A Spanish Sunrise by Boo Walker. Pub Date: August 16, 2022. Rating: 4 stars. A novel about the intricate relationship of a father and daughter, this is a story of resilience, seeking peace, exploring meaningful connections and relationships and family. Widowed and single, Baxter Shaw is left to raise his daughter by himself but for three years he has struggled to move forward in life. Through a DNA link, the story shifts to Spain where familial ties appear to be with respite from their current situation. The Spanish family offers a place of healing, hope and moving forward from grief. Read this book if you enjoy family novels with a touch of honesty and truth. Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review. #netgalley #aspanishsunrise

Baxter has been navigating life on his own with his daughter Mia for three years since the tragic death of his beloved wife Sophia. It’s mostly been a struggle and they are both existing more than living. However when Mia begins to struggle with her behaviour at school and starts having nightmares, Baxter knows he needs help.

Then out of the blue a DNA test links them with previously unknown family in Spain and a spur of the moment holiday to meet the family changes everything for them.

I absolutely loved this read, the characters are so likeable and I really felt the grief of a loving father doing his best for his young daughter while just managing to keep his business ticking over.

Being a lover of travel I really enjoyed the Spanish link and meeting the interesting and complicated Spanish family, each with their own story and secrets.

I found this book difficult to put down, it was enjoyable from start to finish, yes I shed a few tears, but also smiled lots too.

Thanks for a great read.

A beautiful yet powerful story about a single father raising his daughter after 3 years of accident. It's really heartbreaking but at the same time heartwarming. A journal of healing from grieving.

At first you're going to read it as a slow paced which I think totally understandable given the circumstance that Baxter, the father has and It's not including yet about his daughter, Mia really get serious affecting from the loss of her mother,

This is really beautiful well written and every single sentence it's really describe how uneasy and frustrated it is for single parents have to deal and most giving up their dreams to provide the best for the children.

The characters, plot, setting and narrative is also very well done with a great pacing.

The book really invites us to see it from the eyes of a parent and also as a child. This also reminds us that every sadness there will always be a new light of life even though we have to take a journey that is not easy.

One of the book that you could consider it your booklist

A Spanish Sunrise by Boo Walker. I loved this story of an exploration of a grieving man and daughter discovery of a grandmother and family in Spain. I love learning about how they made olive oil I went to Spain in March of 1972 and saw the beautiful olive trees. Boo Walker description was wonderful.

A story about a father and daughter’s journey and the realization that life can offer a second chance. Baxter loses his wife and leaves his band to raise his daughter Mia. He tries hard to fulfill his promise to his wife, that Mia will have a wonderful life. His wife was searching for her birth mother and ran out of time before she could find her. Baxter discovers that his wife’s roots come from Spain and their journey begins. While they hurdle over obstacles that lay in their path, they discover new dreams and a newly discovered family. A splendidly written plot, characters and ending. A very emotional filled story.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC, I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I loved Boo Walker's last novel and honestly didn't know how he could top it but, oh, how he did! I absolutely loved this one and hated to see it end.
The main character is widower, Baxter Shaw, who lost his wife a few years back in a tragic homicide. He's left to care for their eight year old daughter, Mia, who isn't coping well with the loss of her mother. In other author's hands; this may be yet another ho-hum storyline but we're discussing Boo Walker here. There's so much heart in each of his novels. Whether it's a blossoming romance, the deep friendship between kindred spirits or the use of a location or memory - there's heart.
...and, dang it, is this not on the top ten list of GORGEOUS book covers for the year??? Hello??? Kudos to the creative person who designed this eye-catching work of art.
Here's a fun factoid: Boo Walker lived in Spain for a period of time so when he's describing locales or foods; be sure to don your sombrero because you will be transported there.
Is there a happy ending for this hurting family? I highly recommend this one and can't wait to see what Walker writes next. He's definitely an author who has a very bright future ahead and I'm thrilled to be part of the caravan!
I received an advance review copy of this book. All opinions are my own. @lakeunionpublishing @boowalker @amazonpublishing #aspanishsunrise

Perfectly Poignant. This is ultimately a story of family and healing, and yet again Walker uses both the situations and the settings to combine to work great magic in his storytelling. The base setup turns out to be something that is almost ripped from the headlines, and while some fiction authors can and have gone a more preachy route with the topic, Walker instead eschews the politics completely and looks at the very human side of what actually happens in such a situation. Truly an excellent work, and one that this reader at least could easily imagine Luke Bryan playing the leading role... should Bryan ever decide to make such a career move. Very much recommended.

