Sunset Bridge by Emilie Richards

Sunset Bridge is the third novel in Emilie Richards' Happiness Key, but, not having read the previous two books, I can assure you that you don't have to have read them to enjoy this book. Instead, settle in for a wonderful story of five women and the friendship they share on a Florida barrier island. Richards is an author who knows how to bring women to life, and to make each of those women a unique character that the reader cares about.

Tracy Deloche owns the five beach cottages on Happiness Key, but what she values most there is the friendship she shares with her tenants. Wanda is the owner of a popular pie shop, a strong woman often at odds with her daughter, Maggie. Maggie is an ex-cop who left her boyfriend, her job, and moved from Miami to work in her mother's pie shop while she decides what to do with her life since she threw away her previous one. Janya is a young Indian wife, learning to love her husband, while bemoaning the fact they can't have children. And, Alice is raising her granddaughter, at a time when she thought she'd be enjoying her retirement years.

It's unusual in a novel of women's friendships to find that each character is so well-defined, and so unique. Often, it's hard to tell characters apart in these novels. But, Tracy is an ex-socialite, struggling with a past that causes conflict in her new relationship with a man who has never mentioned love. Maggie has left a life behind her, but she can't forget the man she left. Maggie is perfectly content with her life as owner of Wanda's Wonderful Pies, until she is offered an opportunity beyond her wildest dreams. Janya and Alice face their own problems, already mentioned. Each woman has her own problems, but, in the end, they all confront the possibility of losing everything they value in life as a tropical storm heads toward Happiness Key. It's a story of love, suspense, and possible tragedy. Is there any problem strong women can't confront when they band together in friendship?

I had never read one of Emilie Richards' books, although I had recommended several to my mother. But, Richards' Sunset Bridge offers something so many novels of friendship do not. As I said before, her characters are all individuals, something I look for in reading stories of friendship. I don't know two women who are exactly alike, or react in the same way. That's what I'm looking for when I read, women who stand out. Emilie Richards made me care for each one of those women of Sunset Bridge. She brought them to life in a novel that threatens to be tragic, while allowing love and friendship to triumph.

Emilie Richards' website is www.emilierichards.com

Sunset Bridge by Emilie Richards. MIRA. ©2011. ISBN 9780778312383 (paperback), 512p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure - Emilie Richards' assistant sent me a review copy of the book, hoping I would review it.

Kindred Spirits by Sarah Strohmeyer

As soon as I started Sarah Strohmeyer's Kindred Spirits, I thought, here we go again; another novel about a group of women, and a friend that died of cancer. And, I was right. For a while, I felt as if I was reading a story I'd read before. But, somewhere in the middle, Strohmeyer's characters grabbed on to me, and I found myself crying in parts of the story. There's nothing really new in this book. However, it has that message about friendship and life that bears repeating, "It's the journey, not the destination."

Lynne Flannery endured cancer treatments for eight years before finally giving up and committing suicide. When she died, she left behind a husband, two sons, and three friends. Beth, Carol, and Mary Kay had bonded with Lynne years earlier, drinking martinis after a bad PTA meeting. Their friendship grew into the Ladies Society for the Conservation of Martinis. And, then Lynne had one last request for her friends. Find the daughter she gave up for adoption when she was just a teenager, a child none of her friends knew she had.

Their trip on Lynne's behalf was only a four-day drive around Connecticut. But, the women had the time to examine problems in their lives and make some decisions, while mourning and celebrating Lynne's life. There are marital issues, lies, family issues to clear up. As I said before, there's really nothing special about the women or the trip. In fact, the large quantities of martinis seem a little ghoulish at times. But, some of the comments about family connections, mothers and daughters, hit home.

Don't read Sarah Strohmeyer's novel expecting anything unusual. However, Kindred Spirits provides another opportunity for women to examine their lives, and their friendships. In the end, these women's novels celebrate us; our lives, our families, our mothers, our sisters, and our friendships. Kindred Spirits is one more story showing how strong women are, and how our friendships enable us to be strong. It's worth reading to celebrate us.

Sarah Strohmeyer's website is www.SarahStrohmeyer.com

Kindred Spirits by Sarah Strohmeyer. Dutton. ©2011. ISBN 9780525952220 (hardcover), 304p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure - The author sent me an Advanced Copy, hoping I would review it.

Sunday Salon - Second Time Around by Beth Kendrick

If you had to do it all over again, would you still be working in the same field you originally went into after college?  Beth Kendrick gives four English majors the chance to start over again ten years after graduation in Second Time Around.  (Oh, and if you were an English major, as I was, this is a power trip.)

Five graduates of a small liberal arts college, Thurwell College in upstate New York, gather for a mini-reunion every year.  It's been ten years since graduation.  At thirty-two, Arden is a successful lawyer, while the four English majors bemoan their jobs, and say they all should have gone to law school.  Jamie is a  bartender in California.  Brooke, their Southern belle, works in the alumni office at the college.  Caitlin has her PhD in English, and is an assistant professor at another small college, while Anne is a copywriter.  Now that they're all mature women, they have other dreams; to be an events planner, to own a bed-and-breakfast, to be a novelist, to have a baby.  They're burned out, tired of their lives.

And, then they're given one million dollars, split four ways, to achieve their dreams.  But, each woman will discover that dreams can be hard work.  They each are empowered to change their lives, to discover what life could be like.  And, sometimes it takes dreams, and hard work, to find the strength in ourselves.

If you've read this blog long enough, you'll know I'm a fan of women's fiction with groups of friends.  I can also be quite critical of those books if the women aren't individuals.  I want the characters to stand out so I can tell them apart.  Kendrick succeeds in Second Time Around.  The women all have unique personalities and life plans.  But, they share a deep friendship, and love of life, that leads to laughter.  It's fun to watch them continue to grow, to find their own strengths.  When Brooke buys her dream bed-and-breakfast, she doesn't know what awaits her.  There's humor and romance in the book, but men alone are not the answer for any of these women.  Second Time Around is a satisfying story of women who discover their own possibilities.

Beth Kendrick's website is http://www.bethkendrick.com/

Second Time Around by Beth Kendrick, Bantam Books, ©2010. ISBN 9780385342247 (paperback), 336p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure - Library Book