Smoky Blue Sunrise: A Return to Elizabeth's Mountain

By Lucille Guarino

"Haunted by guilt after her sister's tragic death, a young woman seeks a fresh start as a caregiver in North Carolina and gradually finds the healing she seeks-but unexpected love and a life-threatening storm will test her strength all over again " -Cam Torrens, award-winning author of the Tyler Zahn mystery/suspense series

I am the reason my sister is dead.

Jolie-Mae Buckley doesn't think her heart can ever heal. Two years ago, she graduated from college summa cum laude and was on track for medical school. Drowning in guilt after a disastrous mistake turned deadly, she's unable to move forward.

When she answers an ad for a live-in nanny four hours away in Western North Carolina, on Elizabeth's Mountain, Jolie knows this is her opportunity to start her life anew.

As details of Jolie's misfortune emerge, her new employers, Jesse and Amanda Taylor, detect a nefarious undercurrent in her story. Jesse's prot g , Brody, gently persuades Jolie to revisit that awful day when a perfect storm of events destroyed her world. In the meantime, Hurricane Helene is barreling toward Asheville, where survival becomes paramount, exposing the fragile line between hope and terror. In the aftermath of Mother Nature's chaos, and with Jolie's heart hanging in the balance, the truth about that fateful night breaks free like the floodwaters no one predicted.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1685137512
• ISBN13: 9781685137519
• Release Date: May 2026
• Publisher: Black Rose Writing
• Length: 278 Pages
• Weight: 0.83 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"