Disclosure: I received this book to review. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

Remember those finale parties we all threw in the early years of Survivor Island?  I could easily see those same parties being thrown in honor of Wildwood Creek.  The show is reality TV at its best; it’s really something I would watch and love!  Wildwood Creek was a frontier camp during the early Civil War period.   Part of the spooky charm of Wildwood Creek is the history behind its characters. The book oscillates between two main characters — Bonnie Rose, an original resident of Wildwood Creek, and her modern day counterpart Allie.  The two women seem to have a connection right from the start.  When Allie becomes an unexpected cast member on the televised reenactment of Wildwood Creek, she is caught off guard in more ways than one.  Her steamy hot neighbor, the mystery flowers, and the secrets that seem to be kept by even the trees just make everything seem almost authentically creepy.  

It’s not often that I find a good mystery within the pages of a Christian romance, but this book definitely filled out its pages.  The story was strong enough that it would have almost been better without the romance on the sidelines.  Allie’s reserved determination to follow in her father’s footsteps had me cheering for her success.  Her boss on the set reminded me of The Devil Wears Prada.  The history lesson in Wildwood Creek was complete with vivid descriptions.  Wingate’s writing is always top-notch (Firefly Island was amazing) and Wildwood Creek is a great example of her superb style.  There are small details that are so easily to overlook; this is a book I’ll probably read again just to find out what I missed in the first go-round.

There were a few issues I had with this book that made me long for more.  **Minor Spoiler Alert**

For one thing, it was never really made clear if Allie and Bonnie Rose truly had an ancestral connection.  While it’s clearly implied in that they shared the same features, I couldn’t figure out if they were actually related.  That was a disappointment because I really wanted them to be related!  Another issue that I had was the lack of an epilogue.  I really needed to know what happened with all of the major characters after they left Wildwood Creek.   Everything kind of built up to this crescendo then boom, it’s over.  After having this extreme obsession with Wildwood Creek, it was important to me to have details about their lives A. W. (after Wildwood).  So Ms. Wingate — although it’s probably not likely — sequel or novella, pretty please!!!