics, a member of the women's downhill ski team. Then the unthinkable happened, an accident that took years to recover from. Molly lived; however, her Olympic dream was forever shattered and she carried several scars. With help and support from her loved ones, Molly threw herself into a new career. She left Vermont for Texas and became the hotel manager at the Bluebonnet Inn. She was finally satisfied with her life until a new owner, Sam Kincaid, appeared. Sam was able to look past Molly's scars and see the lovely woman she really was, inside and out. Their professional relationship began to bloom into more. There was one major problem though. Sam had clearly stated how much he wanted to have children. Molly would have to somehow tell him that the accident left her unable to do so. Would her life come crashing down all over again? **** Author Linda Barrett's pen expresses her characters' so well, readers can not help but actually feel the emotions leap off the pages and into their hearts! This book is a wonderful, realistic, feel good romance that I am happy to recommend!

Molly Porter was a strong bet to making the American Olympics downhill ski team until she suffered a terrible career ending accident. Following years of healing Molly reinvents herself as the hotel manager of the Bluebonnet Inn. Though regretting that she never participated on the Olympic stage and that she cannot have children (a side effect of the injury), Molly feels pretty good that her life has come together for the first time since the accident.Sam Kincaid is the new owner of the inn and he wants to sell it so he can stake his return to the finance world. While Sam and Molly disagree over the future of the inn, they fall in love. However, he fears commitment to someone who fails to share his dreams while she believes he deserves a wife who can give him the children he professes that he wants one day.This engaging contemporary romance avoids the soap opera clichés through two wonderful lead protagonists. Sam and Molly grip the audience, as readers want both to obtain their desires, but together, though on the surface that seems illogical and impossible. THE INN AT OAK CREEK is a fine love tale that focuses on the catalyst of love enabling new aspirations to replace shattered hopes.Harriet Klausner

Molly Porter had been headed for the Olympics, a member of the women's downhill ski team. Then the unthinkable happened, an accident that took years to recover from. Molly lived; however, her Olympic dream was forever shattered and she carried several scars. With help and support from her loved ones, Molly threw herself into a new career. She left Vermont for Texas and became the hotel manager at the Bluebonnet Inn. She was finally satisfied with her life until a new owner, Sam Kincaid, appeared. Sam was able to look past Molly's scars and see the lovely woman she really was, inside and out. Their professional relationship began to bloom into more. There was one major problem though. Sam had clearly stated how much he wanted to have children. Molly would have to somehow tell him that the accident left her unable to do so. Would her life come crashing down all over again? **** Author Linda Barrett's pen expresses her characters' so well, readers can not help but actually feel the emotions leap off the pages and into their hearts! This book is a wonderful, realistic, feel good romance that I am happy to recommend! **** Reviewed by Detra Fitch.

Molly Porter. Olympic downhill skier. On top of the world until a tragic accident brings her toppling down.Sam Kincaid. Dot-com entrepreneur. Surfing high on the technology revolution until the wave of online failures brings his companies crashing down.It will take a miracle to bring these two scarred people together-heal them, make them whole. But if anyone can deliver a book full of miracles, it's Linda Barrett.When a near-fatal accident ends Molly's skiing career, she picks herself up again, obtains a degree in hotel management, and starts a new life as assistant manager at the Bluebonnet Hotel in the Texas town of Oak Creek. But when the Bluebonnet's owner dies of a sudden heart attack and his nephew arrives with plans to sell, Molly's life is again thrown into turmoil.Sam Kincaid can't seem to catch a break. His companies are bankrupt, his girlfriend has moved out, leaving him with a message that she's relocating to France, is pregnant with his child, and plans to take care of the problem. Sick at heart, Sam just wants to rebuild his life and his high tech career, but his plans are interrupted when his uncle dies and leaves the Bluebonnet to Sam.It's at the Bluebonnet that Sam meets Molly. Seeing her disability, he wants to protect her. She's obviously competent at her job, but Sam fears she works too hard. Molly does not appreciate what she views as Sam's pity. Sparks fly as these two struggle to run the Bluebonnet together. Over time, Sam and Molly acknowledge their growing attraction, but it seems for every obstacle they overcome, another arises. Molly is upset by Sam's plans to turn the Bluebonnet into another hotel/technology training center, and Sam is shaken when he learns Molly cannot have children. It will take a miracle and then some for Molly and Sam to overcome these obstacles, but Linda Barrett kept me turning pages, desperate to know how Sam and Molly would deal with each new setback.The Inn at Oak Creek is Linda Barrett's fourth novel and her best. She begins the book with a whoosh, and the pace never slows. The characters are real and engaging, the plot is vibrant, and the writing superb. Readers who enjoyed Linda's first novel, Love, Money, and Amanda Shaw, will delight in catching up with Amanda and Zach, Molly's sister and brother-in-law, in this book. If you're looking for a great read, all the amenities included, check into The Inn at Oak Creek.