Book Review - Love On A Whim

Cape Cod Creamery fans rejoice! Suzanne Woods Fisher has brought the Dixon women back, along with the rest of the citizens of Chatham and a whole new storyline in which dear Brynn has lost her ever loving mind and gotten married to a stranger in Vegas. When reality hits with the break of dawn, Brynn calls her best friend and is encouraged to visit Dawn in the cozy community on the Massachusetts shore to lick her wounds and find her path. But finding her path is not as easy as it seems, especially when distractions fall into the hands of the Dixons, keeping everyone too busy to figure a way out for Brynn before things become more complicated than anyone could imagine.

Fisher has created a cozy community that, by this third book, has started to feel like home. My mind clearly sees the creamery, Intuitive Cooking School, and library as we visit each location through out the story. The strand of beach where our friends tend to walk to clear their minds, clear the air, or seek a holy moment is well known by now. Fisher has brought back familiar elements with a fresh new arc that keeps things interesting and entertaining throughout with themes of regret and reconciliation, as well as family and faith in the divine plan of the Almighty.

Love On A Whim, Cape Cod Creamery series book three, by Suzanne Woods Fisher is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House        Christian Book        Amazon        Barnes & Noble        Walmart

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - The Secret to Happiness

Suzanne Woods Fisher’s follow up to The Sweet Life brings the Dixon ladies back together, as the Main Street Creamery struggles to get through the winter off-season, Dawn and Kevin struggle to move forward with their wedding, and Dawn’s cousin Callie struggles with the weight of the world and the death of her dream career. Fisher also brings back my absolute favorite character, Cowboy Leo, whose spunk and zest for both ice cream and life inspire me (and Callie!) The Secret to Happiness wrestles with some big issues, like the value of relentlessly pursuing your goals versus taking time to find and embrace the good things in each day, the despair of losing your life’s work and therefore struggling to find identity outside of that role, and gut wrenching anxiety of fear over chronic disease. But the beauty is in finding identity when all else has been stripped away and finding the small but mighty holy moments.

 

Fisher has a talent for artfully tugging at the heartstrings, and The Secret to Happiness is another shining example of her skill. Even in places where the plot went just where I hoped it would go, the writing took it yet another level deeper. Sitting in my hammock on a warm spring day, wishing for one of those delightful fancy pops, and reading this delightful addition to the Cape Cod Creamery series, left me wishing I had thought to bring a tissue for those beautiful a-ha moments. And the teaser at the back for yet another addition to the series had me just a wee bit teary eyed for joy!

The Secret to Happiness, Cape Cod Creamery book 2, by Suzanne Woods Fisher is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House            Christian Book                Barnes & Noble            Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - The Sweet Life

I am not gonna lie, peeps. I am totally in love with this book! The Sweet Life by Suzanne Woods Fisher is the first in her new Cape Cod Creamery series. I needed some good summer poolside reading and she absolutely delivered!

Dawn Dixon is super focused, very successful, and on track to achieve her life’s goals according to plan until her fiancé breaks up with her. Instead of going on her honeymoon to Cape Cod, she finds herself in a swanky hotel there with her mother. Flighty and prone to run with a half baked plan, Marnie Dixon is determined to put breast cancer behind her and is struck with inspiration when she finds the proprietor of the former ice cream shop in a hurry to sell out and leave of town. In the spirit of her late husband, Philip, Marnie decides an ice cream shop in the historic district of Chatham is the perfect venture for this stage of her life. Dawn, however, is not convinced. What will it take for Dawn to catch on to the vision Marnie has for this old building? And what will it take for both mother and daughter to begin to see each other in a different way?

Honestly, it is the character development that has me absolutely in love with Dawn, Marnie, Kevin, Linc, and even cranky old Mrs. Nickerson-Eldredge. The changing of perspective for mother and daughter is quite simply beautiful, and I totally adore the personal and romantic arc the author created for Dawn and Kevin. It is so real, so relatable, and is frankly exquisite. I am on pins and needles to get my hands on more of the Cape Cod Creamery story and encourage you to snatch up a copy of The Sweet Life and fall in love, too.

The Sweet Life, the first book of the Cape Cod Creamery series by Suzanne Woods Fisher, is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Christian Book            Barnes & Noble            Amazon

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - At Lighthouse Point

Suzanne Woods Fisher takes us back to peaceful Three Sister Island in her latest release, At Lighthouse Point. Blaine, the youngest of the three sisters, has returned home upon graduation from the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu and is ready to make her fine dining dreams for Camp Kicking Moose come true. She’s also ready to prove to her family that she has outgrown her baby-of-the-family identity, if only they can see it. But Three Sisters Island also changed while she was away; getting used to those changes is going to take some peace, some patience, and a whole lot of determination. While Blaine learned some valuable lessons in Paris, the Grayson family still has a lot to learn about themselves and about each other.

The Three Sisters Island series was new to me when I found At Lighthouse Point, but I am glad that I waited until I was able to read the first two books and really get to know the Grayson family before diving into the most recent release. Fisher has created a family that is truly lovable, flaws and all, as well as supporting characters with personalities as big as the frantic Atlantic. Although, At Lighthouse Point is written well enough that it could be read on its own, I recommend enjoying the entire series from your favorite spot on the beach, poolside, or in your hammock this summer.

At Lighthouse Point by Suzanne Woods Fisher is currently available from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Christian Book        Barnes & Noble        Amazon

Thank you to the author and the publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - The Moonlight School

 For Lucy Wilson, a six month stint assisting her father's cousin, Cora Wilson Stewart, in her role as superintendent of schools in Rowan County, Kentucky, is something to be endured in the spring of 1911. She sees the need for education among the illiterate and poverty-stricken mountain folk, but surely she has no role in their lives aside from working as Cora's scribe. By autumn, she will be back in Louisville. However, she is not prepared for the way the people in the hills and hollers work their way into her heart. With their vivid storytelling, vibrant musical tradition, and the way their clogging binds together the young and the old, these people begin to teach Lucy that there is much more to life that the proper society to which she compared them. She is also not prepared to face some very challenging new information about her family.

Cora's inspiration for a moonlit school to teach the illiterate and semi-literate adults of the county to read will empower these people and give them a voice. The mountain they will have to climb to accomplish this plan is a tough climb, but fierce determination and the leading of the Almighty give them strength to push past the barriers.

The Moonlight School by Suzanne Woods Fisher is based on true events and the life of the very real Cora Wilson Stewart, who began the Moonlight Schools on September 5, 1911. As a lover of literacy, I was intrigued by the very real Cora Wilson Stewart and Fisher's Lucy, as well as the way they worked diligently to bring education to the mountain folk of Rowan County. The way Fisher brought her characters to life did justice to the bountiful and beautiful cultural tradition she represented.

The Moonlight School is now available from your favorite local bookseller, or online from the following:

Christian Book        Barnes & Noble        Amazon

Thank you to the author and the publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are completely genuine.