Today for Fiction Friday I’m sharing my book recommendation for Indigo Isle by T.I. Lowe.
Here’s the book description:
“Storms show up and there ain’t a thing we can do to stop them.”
Sonny Bates left South Carolina fifteen years ago and never looked back. Now she’s a successful Hollywood location scout who travels the world, finding perfect places for movie shoots. Home is wherever she lands, and between her busy schedule and dealing with her boss’s demands, she has little time to think about the past . . . until her latest gig lands her a stone’s throw from everything she left behind.
Searching off the coast of Charleston for a secluded site to film a key scene, Sonny wanders onto a private barrier island and encounters its reclusive owner, known by locals as the Monster of Indigo Isle. What she finds is a man much more complex than the myth.
Once a successful New York attorney, Hudson Renfrow’s grief has exiled him to his island for several years. He spends his days alone, tending his fields of indigo, then making indigo dye—and he has no interest in serving the intrusive needs of a film company or yielding to Sonny’s determined curiosity. But when a hurricane makes landfall on the Carolina coast, stranding them together, an unlikely friendship forms between the two damaged souls. Soon the gruff exterior Hudson has long hidden behind crumbles—exposing the tender part of him that’s desperate for forgiveness and a second chance.
A story of hanging on and letting go, of redemption and reconciliation, and of a love that heals the deepest wounds, from the author of the breakout Southern fiction bestseller Under the Magnolias.
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I usually start my book recommendations by talking about how much I enjoyed reading the book. That was certainly the case when I read T.I. Lowe’s Under the Magnolias – I absolutely loved reading that book! See my recommendation for Under the Magnolias here.
T.I. Lowe has addressed many hard issues in Indigo Isle. Sonny is the teenage prodigal daughter who ran away to Hollywood, leaving behind her life and family in South Carolina. She landed on her feet, worked hard, and became a location scout for a Hollywood production company. From the outside, Sonny looks like she’s living a glamorous lifestyle and travelling the world for her successful career.
When Sonny left home, she left God behind in South Carolina and, over fifteen years, made a series of hard choices that didn’t bring her happiness. Workplace sexual harassment is sadly a normal part of Sonny’s working life. I identified with Sonny in one particular scene because that same situation had happened to me in my first job when I was only fifteen years old. I talked about this story situation with T.I. Lowe in StoryChats @ InspyRomance YouTube Episode 125. My personal connection to a story event made it a harder and more challenging book to read. That said, I’m glad I read Indigo Isle, and I appreciated hearing T.I. Lowe’s perspective on Sonny’s character.
Hudson is a recluse who has no interest in talking to Sonny or returning to his old life as a New York attorney. Hudson is the grumpy introvert and Sonny is the sunshine extrovert. The cast of quirky minor characters were fun to read, and I was fascinated by the history of indigo plants in South Carolina.
I recommend Indigo Isle to contemporary romance readers who like gritty and edgy Christian fiction that addresses hard issues with prodigal daughter, grumpy sunshine, and beauty and the beast story themes.
Many thanks to Tyndale and Net Galley for the advanced reader copy.
