The Lights of Sugarberry Cove

by Heather Webber

To begin with I did not like the physical book – small font, tight spacing on the pages – and the synopsis on the flap of the cover gave me the impression of contention in a family.  So I put it aside.  Then, when I finished the previous book and didn’t have another in line to read, I went back to this one.  I’m glad I did.  I loved it!

The main characters are 26-year-old Sadie Way Scott; her sister Leala, 4 years older and married with a 2-year-old son; and their mother Susannah.  Sadie hasn’t been back to Sugarberry Cove since she was 18 when she drowned in the lake and was revived.  The girls' mother, Susannah, owns a B & B, the dream of her deceased husband and father of the girls.  Both girls return home when their mother suffers a heart attack, prompting a reunion and some healing.  Excellent.

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Seven Perfect Things

by Catherin Ryan Hyde

Really good.  The narrative of this book is presented from the point of view of three characters:  Abby, age 13; her mother, Mary; and Elliot, a recent widower.  Abby and Mary both live in an unhappy home because of Stan (father and husband), who is extremely controlling and abusive in other ways. 

Abby sees a man throw a burlap bag into the river.  When she sees movement in the bag she jumps into the river and retrieves it before it sinks to the bottom.  She finds seven puppies inside.  She takes them to the pound, only to learn that there is no room and they would have to be put down.  She remembers an abandoned cabin not far from her home—a cabin that had been broken into—and takes them there to care for them.  A few days later the owner of the cabin, Elliott, goes there to mourn, only to find that his cabin and shed have been broken into, items were stolen, and there are seven puppies in the shed.  Abby and Elliot meet and develop a friendship.  Abby imagines what it might have been like to have had Elliot as a father.  When Mary and Elliot meet, Abby is even more helpful, but there is her father....  

I really liked Elliot’s even temperament, his perceptiveness, his calm demeanor, and his willingness to help.  I also liked Abby’s maturity. 

There is some confrontation and abuse in this book but no language.

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The Second Sister

by Marie Bostwick

Lucy works as a political campaigner, devoting most of her time to her work and little time to herself.  Alice, her sister is almost two years older than her and has a brain injury that makes her seem younger than her 38 years.  Alice wants Lucy to return to their small town in Wisconsin but Lucy wants nothing to do with returning to the town with bad memories.  Then Alice dies and the terms of her will include Lucy spending 8 weeks in their hometown before she can inherit their childhood home.  I enjoyed this book a lot.

Quotes

Chapter 9, beginning on p. 57, offers great insight to our experience of having a loved-one die.  It’s too long to include as a quote.

Alice’s friend Rinda recounts being new in town, looking for inexpensive fabric for the back of a quilt at a quilt shop, and having Alice follow her around “talking a blue streak.”  Rinda was being careful about money, pulled out a bolt of yellow-green fabric that she thought might be okay for backing.  “So Alice sees this stuff and says, ‘That’s the ugliest fabric I ever saw in my life.  Why would you buy that?’  I told her it might be ugly, but it was only two dollars a yard.’
  “Rinda’s eyes crinkled at the corners.  ‘And then Alice puts her hand on my arm and looks at me all serious and says, ‘Rinda, it is possible to pay too little for fabric.’”    p. 193-194

  “‘All these people who piece their tops but hire somebody else to do the finishing. . .  Hmph.  They’re not quilters.  They’re toppers!’ she declared, curling her lip in a way that made it sound almost like a dirty word.”
    p. 254  ¶5

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The Promise Girls

by Marie Bostwick

The book opens with the Promise girls (Joanie, about 16; Meg, about 14; and Avery, about 5) and their mom, Minerva, on the set of a TV talk show.  Minerva explains that she chose three sperm donors of outstanding quality with characteristics she wanted her daughters to have and had in vitro fertilization.  She has groomed her daughters as prodigies, driven them to success, and presented them as exceptional.  Joanie is the pianist; Meg, the artist; and Avery, the writer/story teller. 

Joanie is tired of it all and purposefully flubs the piece on live TV.  Minerva explodes and the daughters are removed from her care.  The story picks up 20 years later with Joanie sewing re-enactment costumes for a living, Meg working as a bookkeeper and secretary for her husband’s business, and Avery working in a coffee shop and sidelining as a mermaid.  They have little contact with Minerva, but lots to learn about their situation, their past, and their parents.

The author says this is one book with which she is completely happy.  Me, too.

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At Home on Ladybug Farm

by Donna Ball

Three retired women, Lindsey, Bridget, and Cici, purchased an old mansion which they are trying to restore.  One is a teacher-turned-painter and foster mom; one is a realtor who should have been a baker; and the other’s strength is carpentry/building.  Lori, one of their daughters lives with them, and Noah, the 15-year-old foster son.  It’s a story of family, challenges, and growing to independence.  There’s some humor similar to that in Eat Cake.  There are a few chapters that flash back to earlier times.  I enjoyed it.

Quotes

“‘Always observe the amenities,’ her Grandma Addie had told her.  ‘No matter how low life knocks you, you can hold your head up high if you observe the amenities.’
  “... Now, as a mature young bride and mother-to-be, she understood exactly what the amenities were, and how important it was to observe them. The amenities were gestures of civility performed in this big, often very uncivilized world, small acts of kindness to let others know that their lives were noticed, and their presence valued.”    p. 179  paragraph 1

“‘Motherhood isn’t something that just happens to you,’ Cici said.  ‘It’s a choice you make every day, to put someone else’s happiness and well-being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you’re not sure what the right thing is . . . and to forgive yourself, over and over again, for doing everything wrong.’”    p. 255  paragraph 4

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The Paris Apartment

by Kelly Bowen 

Lia inherits her grandmother’s Paris apartment.  When she arrives she realizes that it hasn’t been lived in for decades.  Then she notices the paintings, the beautiful dresses, and sees the Nazi magazines.  She immediately suspects that her grandmother was a Nazi sympathizer. 

She arranges for Gabriel Seymour, an appraiser and restorer of old paintings, to view the paintings.  She chooses him particularly because his surname and the name on one of the small paintings is the same. 

This is a book set in two time periods with several characters.  Chapters move from one character and time to another.  We learn that Lia’s grandmother, Estelle Allard, was not a sympathizer but one who helped people escape, and that Gabriel’s aunt, Sophie, worked with Estelle for a while.

This drew me in despite the dual time line and the story being told from different characters’ perspectives.  (I should add that there was some language in difficult circumstances.)

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The Nature of Fragile Things

by Susan Meissner 

Oh so good!  Sophie Whalen is a mail order bride to a man named Martin Hocking, a man who seems to have no interest in her other than that she can take care of his 5-year-old daughter, Kat, and give him the appearance of being married. 

There are so many deceits related to Martin, but they gradually begin to unfold.  This takes place in San Francisco before and after the 1906 earthquake.

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South of the Buttonwood Tree

by Heather Webber

Excellent.  A little magic, a mystery, love of family, learning about not judging.... 

Blue Bishop has been judged by the people of Buttonwood her whole life because of the actions and behavior of her parents, but she persists in doing good things for the people of the town.  She’s a children’s book author and illustrator who wants to adopt a child.  One morning, a baby appears south of the buttonwood tree with a button that says “Give her to Blue Bishop.”  The buttonwood tree has been dispensing wisdom for many years.  Thus begins the story.

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