Beneath the Broom Tree — Jill Penrod

St. Ninian's Sanctuary is a spiritual retreat center on a mysterious island so far south it's nearly in Antarctica. At this center guests find healing, hope, and renewal, or so says its website. Ione Stavros needs it to be true, because she needs healed. Memories of horror haunt her, and she's desperate to hear God again and regain her life. Soon after she arrives she meets Callen McGill, who is clearly as haunted as she is. Through an unspoken agreement, they don't share their pain, but they share adventures, sometimes dangerous adventures, digging more deeply into the island's secrets. God begins to knit Ione's wounds, but Callen falls farther into darkness, and he doesn't understand why God won't heal him. If God is dealing with them together -- and it seems that's what He means to do -- surely He will heal both of them. At least Callen hopes so, because this isn't simply about healing their spirits. It's also about rebuilding their lives, and Callen needs a job, a home, and mostly a way to keep Ione in his everyday life, whatever that will look like. It isn't until God puts everything in Callen's life to the test that he realizes God's paths might lead to places he never expected to go.Small-town Christian contemporary romance with an island twist.