Book Review: “Walk You There” by Jan Thompson

She wants to save history. He wants to raze it all.

What is he doing here?

Tamsyn tried to be nonchalant, but it irked her that Ryan Ruttledge had entered her world uninvited. She doubted he was standing in line now to board the trolley for the five-block walking tour because he was interested in the colonial history of Savannah.

Nope!

She was sure that he was there to spy on her, to find her weakness, and then to pounce on her and take away Rosa Pendegrast Lane.

He’s a destroyer, not a preservationist.

Tamsyn kept telling herself that as she tapped her iPad to check off the list of customers for this walking tour. It wasn’t strenuous to walk five city blocks, and most anyone could do it, even in a wheelchair. Still, the crowd was thin today, and that bothered her too.

She usually led about twelve or fifteen customers at most, and her other tour guides would take another ten or twenty. Today, there were only nine, minus herself, plus that guy.

Granted, April wasn’t May, and April wasn’t June, and she should expect the number of customers to increase through the summer to make up for any shortage of customers now.

Still, she could do without that one customer.

Then again, he had paid for the tour.

If you want to see what happens when old meets new and the sparks start to fly, pour yourself a tall glass of Savannah sweet tea and cozy up with WALK YOU THERE, a new romance by Jan Thompson.

Tamsyn Pendegrast is dedicated to running her Savannah touring company and taking care of the old family home she’s lived in since childhood. Ryan Ruttledge wants to oversee the razing of the historic neighborhood Tamsyn lives in and transform it into a modern commercial district. In fact, it’s his business to make sure this happens. His company tears down old defunct properties and replaces them with sleek, modern structures. For him, there’s no room for sentimentality. It’s strictly business.

But to Tamsyn, her neighborhood holds some of Savannah’s treasured history.

Ryan shows up in Savannah to persuade Tamsyn to sell her property to his company, finding her ready for a fight. But when he starts taking her historic tours of the city, she realizes that she’s going about this the wrong way. Instead of treating him like the enemy, she needs to show him the value of her city’s rich history, and what will be lost in the name of progress if her neighborhood gets torn down.

This story drew me in from the start, partly because of Jan Thompson’s ability to set the scene. I felt like I was taking a historical tour of Savannah—a city I’ve never actually visited. I also loved the dynamic between Tamsyn and Ryan. They’re clearly drawn to each other, but are up against a seemingly impossible situation. How can they both get what they want? 

Jan does a fine job of keeping the reader guessing. It’s a fun read that moves quickly—just right for a little vacation reading. It might even make you want to book a flight to Georgia!

Be sure to catch my interview with Jan, and enter to win a copy of  WALK YOU THERE. Interview with Jan Thompson.

Visit Jan at: JanThompson.com

Where to find WALK YOU THERE, and the rest of the “Savannah Sweethearts” series: