Published: Oct. 05, 2012
Words: 38,799 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781301732111

Short description

Love, danger, and history collide in Riverbend, book one of the Riverbend Trilogy. 22 year old Lena Woodruff begins her battle with her own grief over her father's tragic death as she manages to navigate through a web of love and mystery, dating back to America's earliest days.

Extended description

Nestled deep in Northwest Pennsylvania, amongst the thick forest of the Allegheny Mountains, is a quiet community named Kennerdell. The area is rich in Native American and European settlement history with few inhabitants and a charming culture. Growing up there was simple for 22 year old Lena Woodruff, full of happy memories and long, playful summer days spent by the nearby Allegheny River. Being the daughter of an Archaeology Professor, she was enamored with the beauty, peace, and history that surrounded her. Lena could have grown up to be an average, well-adjusted woman. But there has been a darkness within her for the past seven years, since her father’s tragic death. After managing to escape far away to Thomasville, Georgia for the past two years, Lena is forced to return home to visit her family. Upon her arrival, Lena had hoped to come clean to her mother, have a short visit and return to her secluded life, apart from her family, in Georgia. However, she is greeted by much m.. (Read more) Nestled deep in Northwest Pennsylvania, amongst the thick forest of the Allegheny Mountains, is a quiet community named Kennerdell. The area is rich in Native American and European settlement history with few inhabitants and a charming culture. Growing up there was simple for 22 year old Lena Woodruff, full of happy memories and long, playful summer days spent by the nearby Allegheny River. Being the daughter of an Archaeology Professor, she was enamored with the beauty, peace, and history that surrounded her. Lena could have grown up to be an average, well-adjusted woman. But there has been a darkness within her for the past seven years, since her father’s tragic death. After managing to escape far away to Thomasville, Georgia for the past two years, Lena is forced to return home to visit her family. Upon her arrival, Lena had hoped to come clean to her mother, have a short visit and return to her secluded life, apart from her family, in Georgia. However, she is greeted by much more than she expects. She is haunted by the memories of her father's death as well as her self-destructive behavior in the years following. She struggles with guilt and regret for the pain she feels she has caused her family and loved ones. Her mother is loving and supportive and, although Lena appreciates those qualities, the pressure of living up to a standard and the recollections of her previous life prove unsettling and are too much for her to bear. Lena is quickly thrown into a web of mystery, inner conflict, grief, self-worth, love, and trust. Riverbend, book one in the three part series, exposes the beginning of a shocking mystery for Lena that could ultimately change written history. She teams up with one of her neighbors, longtime friend Will Sundback, and they begin an adventure together. But someone else is lurking about, following Lena, and keeping tabs on her every move. Who is this person and what do they know? Will Lena be able to allow herself happiness, solve the mystery surrounding her father’s work, and be able to free herself from the pain that plagues her?
(Less)

Tags

fiction, romance, romantic suspense, love, literature, suspense, drama, mystery, history, grief, series, saga, contemporary romance

Available ebook reading formats

Single purchase gains access to all formats. How to download ebooks to e-reading devices and apps.

Format	Full Book	Sample First 15%
Online Reading (HTML, good for sampling in web browser)	Buy	View sample
Kindle (.mobi for Kindle devices and Kindle apps)	Buy	Download sample
Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others)	Buy	Download sample
PDF (good for reading on PC, or for home printing)	Buy	No sample available
RTF (readable on most word processors)	Buy	No sample available
LRF (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don't support .epub)	Buy	Download sample
Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices)	Buy	Download sample
Plain Text (download) (flexible, but lacks much formatting)	Buy	No sample available
Plain Text (view) (viewable as web page)	Buy	No sample available

Videos

The Riverbend Trilogy Book Trailer
This trailer is for the entire set of books in The Riverbend Trilogy. Rather than create a unique trailer for each book, I thought it better to attempt to portray the story, theme, and summary in one video. I hope you enjoy it!

Reviews

Log-in to write a Review   Log-in to add a Video Review

Review by: Ruby Chua on Feb. 22, 2013 :
This book is a great page turner that I completed within a day. The story started with Lena coming back home and revisit sorrows that she kept within her for years. I like that the story was direct with sufficient details, especially on the character development without feeling draggy. Even though the ending is a cliff hanger, I am still looking forward to the next book to read about Lena's adventure!
(reviewed long after purchase)

Review by: Jonel Boyko on Jan. 12, 2013 :
Ok, so I definitely did not leave my chair once while reading this novel. It was brilliant. I fully admit that I spent the 1st chapter wondering “what the hell happened in the past” but the rest of the book kept me captivated within its pages. Goodson has a way with words and manages to work mystery and intrigue into her work without it becoming apparent.

The descriptions and settings in this novel are great. They are real places that you feel like you could visit, or have visited. She uses her descriptions in a way that you can picture the setting for the novel very clearly. At the same time, she never gets longwinded or boring.

I think what really got me with this novel was the fact that the historical, anthropological, and archaeological facts present in the book are based in reality. Goodson took the time to research this before writing. It is not simply made up information that she tries to pass off as fact. She weaves an amazing tale around these facts, but what they are is still fact (with a twist or two, of course).

The characters are also heartwarming. You have a main character that is afraid to love because she lost her father coupled with her high school sweetheart who will still do anything for her. You can’t beat that, especially when Goodson takes the time to develop her characters into real people. I was, of course, left with the question “what is Richard’s deal?” Is he up to something or is he simply a skeazebag?
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Review by: Ann Fabrizio on Nov. 16, 2012 :
This was an excellent read by a debut author! The author has developed her characters just enough in this first book in a trilogy that it leaves the reader craving more. She deals with the issues of grief and loss of a loved one, allowing her readers to truly feel the pain her main character has endured. The author has worked hard to incorporate regional history into her story and has created a setting that is ripe for the mystery and suspense that her character finds herself involved in. All in all, an intruiging page-turner that ended leaving me wanting more!
(reviewed long after purchase)

Review by: Alison Wyatt on Nov. 06, 2012 :
I could not put this book down. The descriptions are perfect, the characters are relatable and the plot is intriguing. I can't wait for the second book of the trilogy to be released!
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

Reason for report:
— Select a reason — Book is or contains spam Book infringes copyright Same content is published elsewhere with different author (for ex., by private-label rights) Duplicate Incomplete work (such as sample or serial) Should be marked adults-only Category is inappropriate Poorly formatted Nudity or other inappropriate content on cover Nudity or other inappropriate visual content in book Inappropriate erotica content Cover image is improper Content is inappropriate Other violation of Terms of Service Other reason not shown above.

Additional details: