Story for the Week
The Story for the Week is “go buy these books!” Run…don’t walk…to your nearest bookstore. Or click here, and Buy Now. 🥰 Since you’re getting three reviews in one post, I’m foregoing the normal story. Books 2, 3, and 4 of The Wishing Tree series are available now.
Full Book List:
- Book 1: The Wishing Tree
- Book 2: I Wish… by Amanda Prowse
- Book 3: Wish You Were Here by Kay Bratt
- Book 4: Wish Again by Tammy L. Grace
- Book 5: Workout Wishes & Valentine Kisses by Barbara Hinske
- Book 6: A Parade of Wishes by Camille Di Maio
- Book 7: Careful What You Wish by Ashley Farley
- Book 8: Gone Wishing by Jessie Newton
- Book 9: Wishful Thinking by Kay Bratt
- Book 10: Overdue Wishes by Tammy L. Grace
- Book 11: A Whole Heap of Wishes by Amanda Prowse
- Book 12: Wishes of Home by Barbara Hinske
- Book 13: Wishful Witness by Tonya Kappes
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for I Wish… by Amanda Prowse
The Wishing Tree Series Book 2
117 pages
Publisher: Lionhead Media
Publication Date: March 2, 2022
Purchased on Amazon
Publisher’s Description
When heartache disrupts her world, Verity’s life in London’s affluent Chelsea is blown apart.
Hiding from the press and the pain of rejection, she and her teenage daughter Sophie pack their bags and head to Linden Falls, a small town in Vermont. It is here in this quaint New England neighborhood that her journey of self-discovery takes an unexpected twist.
Verity begins to feel at home in the close-knit community, and pretty soon realizes that what she thought was an ending is about to lead to a whole new beginning. The question she asks the Wishing Tree is whether she will ever find the courage to listen to her heart and not her head…
************
Main Characters:
- Verity Joseph – 46 years old, escaping to Linden Falls for a three-month break from her life in London. She and her husband of 20 years run a restaurant together, and he recently left Verity to start a relationship with a much younger food critic.
- Sophie Joseph – Verity’s 17-year-old daughter who makes the trip with her
- Leona Mills (Leo) – owns the property with the cabin that Verity and Sophie rent
- Jack Darby – another long-term cabin renter, a fisherman
- Roland Pickard – 20-year-old local boy who befriends Sophie
If I had to pick one thing about Amanda Prowse’s writing that I love, it would be her ability to put her readers into her stories. (It’s a good thing I don’t have to pick just one thing because there is so much to love about her.) The perfect author to kick off this book series, Prowse’s descriptions allow the reader to picture the small town of Linden Falls, Vermont—the flower shop, the bookstore, the cafe, the town square, and at the center the infamous Wishing Tree.
When we meet Verity and Sophie, they are nearing the end of their drive from the airport to Linden Falls. As Verity lectures Sophie about not spending all of her time on her phone with her friends back home, I felt the mood shift much like it would with my own daughter.
For a teenager, the electronic connection is everything, and I can’t imagine expecting my 16-year-old to go across the pond for three months and not talk to her friends. Verity and Sophie’s London vs small-town America would be a similar experience to my daughter’s Chicago vs small-town America. Her attitude would be exactly like Sophie’s. But Verity and Sophie’s strong mother/daughter bond helps the mood shift back pretty quickly.
Dealing emotionally with her husband’s betrayal, Verity spends her time exploring the town and experiencing the people in it, and I think she truly finds herself along the way. And Sophie does some self-discovery of her own.
We meet a handful of Linden Falls residents, who I know we’ll see through the rest of the series. Neva Cabot introduces herself to Verity as she stands under the Wishing Tree. We get a small peek into Neva’s future in the series near the end of this book, but for now, she is Curator of Wishes and owner of the Wishing Tree Inn.
Wishes are made. Folklore or magic? That’s for us to decide.
This is a beautifully heartwarming start to what I know will be an amazing series.
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐
4 Stars for Wish You Were Here by Kay Bratt
The Wishing Tree Series Book 3
155 pages
Publisher: Red Thread Publishing Group
Publication Date: March 9, 2022
Purchased on Amazon
Publisher’s Description
Henry Harmon has been married more than sixty years to his bigger-than-life and talk-of-the-town wife, Greta, when he begins to see signs of a problem. When her diagnosis comes to light, he struggles to keep his oath of in sickness and health, and to do it alone.
On the other side of their small town is Neva Cabot, who many years ago put her own mental health first when she cut friendship ties with Greta. But Neva is the kindest of kind and has been the face of hospitality for their town for decades. Even so, it will take some soul-searching for her to be able to step up and help walk Henry through the hardest days of his life.
Janie Stallard and her two daughters have just moved in to the old Johnson’s house when they can’t make the next rent and will be forced to move out. Neva offers Janie a job and her family a safe haven while they figure out what they want to do, and Neva tries to figure out why they are really there.
