Review Detail

A Walk in the Sun is an endearing romance that tugs at the heartstrings ever so slightly. Grief hits people in different ways, strengthening some and breaking others. Rose Darrow is the former. She's still dealing with the loss of her mother when we pick up her story. Not only that, but she has a dad who has all but checked out, leaving a teenage girl to run the family farm lest they lose it. Not only is it a big responsibility, but it's the one thing holding her back as she graduates high school and her friends go on to bigger and better things outside their small town.

In comes Bodhi. He left his broken home at a young age to wander the country taking temporary jobs, mostly on farms. He feels more at home in a barn than just about anywhere else. But, he also feels stuck, like it's time for a drastic change - a new adventure that will start at the end of the summer.
What he didn't count on was meeting someone he'd be willing to stay for. His love for her is a bit like insta-love, but it takes quite a while for either of them to admit their feelings and their entire relationship is overshadowed by a ticking clock. She knows he's leaving. He knows he's leaving. There can be no future, right? Not when Rose has a duty to her family.

Bodhi helps her work through the remaining threads of grief as she helps him move past the things that have happened to him. It's a relationship based on mutual support. The chemistry between them is well-done and Rose is the kind of character you root for with every ounce of your being. She's strong in the face of everything life has thrown her way. She's eighteen-years-old and having to make hard decisions about her future. Her loyalty to her family and the family business in endearing.
I liked Bodhi, but there's not as much of a connection there. That might be because things with Rose get more personal, but I didn't feel for him in the same way.

The true star of the show here is the setting. The author does a wonderful job of putting the reader in small town America and making them feel like part of the family. For those who've never lived on a farm, there's a romance about it that's taken apart here. Some scenes seemed idyllic, but the story paints it in a much more life-like fashion with hard work and commitment.

The story is very long and moves forward quite slowly, leaving the reader behind occasionally with it's seemingly inconsequential scenes, but it picks up in the right places and ends in an exciting fashion. I couldn't imagine a better conclusion that the one we were given. Happily-ever-afters are complicated and don't come without conflict, but at the end of the day, they are just about the sweetest thing in literature.

A Walk in the Sun is an enjoyable, sweet romance that highlights some of the harder parts of life with an adept skill, giving the reader plenty of awe worthy moments they can truly relate to.