From Booklist
Luke Boudreau arrived in Grover, Mississippi, one cold, rainy February to pay his respects to the bereaved mother of his Ranger team member and friend, Calvin Abbott, only to discover that in all their years of service together in special ops, Abbott had neglected to mention he was married. Feeling guilty over the nature of Abbott's death, and unsettled by Abbott's habitual infidelity, Luke nevertheless finds himself attracted to the lovely Analise. She, in turn, sees Luke's efforts to assuage his own conscience by helping the Abbotts make a success of their nursery as an attempt to usurp her peace of mind and her place in the family. In the best tradition of contemporary southern small-town romances, this story begins with an eye-opener and continues to surprise right up to the end, drawing the reader into the setting with a warm and hospitable welcome. Lynne Welch
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Book Description
A story of duty and sacrifice for family and country, of forgiveness and loss, of finding your way to the home of your heart. Army Ranger Luke Boudreau commanded a secret mission that went horribly awry. The physical wounds he takes away from the experience are inconsequential compared to his guilt for the loss of a fellow soldier -- a man who will never be recognized for his bravery because of the covert nature of their operation. When Luke is recovered enough, he travels to Grover, Mississippi to pay his respects to the woman who gave her son to the service of his country. He must do so in a way that doesn't reveal the true circumstances of the man's death. He braces himself for a mother's bitter anger, secretly hoping this encounter will begin to deliver him from torment. However, what he finds in Grover is far from either recrimination or absolution. He is quickly drawn into a family that desperately needs his help -- a younger brother bent on self-destruction and a mother with a secret burden of her own. And most shocking of all, he discovers a beautiful widow he didn't know exhisted -- a woman who tempts him to break his own moral code.


From the Author
I hope you'll enjoy MAGNOLIA SKY, the third book in the Glens Crossing series. Luke Boudreau is the brother of Lily Holt of the second novel, THE ROAD HOME. Luke has traveled half-way around the world more times than he can count, but finds the most difficult battle he'll ever have to face is in a small Mississippi town that is much like the Indiana town where he was born. BACK ROADS, the first in this series, is an award winning debut novel. The final novel in this series is PROMISES TO KEEP (March 2005), which returns to Indiana with the youngest Boudreau, Molly, who risks everything to protect a baby entrusted to her by a murdered friend.


About the Author
Indiana native, Susan Crandall grew up in a small town, loving the fact that if you didn't know someone, you at least knew of them -- or their aunt, or their cousin, or the person who cuts their hair. She's taken the warmth and emotion of that sense of community and flavored her books, drawing fond memories from those who've lived in a small town, and a quiet yearning from those who have not. After a few years in the big city (Chicago), she returned to her Indiana hometown where she lives with her husband, two college-age children, a menagerie of pets, and a rock band in the basement.

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