Title: Skip Rock Shallows
Author: Jan Watson
Genre: Historical, Romance
Buy it on Amazon: Paperback or Kindle
Book Description:
Lilly Gray Corbett has just graduated from medical school and decided to accept an internship in the coal camp of Skip Rock, Kentucky. Her beau, Paul, is doing his residency in Boston and can’t understand why Lilly would choose to work in a backwater town. But having grown up in the mountains, Lilly is drawn to the stubborn, superstitious people she encounters in Skip Rock—a town where people live hard and die harder and where women know their place. Lilly soon learns she has a lot to overcome, but after saving the life of a young miner, she begins to earn the residents’ trust.
As Lilly becomes torn between joining Paul in Boston and her love for the people of Skip Rock, she crosses paths with a handsome miner—one who seems oddly familiar. Her attraction for him grows, even as she wrestles with her feelings and wonders what he’s hiding.
What I Think:
I warn you that up front that I am biased toward this book because its setting is Kentucky and the author is from Kentucky, and boy do we have Kentucky pride in our family! I love books that feature small town life too. I think the author was spot on with the peculiarities of communities that live in out-of-the-way places, especially during that time period. This book will remind you slightly of Christy by Catherine Marshall. While Lilly’s and Tern’s characters are not quite as polished and their story together a little bit broken, I enjoyed the writing and the unique supporting characters that helped to bring this book to life. Armina and Stanley remind me of many people in the farming area that I grew up in – strong, hard-working but also kind people. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!
