I'm totally loving everything I'm reading by Leslie Pike - she's a brilliant author and storyteller. I highly recommend picking up any book she has written, but especially the Lyon Family series. This one, book 3 in the series, was another fantastic addition!
The River in Spring is a 4 to 4.5 star read and listen (I picked up the KU ebook to go along with the audio I was listening to, and it was a great combo) - the fantastic writing along with 2 of my favourite narrators was perfection! The story of Nobel, the loner middle child of the family (nicknamed "The Invisible Man" because he liked to observe and be on the sidelines), who lives on a remote piece of land, and Dove, a gorgeous younger gal who hikes in to fish on his river (43, 28, I believe they were).
Despite the big age difference, and the extremely uncomfortable meet-cute (when he is spying on her up a tree, and falls, rolling down a hill to her feet), they hit it off and continue to get to know each other, bonding over his elderly dog, her love of fishing on his land, and the fact that she can hide out and doesn't need to hide her rockstar identity - her band hasn't quite made the big-time yet, but she has a feeling they're just about to make it! That does seem to be something of a bone of contention between them - as the band is offered bigger gigs, and Dove needs to go and wants him to come, Nobel is quite content in his quiet home life. They know they are meant for each other, but working around this huge roadblock might just be impossible.
There are so many highs and lows in this story, and I really did love it, especially the audio/ebook combo (always better when you can read along, but best to have it read to you!). Lance Greenfield and Stella Bloom did a brilliant job, and you can always count on them to bring a stellar performance!
I definitely recommend this book and series (it could be a standalone, but far better if you read the first two in the series ahead of time for the Lyon family background), to absolutely everybody! There are not really any trigger warnings I can think of that would necessary to warn about, unless you have recently lost a pet and an elderly, unwell dog would be a trigger. Dove had a bit of a tragic family history, but it wasn't discussed too in-depth for the storyline.
I received an advance listen copy from Home Cooked Books, and this is my honest feedback - thank you!