Dreaming in Chocolate

Dreaming in Chocolate by Susan Bishop Crispell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It took me a long time to read this book after I checked it out. I must have just seen that it was a magical realism book written by Susan Bishop Crispell and placed it on hold without really reading the synopsis very closely, and when I started reading the book and learned it was about a young, single mom whose daughter was dying, I put it down. On the other hand, I didn't return it to the library, and eventually I picked it up again. I'm glad I did because it turned out to be less sad than I expected. Largely because of a) the lovely tone and b) the fact that Ella is the healthiest dying person you could imagine.

I loved the atmosphere of the book--a wintery small town in western North Carolina that actually felt much more like the New England setting of The Gilmore Girls than anything in the South. Still, the author is from North Carolina, whereas I've never been there, so I'll take her word for it.

It was pretty hard to believe that in such a small town where everyone knew everyone else, Noah could possibly NOT know that Penelope had had a daughter. He did visit a few times over the years, after all, and he was close with his family. And it was similarly unlikely that he wouldn't have been able to find out Ella's birthdate and do some math to figure out who the "mysterious" father was. So I had a hard time with some of the basic premises (these and others) of the story, which is what lowered my overall rating.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the characters, empathized with their pain, and wanted to smack them upside the head when they were being foolishly stubborn. Like the entire time Penelope refused to make the recipe for curing heartbreak that the apothecary table gave her--I mean, hello? At least make it to cure your mother's heartbreak? Or see that it could help with BOTH of your own sources of heartbreak? Or other people's? Honestly, girl!  Trust the table!

For readers' advisors: character and setting doorways. A smattering of swearing, especially later on in the book. No sex, although the main characters got as far as starting to remove some clothing. No violence. Winter setting that makes you want to curl up with some tasty hot chocolate, possibly of the magical variety!

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The Secret Ingredient of Wishes

The Secret Ingredient of Wishes by Susan Bishop Crispell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rachel Monroe has a secret. Well, two related ones, really: she can make wishes come true, and when she was 10, she accidentally wished her brother would get lost. Which he did. Permanently. Now no one remembers he ever existed except for Rachel, and she spent years in therapy because of it. That one careless moment shattered her family, and ever since then, Rachel has been doing her best to hide from her ability. She thinks she has succeeded until the day she accidentally grants the wish of her best friend's daughter to have a unicorn--or a pony with a party hat on its forehead, anyway--and Rachel decides to flee in order to protect those she loves.

Magic isn't so easily evaded, however, and Rachel soon finds herself out of gas in the small town of Nowhere, North Carolina, taken in by an eccentric old woman who can bind secrets by baking them into pies and who is harboring secrets of her own. She meets new friends, gets a job, and is starting to fall in love with the next door neighbor. For the first time in her life, Rachel begins to feel at home, which is a good thing, because the town won't let her leave. Not the townspeople--the Town itself. Since she can't run away again, when word of her wish-granting secret gets out, she has to come to terms with her ability in order to avoid continuing to live a life of fear and guilt.

This is a good choice for fans of Sarah Addison Allen, as it had a similar feel and concepts (semi-sentient fruit trees, anyone?). There were quirky and engaging characters, a charming town, and magic in the air. A delightful read, to be sure.

It would make an excellent book club selection--there were so many times I wished I could discuss this book with someone! For example, does anyone else feel like there should have been more significance to the poisoned plum tree--how it got poisoned and what might have happened when it was ripped out? Or Rachel's family photo--I was surprised Rachel didn't use it as proof both with her parents at the time of the accident as well as with Ashe when the truth about her brother came out.

This book also made me want to eat pie. Lots of pie. Sadly, the ARC I received from Bookbrowse/the publisher in exchange for my honest review didn't include any. *sigh* Ah well.

For readers' advisors: character, story, and setting doorways were all strong. There is a fair amount of swearing, which didn't bother me but might bother some people (things like "damn" and "bat-shit crazy"). Some kissing, touching, and removal of a shirt but no actual sex scenes. No violence.

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Blanche on the Lam

Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Blanche White (yes, that's really her name) has written one too many bad checks, thanks to meager wages not promptly paid, and she's facing jail time. Panic leads her to sneak out of the courthouse during a commotion and flee, ending up bluffing her way into a job for clients she'd had to cancel on thanks to the court appearance. Luckily for Blanche, the family soon heads to their summer home in another town, providing her a place to hide out while she figures out her next steps. Her employers have dangerous secrets of their own, however, and Blanche must pry into them if she is to stay alive.

I finished reading this nearly two months ago, but it's taken me a while to try and process what I think of it. I did enjoy reading it, although it was not what I was expecting, based on the blurb. For one thing, it's set in the present day (or, well, the present day of the early 1990s when it was written), but I was terribly confused at first because it felt like something out of the 1950s or 1960s. Are there really still African American maids and gardeners and other domestic workers in North Carolina who are treated like second-class citizens or worse? I suppose there might be, given all the recent racial tensions and violence in the news lately (currently the rioting in Baltimore).

It's truly a different world from the one I know. Although we can now finally afford to pay someone to come and clean our house every couple of weeks, and we just hired a landscaping service to take care of our yard because we simply can't keep up with it, we pay them well, and I cannot fathom treating any of the people doing the work with anything less than the utmost respect and deep gratitude for the time and energy they are saving us. I don't know anyone at all who has ever had "hired help" in the manner depicted in this book, and even if anyone had, no one I know would ever treat people so badly. It's an alien concept--just as much as if this were a sci-fi novel instead of a contemporary mystery.

