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Progress in Her Healing Journey
Smoky Blue Sunrise follows a woman haunted by her sister’s death who flees to the mountains to start over, and an impending storm forces her to face what she’s running from. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration for the setup of Smoky Blue Sunrise was to introduce a new character or two and put them in the same setting as in my debut, Elizabeth’s Mountain, which takes place in Asheville, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. I kept two of the main characters from the first book and intertwined them with the new main characters of the second book. While I was writing Smoky Blue Sunrise, Hurricane Helene struck the region, forcing me to make a significant alteration to my contemporary narrative to incorporate the destructive storm.
Jolie’s internal monologue carries much of the novel. How did you balance introspection with forward momentum?
Jolie’s grief process, mixed with her survivor’s guilt, was a huge hurdle for her to overcome. Her self-reflection and healing progress were essential for the story’s satisfying advancement.
The hurricane operates as both a literal danger and an emotional catalyst. When did you know a storm needed to be part of this story?
The storm was essential for realism, yet it also symbolized Jolie’s progress in her healing journey and the varied nature of survival.
What is the next book that you’re working on, and when can your fans expect it out?
As of this moment, I am considering my next work in progress to be either a prequel to Elizabeth’s Mountain or a standalone sequel to my Lunch Tales series. I’m hoping for either late 2027 or early 2028.
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Jolie-Mae Buckley doesn’t think her heart can ever heal. Two years ago, she graduated from college summa cum laude and was on track for medical school. Drowning in guilt after a disastrous mistake turned deadly, she’s unable to move forward.
When she answers an ad for a live-in nanny four hours away in Western North Carolina, on Elizabeth’s Mountain, Jolie knows this is her opportunity to start her life anew.
As details of Jolie’s misfortune emerge, her new employers, Jesse and Amanda Taylor, detect a nefarious undercurrent in her story. Jesse’s protégé, Brody, gently persuades Jolie to revisit that awful day when a perfect storm of events destroyed her world. In the meantime, Hurricane Helene is barreling toward Asheville, where survival becomes paramount, exposing the fragile line between hope and terror. In the aftermath of Mother Nature’s chaos, and with Jolie’s heart hanging in the balance, the truth about that fateful night breaks free like the floodwaters no one predicted.
Smoky Blue Sunrise, a return to Elizabeth’s Mountain
Smoky Blue Sunrise follows Jolie-Mae, a young woman crushed by guilt after the car crash that killed her younger sister, Katy, and wrecked her plans for medical school. She leaves coastal South Carolina and her grieving parents and takes a live-in job in the North Carolina mountains as nanny and companion in Jesse Taylor’s home, where he is raising his daughter Emma and baby Cameron after the loss of his wife. At the same time, Amanda, a doctor at the local hospital, tries to balance work, motherhood, and her own history with Elizabeth’s Mountain. Their lives knit together in this small town as Jolie tries to rebuild a self she can live with, and the looming threat of Hurricane Helene pushes every old wound and every new bond to the edge.
I really liked how grounded the writing felt. The first chapters around the party at Folly Beach and the crash were very emotional, and they set the tone for Jolie’s inner voice in a strong way. The scenes with Dr. Patel felt patient and honest, and I believed her slow, messy steps in therapy. The mountain setting came through in small details, not long descriptions. The book uses internal monologue, which moves scenes along methodically, yet the emotional payoff later made that investment feel worth it. The storm chapters land hard, with practical worries like power, road washouts, patients at the hospital, and also the simple fear of a child who hears a hurricane called a monster on the radio, and those pieces together gave the story real weight.
The book works best when it leans into survivor’s guilt and found family. Jolie’s sense that she is the “trigger” for her parents’ pain felt painfully real to me, and her choice to leave home did not feel like running away, more like a leap to save herself and maybe them, too. I also liked the bond that grows in the Taylor house, in small moments with Emma’s questions, in shared chores, in the way they circle around Elizabeth’s memory without turning her into a saint. The romance thread stays gentle and slow, and that fit the tone for me, since every character in this house is already carrying a lot.
I would recommend Smoky Blue Sunrise to readers who enjoy character-driven contemporary fiction, especially stories about grief, healing, and second chances in close-knit communities, and also to anyone who already knows Elizabeth’s Mountain and wants to see that world deepen. If you like quiet emotional arcs, domestic scenes that still carry tension, and a bit of storm-fueled suspense rather than nonstop action, this one will be for you.
Pages: 318 | ASIN : B0GFFRM4LQ
