A Secret at Tansy Falls by Cate Woods

 Last May I made my first visit to Tansy Falls in the company of Cate Woods, and fell in love with this charming corner of Vermont.  I was therefore delighted to be invited to participate in the blog tour for its sequel, A Secret at Tansy Falls.  Tansy Falls is the same place with the same quirky population, but time has moved on a few months, and the main focus of this story is Connie, who manages the lovely Covered Bridge Inn, for its owners.

 Publisher's description:-

 The old farmhouse at Tansy Falls. A little patch of paradise in the hills of Vermont. Home to happy couple Connie and Nate. And a long-buried secret that will ignite a devastating spark…

As the summer sun sets over the sleepy Vermont town of Tansy Falls, Connie is reminded of how lucky she is. Every day, when she leaves the job she loves, managing the Covered Bridge Inn with her best friend Piper, she looks forward to returning to the farmhouse she shares with her husband Nate. At home, her flowerbeds overflow with day lilies and the weathered brick walls of her beautiful house glow in the evening light. The air is filled with the scent of the puffed apple pancakes she prepared that morning.

But one night, when Nate returns home, he is distant. He and Connie have been married for a long time, and while the laughter and lingering kisses have dwindled, Connie believed they would be together forever. So when a stranger arrives on their doorstep with a shocking secret about Nate, Connie’s life changes beyond all recognition.

Connie never thought she’d need to start over and live a life without Nate by her side. But as her heart breaks, Piper and the team at the inn are ready to help stitch it back together, with thoughtful advice washed down with warm spiced cider. As Connie begins to feel whole again, distraction arrives in the form of olive-skinned, broad-shouldered newcomer James. Nate has taught Connie that she doesn’t need a man, but James’s arrival helps her discover that she can follow her own dreams too. But as more secrets come to the surface, Connie wonders if she’ll ever truly be able to leave behind her past for good.

What I thought

Change is afoot in Tansy Falls as a new resort is being developed on the hillside.  Connie feels concerned that it will pose serious competition for the Inn, and that they need to up their game.  Her home life is also under strain, as her husband Nate seems to be becoming increasingly withdrawn and remote after twenty years of marriage, and she wonders what is going wrong and why he doesn't seems to care so much any more.  Both Connie and Nate and the wider community have challenges to face and secrets to discover in the course of this book, and I was really rooting for their survival and success.  Connie has challenges, temptation and potential change to come to terms with, but will she make the right choices?

Cate Woods has further developed the world she created in the first book, and maintained its charm and sense of community.  The characters reappear like old friends and I found myself absolutely caring about what happened to them.  It was cleverly and plausibly plotted so that there were surprises as secrets were revealed and not everything was at it seemed, but in the end good prevails.  This is an entertaining and satisfying read, a feel-good novel to get engrossed in, and a worthy sequel in this series.  

A personal muddle means I am posting late to this book tour - apologies.  Do visit some of the other participants' blogs to see what they thought of this heart-warming tale.