I struggled a bit with Baxter because I wanted to shake him so many times for the way he was processing/grieving and what he assumed was right for his daughter, Mia. But THEN the plot thickened & blossomed. Sofia’s family in Spain was so complicated but also inspiring in their loyalty to one another. I love Boo Walker’s unhurried way that he writes and let’s us really step into the character’s thoughts and feelings. This is my 3rd book of his and it is a 3.5 star read for me. I can’t wait to keep reading more from the Author!

What happens to a father and daughters that are in grief and seem not to be able to move on, well you visit a family in Spain that you never knew you had and you find support and love there.
If you have faith in the unknown then your going to love this story, because a lot of what happens seems to be based on synchronicity and on a test, 23 and me, that the mother took before she died. It's the reason how the woman's mother contacted the father and daughter, and changes their lives. It is when both the father and daughter have no hope that they agree they want to know the grandmother better and they decide to visit her in Spain and its the best thing they do for themselves and those they visit. They meet many people in Spain that broadens their lives, learn something about olives and makes them happy.
Baxter (the father) thinks that Sofia (the mother that died) is directing him to Spain where they can both deal with their grief and let go of fear that directing their lives. This is a lovely story about how a little change in life can be the best thing that heals you. I like that the characters in Spain have a different point of view about what's important in life and that you should live in the now and at a slower pace and that sometimes being disconnected from the modern world is ok and allows one to be quiet and think.

I want to thank Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for this touching story about dealing with grief and getting to know yourself again.

For years, I have heard readers rave about Boo Walker's work. Having just finished A SPANISH SUNRISE, I now join their ranks in praising a writer who creates full-bodied characters and fascinating storylines in deeply immersive settings. With this book, Walker tells the story of a broken man blaming himself for all that is going wrong in his life and with his troubled little girl. Following a wild idea, they wind up in Spain where the man rediscovers who he is at heart, musician, lover, and fully engaged human being and father. With vivid, unforgettable moments, Walker tells a story that I never want to end, hurtling me into learning more about flamenco and olive oil and cherishing new insights into worlds I never imagined before his book. I received an early copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

I decided not to continue reading this book and stopped halfway. I found Mia adorable but also a bit unbelievable/unrealistic that she can behave and talk like that at eight years old. Baxter was a good parent to her, but not much else, I couldn't connect with him. I appreciate what this story is trying to say about finding family and moving past grief.

Thank you for giving me a chance to read this book. I might still go back to it at a different point in my life.

Baxter is juggling a lot: a stressful business, a very unhappy daughter, and being a widower. He and Mia discover they have Spanish relatives so the adventure begins.
Most of the story was set in Spain so it was interesting.
The one thing I didn’t grasp and it bothered me was why Baxter was so adamant no one talk about Mia’s mom, even destroying pictures, which I thought was just lousy.
It’s an interesting book, I liked the Spanish locale the best.

This is an appealing heartwarming story. The book was a bit slow at the start. But as the story progressed forward it turned out into a wonderful read. There are many interesting things that I like about this book.

I requested this book because of its title and luckily it didn’t let me down. The writer described Eastern Spain beautifully in this book. I could feel the olive groves, sunrise and mountain tops of Spain and many more. Boo Walker has his own way of making things feel real.

The plot setting of this book is stunning and moving. All the characters are likeable. The way Baxter and Mia suffered in the start was very heartbreaking for me. They went to Spain because of Mia’s condition and it improved a lot. But there were certain new challenges, mysteries and decisive moments waiting for them especially for Baxter. The story was more pleasing after it moved to Spain.

Baxter caught himself falling back into the all-too-familiar abyss of what-ifs. What if he’d been the one who’d made the run to Target? Or what if he’d been in the parking lot? What if she’d left their house five or ten minutes

Sophia’s family characters seemed wonderful to me, in the sense that almost every character in Spain was double layered 😂 excluding Alma. There were many twists and disclosures of long decades secrets. I was honestly astonished at the end of the novel.

The main theme of the book is dealing with your sorrow & gloom and moving forward. The message conveyed by Boo Walker is very positive. There were heartfelt moments regarding this theme and I think it’s impossible for me to relieve its impact for a few days 😅.

The only thing I didn’t like about this novel is that it contains more description than it actually needed. But sometimes I think it was really required to make the story more absorbing and real. Apart from this I liked everything about this novel.

