A Heartwarming Story!

The Gift

The Harbor Pointe Inn has loomed on California’s cliffs for generations of Hawthornes. For some, it’s been a blessing. For others, a curse. Travel through two centuries of stories to discover the old inn’s secrets.

In an innocent 1958 American suburb, Shelly doesn’t know the power of a kiss. Or how it will change her entire life.

At sixteen years old, she falls in love with a young man. One night—just one night—they go too far. Months later, pregnant and shamed, Shelly’s parents banish her.

Alone and heavily pregnant, circumstances force Shelly to cross the country in an old pickup.

A mistaken turn leaves her lost in a forest amidst a severe snow storm and in labor.

In the dark of night. Shelly must get help for her new-born baby before they both perish. A light in the distance gives her the slimmest glimmer of hope.

After Shelly wraps the infant in her father’s old jacket, she trudges through the snow to a lighthouse keeper’s cottage. Snow half buries the squat stone building.

Will Shelly find shelter, or is it the beginning of the end?

My Review

This is the second book I’ve read from the phenomenal Harbor Pointe series. Plano’s story, set in 1958, follows the life of 16-year-old Shelly, who finds herself pregnant in an era when this was seen as scandalous.

Off the beaten path, her truck runs out of gas, leaving the teen mother and newborn to trudge through a snowstorm in search of shelter. Shelter comes in the form of a place that has changed many a life.

Shelly meets Jesse and Mary, a couple who have suffered the tragic loss of their own baby. They offer love and kindness as a gift to this lost soul, changing her life and future in ways we’d hope would be common among mankind.

Gwen Plano’s talent for telling heartfelt stories draws the reader into the tale, encouraging us to care for this young girl in her most desperate time of need.

There are eight books in this series. If the first two are any indication for the remaining titles, I’m going to enjoy this ride while it lasts.

About the Author

Gwen M. Plano, aka Gwendolyn M. Plano, grew up in Southern California and spent most of her professional life in higher education. She taught and served as an administrator in colleges in Japan, New York, Connecticut, and California. Gwen’s academic background is in theology and counseling. Recently retired, she now lives in the high desert of Arizona, where she writes, gardens, and travels with her husband.

Gwen’s first book is an acclaimed memoir, Letting Go into Perfect Love. Her second book, The Contract between heaven and earth, is a thriller fiction novel, co-authored by John W. Howell. It has received multiple awards and is an Amazon Best Seller. The Choice, the unexpected heroes is the sequel to The Contract. It is also a thriller, involving the attempt of an unfriendly nation to take over the world. The third book in the series, The Culmination, a new beginning is an action-packed military thriller that spans the globe and involves multiple Heads of State and the threat of World War III. Only love can change the fate of humanity.

When Gwen is not writing, she’s often in the beautiful Red Rocks of Sedona, where she finds inspiration.