THE CROSSROADS CAFÉ by Deborah Smith
Deborah Smith creates stories that touch your heart. She has done this with each and every one of the books she has fashioned in her career as an author. Her latest, THE CROSSROADS CAFÉ, is her most touching yet. This is a book you don't just read; you fall into it head over heels. The deeper you get, the more affecting it becomes and soon she are completely immersed in a love story that will stay on your mind for a long, long time.
THE CROSSROADS CAFÉ tells the story of Cathryn Deen, a movie star in the tradition of Elizabeth Taylor and Angelina Jolie. She has flawless beauty and is a good actress to boot. Her life is a fairy tale full of wealth and influence that few of us can ever dream of in this lifetime. A daughter of the South, she has everything money can buy and she actually thinks that is enough.
Yes, Cathryn is riding high until she is involved in a car accident that leaves her burned and scarred. Everything that was perfect now becomes terrible, and the woman whose face was her fortune is now a woman who hides from the public.
Cathryn retreats to the mountains of North Carolina where her grandmother owned a home that Cathryn inherited. She has no money problems - one of the few positives in her life - but she is soul sick and weary. She wants to avoid people at all costs but her feisty cousin Delta has other ideas. Delta wants to bring Cathryn out of her exile and into the world of friends, family and food.
Helping Delta with this project is Thomas Mitternick, an architect who lost his wife and small son in the horror of 9/11. Thomas is also one of the walking wounded but he puts aside his own trauma and pain to help Cathryn. For some reason he feels if he can help her, he is in a way atoning for his failure to rescue his wife and son.
Once inside the first few pages of this book you will be fascinated by the cast of characters, and will stay entranced till the very end of the story. If you can remember the young beauty of Elizabeth Taylor you will certainly see her in the role of Cathryn. And when your mind paints that picture, well the book becomes a Technicolor movie.
There are serious messages in the story about finding what is truly worthwhile, what real love involves, and the secret healing power of "biscuits." Okay, you definitely have to read the book to understand that last one.
Deborah Smith somehow manages to get inside the heart, body and soul of her characters and lays them out on paper with depth and warmth. She makes you care so totally for them that you feel their joy and their pain. The reader always understand the motivations behind all actions and reactions in the plot.
This is Smith's most sensual and explicit book yet. She relates the physical as well as mental passion these two lovers feel. Some who are only familiar with her "family friendly" stories might be surprised at how graphic she has become in this book.
Deborah Smith has a legion of fans who read everything she writes. THE CROSSROADS CAFÉ will add to that number. It is Smith at her story-telling best, and at her most romantic. That is a great combination and assures this book will be one of her most successful and beloved.
THE CROSSROADS CAFÉ is published by Belle Books. It contains 348 pages and sells for $16.95.