The story
Baxter is a former guitarist, father to Mia and a widower after his late wife Sofia was killed by a gunman in a Target parking lot. Parenting Mia is a challenge. He is trying not to dwell in his memories of Sofia, hoping Mia doesn’t find out how her mother died. But when a DNA test match takes place with Sofia’s Spanish family, can Baxter allow Mia to met her family?

My thoughts
I have loved the other Boo Walker books I have read and this one brings a lot to the table. A father dealing with the grief of losing his very much loved wife to violence, struggling to move on, struggling to parent, and then thrown into a family dynamic that’s not his own on the other side of the world. The healing comes slowly, especially as the truth comes out, but there is a lot of angst and debate and emotional handwringing involved.

Baxter Shaw is a widower struggling with his grief and losing his wife three years ago. However, one day he receives an email from his dead wife’s biological mother who she never met. After briefly chatting he takes his daughter to Spain to meet their family.

This book is heartwarming. I struggled to get into at first but I realise that the author is taking you on the journey of Baxter overcoming his grief and once you hit that realisation it’s a beautiful storyline. Mía is an incredible character and the strength of her throughout is just astounding.

If you want a heartwarming read filled with plenty of family drama, then this is the book for you.

This book aims to be a tale of how finding family can help you get through rough times. Although the author beautifully described Spain (which was the best part of the story), I didn't enjoy Baxter. Most of the first part of the book is Baxter within himself, and it just got to a point where I was ready to put the book down or skip ahead because I was just tired of him. However things started to turn around at the Spanish House, and from there the story perks up and has a decent ending. I will also say that Mia's character was a 40-year old pretending to be an 8-year old. This is a pet peeve of mine, and while I understand that some kids are incredibly bright and vocal, this just didn't work for me, and her character needed to be brought back to an appropriate age-level. But if you look past all of that, it's an intriguing family story set in a beautiful location.

This is a very interesting, heartwarming and at times heart-wrenching novel which I thoroughly enjoyed. It is a story of lives, of loss and of finding your roots. It is a story of Father and Daughter, family and love.

A story of a widowed man (Baxter) and his daughter (Mia) and their struggles to adjust after the loss of their wife/mother. It is a story of finding out what is important in life, what is meaningful and what life, love and family is all about.

I love the journeys these two characters embark on and how they try to find out about their heritage , falling in love with Spain (and who wouldn't?). But it isn't a boring read as there are some twists and turns, secrets that come out and some decisions to be made.

A wonderful book and I highly recommend it.

A Spanish Sunrise starts out in Greenville, SC and the main story moves to Spain. I quickly found myself transported to the scents and sounds of the Spanish countryside, wishing I was touring the olive groves and tasting the freshly pressed oil.

Boo Walker has a way with words and I felt like I was relaxing into the slow pace of the Spanish countryside as the book unfolded. Not only did the vivid descriptions of scenery, food, olive oil, and people pull me in deeper, but the love clearly shining through for family, tradition, and a slower, gentler pace of life worked on me as well.

The beautiful story of Baxter, Sofia, and Mia, the easy gentleness with which life lessons are imparted, the music, and the love in A Spanish Sunrise made this one I'll be recommending to everyone.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for an ARC at my request. All thoughts are my own and happily shared.

Baxter is surprised when a DNA test his wife submitted before her murder three years ago turns up relatives in Spain. He and his 8 year old daughter Mia have been struggling to cope without Sofia- and Mia's acting out. His decision to take her to Spain to meet the family and experience the culture turns out to be the best thing he's done, It's a lovely story of family and healing with good atmospherics, And, equally importantly, it's nice to read a novel where DNA results turn out to be a positive. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC,

I’ve read Boo Walkers last two novels, and have become a real fan of them and him! But A Spanish Sunrise just really resonated with me. I love everything about it, the story, the setting, and the wonderful characters. I felt like wanted to know these people, Ester, a wise woman that loves her family with her whole being, Alma who projects her passion for the olives, the land and the music of the culture. I couldn’t help praying that Baxter would find some peace, after the tragic murder of his wife Sofia and find his way to helping his 8yr old daughter Mia embrace the memories of her mother, by sharing his memories. But it took that journey to meet the family that she never knew she had, to do that.
This was such a beautiful story and I was sad when it ended, but satisfied with the loving conclusion. Wouldn’t a wonderful conclusion be a film script because this would make a great “chick flick”!
My thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Boo Walker for the ARC. All opinions are my own, and it’s five stars!