Dancing With Fireflies by Denise Hunter

Jade returns home to Chapel Springs after having been gone years. She's been protecting her heart – ever since her high school sweetheart and fiancée was killed in an auto accident. She was reluctant to date but had tried. The last one ended in agony as she was drugged and date raped. Now she is returning home – pregnant.

Daniel has been Jade's friend since grade school. He has practically been a member of her family since then. He's like a brother, a brother who is now mayor of Chapel Springs. But he has loved Jade all these years and now she is back in town.

Jade struggles to make a new life for herself. It is difficult to tell her parents, even leaving out the worst part. And Daniel is so good to her, giving her a job in the mayor's office.

We readers struggle too. We know Jade and Daniel are made for each other, but there are just so many problems in the way. Jade has been hurt so many times and is so fragile. And Daniel, well his parents see him running for congress. A pregnant woman is not in the picture.

Jade also struggles with her faith in God. It is so hard for her to trust Him, after all that has happened.

This might seem like a thin plot. In the hands of a less skilled writer, it might be. But Hunter does a terrific job of taking us through all of the feelings Jade and Daniel experience. Our hearts ache with them. We want them to somehow overcome all those obstacles and enter into the romance we know they are to have.

This novel is a well written and moving one.

I am taking part in a blog tour of this book. You can read other reviews here. 

Denise Hunter is a bestselling author whose books have won The Holt Medallion Award, The Reader's Choice Award, The Foreword Book of the Year Award, and a RITA finalist. She lives in Indiana with her husband and their three sons. You can find out more about her and her books at www.denisehunterbooks.com.

Thomas Nelson, 352 pages. You can purchase a copy here.

I received a complimentary egalley of this nook through Litfuse Publicity for the purpose of an independent and honest review.