2.5 Stars

You ever have ARCs you’re excited about then you start seeing lackluster reviews and put it aside? Well, that’s what happened with Maple Leaf Harvest. I’m trying to get my older ARCs read so I decided to pick it up and ended up liking the story a little more than I thought I would.

Maple Leaf Harvest started out with a bang, exciting and suspenseful. Lane Driscoll is attacked, mistaken for someone else and it’s a close call. From there it was a page turner until about 40% where the story started to lag. Too many unnecessary descriptions, clunky and formal dialogue making Lane sound like a woman in her 60s instead of late 20s, and a romance without chemistry. So much talk about hotel and travel expenses and other inane things. So many cheesy and awkward conversations. I started skimming.

I’ve read and enjoyed several Catherine Anderson books in the past, so this is probably just a fluke. I will say that even with these negatives and the book being on the long side (448 pages) I did keep wanting to pick it back up just to see how it all turned out. It picked up again around the 80% mark.

Catherine Anderson never disappoints. I enjoyed this book very much. I look forward to reading more from this author!

I’m so glad to read another Catherine Anderson book. I really love her.
I was drawn in and liked the action and premise.
It was a good beach read!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for my honest review.

While the story was not bad it didn't truly grab me and pull me in to having to devote all my attention to it.
I have enjoyed some other books by this author so I was surprised with the way this book made me feel. I enjoy her writing style and descriptions but I did not make a connection with the characters this time around. I will still read this author though based on past books of hers I have enjoyed.

Pub Date: 24 Aug 2021
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Maple Leaf Harvest by Catherine Anderson is the seventh standalone novel in the Mystic Creek series. Lane Driscoll is having nightmares, and those nightmares are coming true. When she goes into hiding, Jonas Sterling, a local psychologist, may be the only one who believes her. Suspense, romance and small-town charm await you…

I’ve enjoyed each of the Mystic Creek stories. Each is a standalone set in the same small Oregon town. In Maple Leaf Harvest, Lane Driscoll has nightmares that lead to a violent encounter. Fearing for her safety, her parents help her escape. She takes a six-month lease in the town of Mystic Creek using only cash. For her protection, even her parents don’t know where she’s gone. While she has the funds to survive, Lane looks for work and finds a help wanted sign in a local storefront. It is here that Jonas Sterling, a local psychologist, sees her for the first time. Only he thinks she is his old girlfriend, Veneta. The girl who dumped him and his small-town. He is annoyed when she pretends not to know him and wonders what she is up to.

Lane’s nightmares continue, only now she is hearing voices. Fearing a breakdown, she seeks help and is given the name of a local psychologist. The tale that unfolds dabbles in the unique connections twins have.

The twin connection was interesting and led us to a case involving missing girls as Lane and Jonas hunt for Veneta. They travel up and down the coast and finally to Lane’s hometown. Jonas involves college buddy, now turned cop and his girlfriend. Stake outs and a slow building romance develop. The romance hits some snags when Veneta enters the picture, but the author kept the drama to a minimum and focused more on the twin connection and mystery.

This wasn’t a favorite in the series. I enjoyed it, but didn’t quite feel the romantic connection (though sweet). The mystery and suspense kept me engaged, but the pacing was off and parts dragged.

The characters were solid, and I liked both Lane and Jonas. Once Jonas realized what was happening, he stepped up and offered aid. He was respectful of Lane’s wishes, even when it wasn’t what he wanted.

Fans of small-town standalone romances in a series will enjoy the Mystic Creek series.

*3.5 stars*

Tangled, complicated romance…

Wow, did Lane and Jonas have a lot of things to work through and get past before their happily ever after. Past loves, unexpected family, and miscommunication – it was all here and made for entertaining reading…
What do you do when you are afraid? Meet it head on? Retreat to safer waters? Or maybe a bit of both? Lane was frightened and Mystic Creek offered her a haven to regroup and to find a way to move forward. With her family supporting her, she knew this small town was going to be a good place to start over but little did she know the trouble was just starting…

Jonas was shocked to see his old love in his own small town. Even more surprised that it was a woman who could be her twin! His confusion was real and the revelations kept coming – for him as well as Lane. How they dealt with them made suspenseful reading…

I love this small town and its quirky inhabitants and always rush for another read/visit. While I didn’t connect to the main characters the way I wished this time out, the writing (as usual) kept me entertained the whole way through. Who isn’t a sucker for happy ending, right?

Catherine Anderson made Maple Leaf Harvest a very interesting and compelling story. Lane and Jonas were wonderful once they got past the mistaken identity fiasco and the notion that Lane just may have a twin.
Lane always had dreams. And, they usually weren't good. For the longest time, they went away but they started up again and this time they came to life putting her and her family in danger. Leaving town was her only option. She found a beautiful little town and a house that needed some help but, it was perfect for her. Then things started getting a little crazy. Not only did she fall in love with the perfume shop, with the town, but she was also falling for the one man who she couldn't be sure if he loved her for her or for some memory of someone who looks just like her.
Jonas had a hard time coming to terms with Lane not being Veneta. She didn't act like her. She didn't talk like her. But, she most definitely looked like her. After his initial shock, he felt the connection. He couldn't do anything but help her find out exactly what is going on. He also couldn't help falling a little in love with the woman of his dreams.
Catherine Anderson wrote a love story with a whole lot of twists and turns. Once the story started moving along, you couldn't help but cheer on Lane and hope that she could save the sister she didn't know she had. You also hoped that it didn't turn into a messy situation. Lane deserved to be loved. Jonas deserved to be happy. Veneta deserved to be saved. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the intrigue and story line. It was a fresh and interesting read. Catherine Anderson got me thoroughly involved with the characters so that I couldn't stop reading just to find out just where the story would go and where they would all end up. An interesting read … an intriguing read. A read that held my interest and has me looking forward to more.

