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.

nm

Midnight at the Blackbird Café

by Heather Webber

I loved it.  A little magic, a lot of love and family and friends, heartbreak and healing.  It’s a complicated story line with lots of characters.  Anna Kate Callow’s grandmother, Zee, died and left The Blackbird Café to Anna Kate in her will, but with the stipulation that Anna Kate would stay in Wicklow for several months, at which time the café would be hers.  There’s magic in the pies (people who eat them hear messages of love from those who have died).  At first, Anna Kate doesn’t know what creates the magic.  Her grandmother managed to provide all the guidance she needs.  There are blackbirds who sing at night but only if the pies contain a specific ingredient.  Characters include Jena and Bow who help in the kitchen; Summer and her father Aubin; Gideon, Zee’s attorney who lives next door; Natalie and her parents, Doc and Seelie; and plenty of others.  A second read in a few years wouldn’t go amiss.

nm

Every Secret Thing

by Susanna Kearsley

Ohhh, good.  It was a mystery bordering on a thriller.  Kate is a journalist who is in London to cover a national trial.  As she sits outside awaiting the verdict, an older gentleman approaches her and begins a conversation.  Kate is dismissive when he tells her he knows of a murder deserving justice that was committed many years ago.  He asks about her grandmother and tells Kate she has the same eyes, then gives her his card.  Andrew Deacon is his name.  He walks away and is hit by a car and killed.  Kate asks her grandmother about him and the story begins.  Whew!

Quote

“‘I always think they’re rather sad things, photographs, when someone dies.  One is left with the pictures, but none of the stories.’”    p. 55 ¶5

nm

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.

nm

Recipe for a Charmed Life

by Rachel Linden

A little magical realism.  And I loved it! 

Georgia May’s goal in life from the time she was a child has been to be a chef managing a restaurant kitchen in Paris.  She watched Julia Child with her mom when she was little, but then her mom left.  Now, at age 33 as the book opens, she’s a sous chef in Paris with the hope of becoming the chef in a new restaurant that will be opened soon by her current employer.  And then things turn sour.  Her boyfriend, the chef where she works, is cheating on her (skip over the refrigerator scene).  Just as she learns this, a renowned restaurant critic is awaiting his meal AND the chef cooking his meal of fish has burned it.  In retaliation, Georgia May plates the burned fish and serves it.  She quickly realizes it’s an awful mistake. 

The owner of the restaurant suggests she leave town until the scandal blows over and suggests that she’s lost her spark and that being away will give her the opportunity to get it back.  Georgia May's spark is that her food often brings memories or helps people make decisions or to see things clearly, etc.  While deciding what to do, she sees an email from her mom, sent a week earlier, asking Georgia to get in touch with her and inviting her to visit.

Except for that one scene in the refrigerator, I loved this book.   

nm