The sad thing is, Blanche has experienced such a long history and culture of racial bigotry and inequality, that it--understandably, if unpleasantly--colors her perspective on everything. She is intelligent, even when she doesn't make the wisest choices. She loves her adopted children, and I'd love to eat her cooking, but she has a huge chip on her shoulder that keeps her from fully bonding with Mumsfield, a mentally slow sweetheart of a young man, just because he's white and related to her employers. Keeping her distance is a defense mechanism, and her bitterness and cynicism made for difficult reading at times. It was an interesting book, and I am curious to know what the next one in the series is like.

For readers' advisors: character and setting doorways. Some crude language and, strangely enough, a couple of descriptions of Blanche adjusting her underwear when it had ridden up.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ebook copy I received in exchange for my honest review.

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First Frost

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sarah Addison Allen's book, Garden Spells, is one of my all-time favorite novels, so when I had an opportunity to win a free Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) of First Frost from Bookbrowse in exchange for my honest review, I jumped at the chance.  First Frost picks up the story of the Waverley women of Bascom, North Carolina, ten years after the end of Garden Spells.  Bay is now fifteen, her mother is happily married to Henry, and her Aunt Claire is happily married to Tyler.  Claire and Tyler live in the Waverley house with their nine-year-old daughter Mariah, while Sydney, Henry, and Bay live in Henry's farmhouse.  Evanelle isn't moving as quickly as she used to, but she still feels the urge to give people unusual objects they'll soon need, and her best friend and housemate, Fred, has begun to do the same.

The tension in First Frost, thankfully, isn't due to stress in the marriages--I absolutely hate when sequels ruin love stories just to provide plot points.  Rather, each of the Waverley women is struggling with a different issue in her personal life: Claire has been doing virtually nothing but making special candies for the past year and feels trapped and exhausted by it, Sydney desperately wants another baby but hasn't been able to conceive, Evanelle is facing fading health and a friend who cannot bear the thought of losing her, and Bay, well, Bay knows where things belong and is tormented when others can't see it, in this case a boy she knows she's meant to be with who barely knew she existed until she wrote him a note that gained her some unwanted notoriety.  A mysterious stranger asking the townspeople questions about the Waverleys in general and Claire in particular just adds to the anxiety and tension.   They all know things will get better, as they always do, after the first frost of the year when the apple tree in the backyard blooms.  The trick is to hang on until then.

I loved being able to revisit the enchanting world of Bascom.  The story is delightful--perfect for a cozy fall or winter evening.   I didn't want to put it down.

What I did want, however, is for the mysterious stranger subplot to have been better developed.  I felt like it started to go in an interesting, magical direction and then sort of fizzled out by the end.  Otherwise, though, I loved spending time with these characters and this story.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, setting secondary.  It's a lovely story about family supporting and nurturing each other.  There is no sex (well, mention of it as Sydney focuses on conception but not any real sex scenes), violence, or swearing that I can recall.

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Garden Spells

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So far as I can tell, this has been my most popular review on Goodreads.  Since I'm behind in writing my reviews, I decided to post this older (2007) one here in the meantime.  Enjoy!


What I learned from this book is...if an apple tree throws its apples at you, for goodness sake, pay attention already!

This book is lovely, magical, enchanting. I sat down to read just one chapter, basically to decide whether it was worth holding onto even though it was already overdue. At 2:30 a.m. I finished the whole darn thing. Couldn't stop myself. I floated in a state of suspended reality, where time had no meaning.

The basic idea of the book: two sisters experienced their childhoods very differently. Now, as adults, they must come to terms with choices, past and present, and with the unique abilities each woman inherited. In Bascom, North Carolina, townsfolk know Claire's garden grows produce with mystical properties, like the honeysuckle wine she makes that lets you see in the dark. Sydney has a gift for revealing a person's inner self through a haircut. Bay always knows where things belong. And whatever Evanelle gives you, no matter how strange, you'll be certain to need before too long.

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The Peach Keeper

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Peach Keeper is a delightful story of friendship and finding yourself. Living your best life, as Oprah would say. Seventy-five years ago a secret was buried at the edge of a cliff, but secrets do not stay buried forever, and this one is shaken loose when Paxton and Colin restore the town's original grand home to its former glory. Willa, Paxton, Sebastian, and Colin grew up in the same North Carolina town but worlds apart. The labels they bore in high school--Joker, Princess, Freak, and Stick Man--still haunt them twelve years later. They are about to learn that none of them is quite what people thought.

Sarah Addison Allen infuses her books with magic. Not the spells and incantations sort, but the delicious kind--bells and scents and objects that appear and disappear, protective birds, earthquakes, and so on. I read this book pretty much in one sitting and wished I could dive into it and meet these people in real life. I also loved the cameo appearance by Claire and Bay from Garden Spells.

For readers' advisors: character doorway primarily but also story doorway



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The Girl Who Chased the Moon

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this one in a single evening. It was an enjoyable read, but it didn't captivate me the way Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen did. I thought Allen tried a little too hard to have the characters' back-stories remain mysterious secrets, and that stifled character (and plot) development. I kept wanting them to just spill the beans so they could deal with the past and finally heal & move on with their lives.

The premise of the book is that 17-year-old Emily comes to Mullaby, NC, to live with her "gentle giant" of a grandfather after her mother's death. She knew her mother as a tireless social activist, but the town remembers Dulcie quite differently, only no one will tell Emily why. Meanwhile, the next door neighbor has a secret of her own, which relates to why she bakes cakes with the windows open, and why she can't wait to sell her (father's) restaurant and leave town again. And then there is the mayor's family with the teenage son, Win, who is drawn to Emily, despite his family's animosity toward her.

Win sneaking into Emily's room at night to watch her sleep was just a little too Twilight for me, though. (I loved Twilight, but a teenage boy who sneaks in "just" to watch a teenage girl sleep is creepy and not very believable.)

For Reader's Advisory: character and story doorways

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