Thayer Wentworth never really felt she truly belonged at home. She is a tomboy born into a wealthy family, and the only person who really understood her died when she was young. Her mother's priority is to push Thayer to the nearest wealthy young man, marry her off, and get her out of the family's hair. While Thayer's grandmother, Grand, seems to understand her, there is only so much she can do to comfort and advise Thayer through her life.

Thayer finally goes to camp one summer where she meets Nick Abrams and falls in love for the first time. Unfortunately, by the end of the summer, she also experiences her first heartbreak and major life lesson. This event puts into motion a series of events that sends Thayer to an undergrad college where she meets her future husband, Aengus O'Neill, a professor of Irish literature and mythology.

Just as Aengus and Thayer begin settling into their life together, Thayer receives news that her grandmother has passed away. Thayer inherits a wonderful house in a prominent neighbourhood, and they are afraid that the neighbours will be dreadful, but they soon form a fast friendship with the next-door neighbour, Carol, and her sons. Through Carol, Aengus forms connections that eventually lands him an offer to work at a nearby camp telling traditional Irish/Celtic stories, which he has missed doing since they moved into Grand's house and he gave up his old teaching job.

But as Aengus spends more and more time at the camp, Thayer notices a frightening change in her husband. After Carol's sons start attending the camp, Thayer begins to suspect what's going on, but can she be right when prominent local politicians are connected to the camp? And can she make Aengus find his way back to her?

While I enjoyed BURNT MOUNTAIN as a whole, the jacket copy was completely deceiving. It referred to Aengus telling his stories at the camp, but he didn't even learn of the camp's existence until page 240 of a 322-page book! The book is really more about Thayer's life, her relationships and connections, and the lessons she learns through those relationships, all of which made for an extremely compelling story. There were also some odd things going on with the timeline. The book refers to Atlanta preparing for the Olympics, then refers to the Harry Potter movie series, all within the same period, which were actually in completely different decades. Even with the small discrepancies within the story, overall BURNT MOUNTAIN was a emotional read with twists and turns that will have you holding on til the very end.

Book Summary

Born to a wealthy family in Middletown, Georgia, the only place tomboy Thayer Wentworth felt at home was at her summer camp -- Camp Greyledge on Burnt Mountain in North Georgia. It was there that she came alive and where she met Nick Abrams, her first love...and first heartbreak.Years later, to her family's dismay, Thayer marries Aengus, an Irish professor, and they move into her deceased grandmother's house in Atlanta, only miles from her beloved Camp Greyledge, now a boy's camp called Camp Forever. There, Aengus and Thayer lead quiet and happy lives until Aengus is invited up to Camp Forever to tell old Irish tales to the campers. As Aengus spends less and less time at home and becomes more and more distant, Thayer begins to realize something is not quite right at Camp Forever, and that the man she married is not the man she thought she knew.