Review of Spring Forward (Mystic Creek #4) by Catherine Anderson
Spring Forward is the fourth book in the series Mystic Creek.
When a elderly friend calls for aid, Tanner Richards swoops into the local retirement center to offer himself. He just doesn't expect to square off with Tuck's granddaughter.
Crystal Malloy is at her wit's end. Her grandfather is causing problems at the retirement center where he's recovering from an injury and his dog won't stay home. She's leaving clients at the salon hanging, not good for her business, and up nights worried for Tuck's dog.
Despite their initial round over Tanner's visit to the retirement center, Crystal and Tanner feel love pulling them in. Crystal is falling in love not only with him, but with his kids and the life he offers her, but before she can hold on tight, she has to forgive herself and let go of the past.
This was a sweet book. It lagged a bit for me about a third of the way through, but once I pushed past, it picked back up. The plot offered a nice two-for-one deal: a sweet story about Crystal and Tanner, and another beautiful one about an elderly couple falling in love.
Crystal was a wonderful character, and her love for Tuck shone brighter than anything else. Their strong bond was a remarkable one, and it warmed my heart. Similarly, Tanner's closeness with his children and the way he worked with his mother to take care of them was lovely. Both those things showed the true colors of the characters from the beginning. Tuck was an ornery old man with a big heart, and I loved him. The dog... well Rip was quite a character in and of himself, and there were times in the book where I thought he was terrible and times where I thought he was the best dog in the universe.
I loved reading the sweet story of both couples falling in love, though with the elderly couple, there seemed to be a little bit of insta-love. That's always frustrating, but I didn't get a sense of that with Crystal and Tanner. Their relationship was somewhat of a slow burn to getting Crystal to truly let him in, and I loved reading it. It was a beautiful story, like the others in the series.
Crystal was a beautiful person inside and out, but she was damaged. It took a long time to get to the heart of what happened to her, and it was a horribly tragic thing that would scar anyone made worse by people who should have eased her suffering. My heart broke for her when the first major bit of the backstory came out. Tanner was a wounded man who had to pick himself up and move on because he had two lives depending on him. But the tragic death of a spouse leaves a lot of scars behind. Both of them had been hurt and were needing to be loved again, and I couldn't help cheering as they came together to find happiness.
Descriptions were good. Not fantastic, but good. I could picture where I was and what was happening, but nothing vivid.
Dialog was very effective at conveying emotions. Catherine Anderson chose her words carefully, and each sentence had meaning and gave drive to the story. There was little cheese that I noticed, and I found the dialog very strong.
Not my favorite off the series so far, but I still enjoyed it.
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