From the blurb:

Two years ago Carly Roberts split from her lover, Daniel Edwards, after he caused a terrible sailing accident that cost her both the use of her right leg and her Olympic dreams. Unable to watch his climb to double Olympic success, she stayed in the Cornish village they grew up in, while he travelled the world.

Racked with guilt, knowing he destroyed her future, Daniel has finally returned home to make amends. But he didn’t expect to fall in love with her again.

Carly has her own life now and it doesn’t include him. She can’t forgive him for the catastrophic injuries that changed her life. While the storms of a Cornish winter lash their village home, can Daniel persuade her to give him a second chance?

I was delighted to receive a copy of this book for review from the author, as I knew from the blurb that it would be up my street. I was not disappointed, and I thoroughly enjoyed my reading. I sat down to start reading the book one afternoon, and found myself frustrated to have to break to have dinner – then I went back and finished it by bedtime. It’s a fairly short book, but makes for compelling reading indeed!

Carly and Daniel are wonderfully vivid characters with whom it’s impossible not to empathise. Both are haunted by the accident that changed their lives and threw up a seemingly insurmountable obstacle in their relationship two years before, and as a reader I was moved by their tumultuous feelings – Daniel’s overriding sense of guilt, and Carly’s struggle with anger and an inability to accept the change in her life. I was quite swept away in their story, and found myself very keen to learn the details of that terrible day, which are expertly interwoven into the plot, and to see both characters make their peace with what was ultimately a terrible accident and no one’s fault.

At the core of the book is an exploration of what love really means – forgiveness, acceptance, flexibility in the face of change. I found Carly’s journey in particular inspiring and believable in terms of her thoughts and feelings. I love the fact that Daniel finds Carly just as beautiful after her accident than before; it is refreshing to find a hero in a romance novel who sees past disability in this way.

I adored the Cornish setting for the book – Cornwall is such a romantic county! If I could, I think I’d quite like to visit Carly’s little seaside gift shop and watch boats race out in the bay. I also loved the connections with the lifeboat station, and the Olympics. But beyond the place, the weather was also memorable. I found the wintry, stormy backdrop highly atmospheric in offsetting the lovers’ story.

In all, a delighted five stars from me, and a recommendation if you enjoy passionate, poignant romance.

Winter Storms is available now from Amazon; click on the book cover below to visit the store.