The bizarre dreams and voices in her head are back, but this time they have leaped into real life when Lane Driscoll gets accosted by the man who was strangling her in her nightmare. A change of scene brings her into contact with another man who confuses her with someone else except Jonas Sterling claims that she isn’t crazy and he presents her with a startling answer to her troubles.

Maple Leaf Harvest is the seventh of the Mystic Creek small town contemporary romance novels that can all be read standalone though there is a moderately loose tie among some books in the series. For instance, Jonas is the last of the Sterling brothers to find romance, but his story is separate from all of theirs.

Opening like a thriller, Maple Leaf Harvest got off to an exciting start. Lane is a woman hounded by a mental difficulty all her life. She’s heard the same voice, Neta, all her life from childhood and into adulthood. But this time, she’s getting nightmarish dreams, too, that spill over into real life. A man accuses her of getting away from him and that he will find her and kill her. Lane runs and hides in Mystic Creek where she encounters Jonah who tells her she is the spitting image of his ex-girlfriend from college, Vaneta.

The romance was a slow progression while Lane and Jonah work out what is going on within her head and then figure out that Neta is in trouble. The pair decide they have to help find Neta. They are attracted, but know they have to focus on the situation at hand. All the while, Lane tends to hold back. Unlike what she is learning about her lost twin’s vivacious sometimes over the top personality and struggles with substance abuse and relationships, Lane lacks confidence and doesn’t see herself as attractive in looks or personality. She can’t imagine Jonas being into her and mistrusts when he compliments and respects her and later tries to tell her that he’s into her and wants a relationship. I was sad for her, but also wanted her to make an effort to take what Jonas’ was offering and not keep pushing him away.

The book was heartwarming and engaging particularly when Lane was settled in Mystic Creek and meeting the special people there and Jonah was settled in his home town as a psychologist and close to his family. Loved Ma and her gift shop and how she took Lane to her bosom.

However, I vacillated between enjoying it and getting distracted when it seemed to stall out a few times especially in the middle stretch of the hunt and later as Lane has to get her ducks in a row. It had uneven pacing. It rockets out the gate with an exciting start and then takes a gentler pace through the getting to know you portion, but then grinds it out during parts of their amateur investigation. The end picked up again between the suspense thread and the coming to a head of the romance conflict, then dawdled a bit getting to the resolve which was a lovely, romantic moment.

All in all, I liked it, but it isn’t one of my favorites in the series. I do hope our youngest Sterling sister gets their chance at romance now that all the brothers have been taken care of. Readers who want a small town romance, characters who face some serious struggles, and sometimes a suspenseful romance should definitely pick up this series.

I liked this book, but didn't love it.

Not sure what it was about it, but there was something I can't put my finger on that didn't gel with me.

This is just my feeling, and I am sure that many many readers are going to love it.

Lane Driscoll’s life has been plagued by strange voices and now she is having nightmares of a vicious man trying to kill her. When Lane actually encounters her frightening bad dream man and is brutally attacked by him, she leaves town to hide out in Mystic Creek because he has her purse with all of her identification. Lane’s parents, who have been very supportive, are withholding some information from her that would explain quite a lot about what is going on.

Lane takes a job in the small Oregon town where she is stunned to find out that she may have a twin sister. Years before in college, psychologist Jonas Sterling dated that woman, Veneta, who he thinks Lane is when he initially sees her. Lane cannot figure out why somewhat she has never met would treat her so poorly at first sight. After finally convincing Jonah that she is not very unpleasant his ex-girlfriend, Lane decides she needs to find this long-lost twin who seems to be in great danger.

Lane and Jonas spend time together hunting down clues for the mysteriously vanished Veneta which includes the dream flashes Lane gets of her sister’s current peril. As they work together, a relationship develops between Lane and Jonas especially when he realizes she has little in common with Veneta whose personality is often less than enjoyable.

The fact that Veneta was Jonas’s prior girlfriend, whom he professed to love, bothered me for most of this book. Even though Lane is quite different and Veneta the one responsible for a lot of Lanes’ difficulties, it is still an uncomfortable detail. There is quite a bit of murder and mayhem along with a kidnapping in this story. This is book seven in the Mystic Creek so readers of this series will most likely enjoy it.

