Review: Beautiful
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 28, 2014
The Town Square is book five in the Dare Valley series by Ava Miles.  Going into this book, I wasn’t sure if I would love it as much as I have the previous books.  But, after reading it, I can honestly say that I love it more.Arthur Hale is the patriarch of the Hale Family.  He is the founder of The Western Independent, a well respected newspaper in Dare Valley, Colorado.  His family and so many others love and respect him.  He’s a widow now, and as he sits holding his new great granddaughter on the day of her christening, Jill, Meredith and Peggy convince him to retell the story of how he met the love of his life, their Grandmother, Harriet.Its 1960 and Arthur Hale has come home to Dare Valley to fulfill his dream of starting his own newspaper.  After graduating from college he worked for the New York Times.  But as much as he loved New York, Dare Valley was his home.  As he is setting up his office and trying to find a competent secretary, a fiery redhead comes in to apply for the job.  She says her name is Harriet Jenkins.  But its obvious she is holding back, that there are secrets there, but Arthur needs a secretary.  So Harriet can have her secrets, as long as she can type and file.  For now, anyway.Jenkins is not Harriet’s real last name.  It is Wentworth.  She is the daughter of a famous scientist that was held responsible for the deaths of seven babies after they were fed formula he invented.  The scandal was the downfall of their father.  He went insane after his fall from grace.  And the sisters were pretty much exiled.  They are convinced their father was innocent.  And the one that is guilty is the man that wrote the articles exposing him, Arthur Hale.  Harriet has gone to Dare Valley to expose Arthur and prove her father’s innocence.  But the longer she is there and the more she gets to know Arthur, she realizes that his research was thorough.  That perhaps she misjudged the whole thing.  And that Arthur Hale is an honorable man.  And that she might be falling in love with him.Dare Valley is a very small town though.  And once people learn that she has been lying to them all this time, they would never accept her.  How can she and Arthur build a life based on lies?“I’ve lied to them, Arthur.  How forgiving do you think they’ll be?”“I forgave you,” he said.I found this book to be more powerful than the others, somehow.  I was so moved when Arthur and Harriet went to the site of a mine collapse.  And since I  have known Arthur throughout all the previous books, it just made it all the more special to finally learn his story, his history.  His family adores him, and the love he has for his Granddaughters is absolute.  But the love he had for his Harriet and the life they had together was timeless.“And Harriet, I know without a doubt that you’re made for me, just as I am for you.”