Review: Provenance by Carla Laureano

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Tyndale House
Released: Aug 3, 2021
416 pages

About the Book:

Los Angeles interior designer and former foster kid Kendall Green is in high demand, both for her impeccable eye and for her uncanny ability to uncover the provenance of any piece. But for all her success, skyrocketing costs have put her California home and her business in jeopardy. Then an unexpected inheritance provides a timely solution: a grandmother she never knew has left her a group of historic properties in a tiny Colorado town on the edge of ruin.

To young, untried mayor Gabriel Brandt, Jasper Lake is more than another small town—it’s the place that saved his life. Now, seeing the town slowly wither and die, he’s desperate to restore it to its former glory. Unfortunately, his vision is at odds with a local developer who wants to see the town razed and rebuilt as a summer resort. He’s sure that he can enlist the granddaughter of one of its most prominent former citizens to his cause—until he meets Kendall and realizes that not only does she know nothing of her own history, she has no interest in reviving a place that once abandoned her.

In order to save his beloved town, Gabe must first help Kendall unravel the truth of her own provenance—and Kendall must learn that in order to embrace the future, sometimes you have to start with the past.

My Rating & Thoughts:    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I loved this book! We follow Kendall as she just discovers she inherited a piece of property in Colorado from a grandmother she never knew anything about. Kendall grew up in foster care and never knew anything about her family. Suddenly she finds out that had a grandmother that knew about her, she has so many questions. If the grandmother knew why didn’t she come for her? What happened to her mom? Was she unwanted? Kendall has worked hard to create a design business she has established in LA, but that business is struggling, when she finds out about the property her first thoughts are to sell it and then she’ll have funds for the business. However the mayor of Jasper Lake, Colorado wants to convince Kendall not to sell to the developer that is interested as the developer wants to turn the property into a resort and this will have a negative impact on the residents of the town. Can Gade convince Kendall there is another way? As the two work together to try to come up with a solution that satisfies both of them a connection develops but they don’t share the same beliefs and they live in two different states. I really hurt for Kendall and what she has experienced growing up, she felt like she was abandoned and now is realizing that things might have been different than they appeared. Through the influence of Gabe Kendall learns that maybe God has been there for her the whole time and working things out for her and she just couldn’t see it. I really enjoyed the faith element of this story. That not everything was perfect but God is able to use the hard stuff for good. Kendall slowly comes to learn to trust God and see how He has been working things out for her. I loved how Delia befriended Kendall and welcomed her to the community even though she was just visiting. The ending closure gave me hope for Kendall and I absolutely loved that Ms. Laureano included a link to her website to find an epilogue to this story. I went to that immediately to read it and was left with very happy feelings. I really enjoyed this read.

“God takes us as we are. Broken and confused and unfaithful and insecure. All we have to do is accept Him.”

(I purchased my copy of this book; opinions expressed 

in this review are my honest opinion and completely my own.)

Check out my reviews of other books by this author: 

   

The Saturday Night Supper Club - Supper Club#1

Brunch at Bittersweet Cafe - Supper Club#2