Maple Leaf Harvest by Catherine Anderson is the 7th book in her Mystic Creek series. Lane Driscoll, our heroine, has been having occasional realist nightmares since she was a child; her parents have sent her to doctors, but nothing has ever helped. With time passed, her nightmares are less, but out of nowhere she has a terrible nightmare, about someone hitting her, and wakes up to notice she has bruises. The next day at the store, the same man in the dream, sees her and shouts “how did you escape”, but she manages to get away. Soon after, Lane decides to leave her hometown, to escape the possibly of this person finding her, and try to figure out what is happening. She ends up in Mystic Creek, and starts a new job in a perfume shop.

Jonas Sterling, our hero and local psychologist, is shocked to see his ex-girlfriend in the store. When Lane decides to find a psychologist to help her find a cure to her nightmares, she ends up in Jonas office, and he throws her out. Lane is surprised, since he calls her by another name, and despite her saying that is not her name, he wants nothing to do with her. But Jonas, being a nice guy, will bring Lane back to the office, and will learn that his ex must be the identical twin of Lane. Jonas will discover that Lane was adopted (which she knew) when she was three years old; but also find out that her identical twin was adopted by someone else, which is against the law to separate twins.

Lane and Jonas will embark on a journey to find ‘Neta” (the other twin), especially since Lane continues to get violent nightmares, which show her twin is in danger, suffering torture. But finding her is almost impossible. Can Lane and Jonas find the villain in time to save her life?

What follows is a slow build romance between Lane and Jonas; they made a great couple with sizzling chemistry. I really liked them together. I did not like when Lane made a wrong decision regarding Jonas, without knowing all the facts; and giving up too easily. To tell too much more would be spoilers, and this is an excellent mystery thriller, which I do not want to spoil.

Maple Leaf Harvest was very exciting, emotional, tense and intriguing story, as they race to find the sister she never knew, in time. I loved the secondary characters, such as Jonas’s friends, and Lane’s adopted parents. Catherine Anderson once again gives us another great addition to her Mystic Creek Series. I suggest if you have not read the Mystic Creek series, you need to do so soon and start with the first book.

As the story begins, our heroine Lane experiences a nightmare which leaves her with bruises as if she has physically experienced the dream herself. As she walks to work the next day, Lane is accosted by the evil of her dream. Her parents urge her to leave town until the villain is found thus beginning Lane's journey to Mystic Creek and the discovery of past secrets which come to light. The story has drug dealers, kidnapping, murder and mayhem wrapped around discovery of a forgotten past and a new love.

As a lifelong fan of Catherine Anderson, I am beyond despondent to report that this book...was not her best. While her picturesque and bucolic writing style can sometimes feel wholesome and cozy, the characters in this book just seemed completely out of touch with the 21st century; I couldn't even tell you how many time she had one of our main characters using a turn of phrase that hasn't been popular in about fifty years. 26 year old men and women simply don't talk that way. The plot of this book, as well, was perhaps the most outlandish yet. I love Catherine Anderson, but I don't think the spark that initially drew me to her work and kept me coming back for more is still alight.

Catherine Anderson jumps into action right from the first page reminding us that she is the master of romantic mysteries. Of course we expect endearing characters in MAPLE LEAF HARVEST after all it is expected in a Catherine Anderson novel. Considering that it is part of the authors Mystic Creek series fans know to get ready for so much more. And with Catherine Anderson’s newest novel, MAPLE LEAF HARVEST, be prepared to be swept away.
In just a couple of chapters you begin to get a hint at just what is going on in Lane Driscoll’s life. Why did Lane and her parents feel that she is indeed in danger although for no reason they can imagine. Lane is persuaded that staying in Maple Leaf is making her the target of some deranged man. Packing up and moving to heaven knows where is to keep her out of harms way at least until they can figure out who is stalking her and why.
Lane is the most unlikely target. She leads an unassuming life as a nighttime waitress. Lives in a duplex with an older couple as neighbors. But you immediately get a sense that Lane has had a history with events that make her seem less than psychologically stable. Her nightmares make no sense but frighten her to the point of panic.
Then somehow Lane winds up in Mystic Creek which candidly is a small blimp on a map. But that is why Lane chose to land there. Or is it. Within just a few days Lane runs into town psychologist Jonas Sterling. And that’s when things, in particular Lane’s life, get really crazy – no pun intended.
You see Lane is a clone of Jonas’ ex-girlfriend. In fact he is pretty certain this newcomer is his ex returning to town. But the why is what puzzles Jonas. Veneta hated Mystic Creek. And this woman goes by the name of Lane and absolutely doesn’t remember Jonas at all.
Ah ha. So now the plot has thickened to the point that you cannot help turning pages as quickly as possible as the two of them, Lane and Jonas, try to find the missing puzzle pieces.
Just as you think you have it all figured out Catherine Anderson throws another wrench into the works as they say. After all it is just chapter five. This cagey author would not have given away the plot – at least not yet. So on we go following what ever information Lane and Jonas dig up. And suffice it to say that the deeper they dig the murkier the water gets.
Classic Catherine Anderson from beginning to end MAPLE LEAF HARVEST is slated to be one of the best reads of the year. Get ready to ramp up your amateur sleuth skills.

I enjoyed this continuation of Catherine Anderson's Mystic Creek series and admired the way she handled her character's mental health issues and the slippery relationships between various people.