************
Main Characters:
- Neva Cabot – the matriarch of Linden Falls, town’s oldest resident, owns the Wishing Tree Inn and has deemed herself Curator of Wishes
- Greta Harmon – Neva’s childhood best friend, but they no longer speak, used to be known for the parties she planned, currently suffering from the onset of dementia
- Henry Harmon – married to Greta for 60+ years, trying to care for Greta by himself
- Janie Stallard – recently moved into a rental property with her daughters, she is clearly hiding something, has a knack for interior design
- Carly Stallard – Janie’s 16-year-old daughter, loves to cook and wants to attend culinary school
- Breeze Stallard – Janie’s eight-year-old daughter, enamored with the Wishing Tree, loves all things miniature and wants to do anything she can to help anyone
The third installment in The Wishing Tree series, Wish You Were Here by Kay Bratt continues our journey through Linden Falls, VT, with what is really a story and a half. The full story centers around Henry and Greta, who are dealing with the beginning of Greta’s dementia and ends up being compounded by additional medical issues. The half story focuses on Janie and her two daughters, who recently rented a home in Linden Falls but will be hard pressed to afford it long term.
Greta had always been the life of the party in Linden Falls, and Henry was happy to take her to parties, travel the world, and show her the time of her life. As dementia sets in, both Greta and Henry struggle—Greta because she knows she’s forgetting things and Henry because he is suddenly faced with taking care of the wife who always took care of him.
As Neva steps in to help her childhood friend, we understand there was history with Neva and Henry. The author hints at it, so we have a fairly good idea it was a bit of a love triangle, but we don’t know the details until near the end of the book. To be honest, I think Neva is a better woman than I am to be able to help Henry and Greta the way she does, all things considered.
We also get a broader view of Neva in this installment of the series. She is the primary character, switching between time with Henry and Greta as well as with Janie and her daughters. Neva seems whimsical, almost ethereal in the way she’s viewed by the residents of Linden Falls. She’s intuitive, to the point of reminding me of Radar’s character in the series M*A*S*H.
For those of you who are young, M*A*S*H centered around a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. It’s a great series—one of the most loved on television, in fact. Radar’s character was known for “hearing” the helicopters before anyone else. He could be mid-conversation, and he would pause and say “Choppers.”
Neva regularly picks things up at the store or takes care of something in particular without knowing the reason. In this story, she picks up cherry pie filling even though she doesn’t bake. She picks up hair dye even though she has no intention of dyeing her hair. And the items she selects are always needed by someone else later. Whimsical…magical…Radar.😊
Our half-story with Janie and her daughters takes some of the focus away from Henry and Greta, which is really why I gave the book 4 stars. Understanding that all of the authors had to have planned out the story lines for the series together, I feel like Greta and Henry deserved more “page time” in this one.
Janie and her girls move into the carriage house on Neva’s property, and Neva hires Janie as a housekeeper at the inn. We get a lot of activity around Janie and the girls—Janie’s interior design ideas, Carly’s cooking, Breeze’s all-over Breezy-ness. So while Janie and the girls’ activities take up probably half of the book, from a personal standpoint, we get just enough of Janie’s story to whet our appetites for Book 9 (???—yes Book 9!).
And the author drops a pretty big bombshell at the end of the book. I know this is a series, and I’ve already pre-ordered all the books, but I really dislike cliffhangers in books. I forget too much by the time I get to the resolution, and Janie’s continued story isn’t due out until September.😮 I’m likely to have read about 25 books between now and then.
All of that said…this is a touching, and at times heartbreaking, story about old friends and old loves and knowing the importance of the people who enter our lives and stay there even though there may be distance.
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for Wish Again by Tammy L. Grace
The Wishing Tree Series Book 4
132 pages
Publisher: Lone Mountain Press
Publication Date: March 16, 2022
Purchased on Amazon
Publisher’s Description
Paige Duncan returns to the small town of Linden Falls to seek the comfort of her hometown and her beloved mother. That contentment is short-lived when after only a few months, she’s faced with an unexpected and monumental loss.
In the midst of struggling to keep her mother’s beloved bookstore afloat in the wake of her sudden death, Paige has the chance to grant a wish from the iconic wishing tree in the town square. She lost her trust in the tree long ago, but her mother’s voice rings in her ears, reminding Paige that when feeling disappointed, simply wish again.
Paige reluctantly agrees to bring her mom’s therapy dog to visit the care center where her mom volunteered for years. As autumn creeps in, busloads of tourists and one special visitor arrive, and someone at the center reminds Paige that she is stronger than she realizes. Will her mother’s advice allow Paige to believe in the magic of the Wishing Tree and second chances one more time?
************
Main Characters:
- Paige Duncan – recently widowed, a professional illustrator who had been illustrating children’s books in Albany before her husband’s accident and subsequent death
- Gladys – Margot’s golden retriever, known by everyone in town, trained as an emotional support dog, named after the nosy neighbor Gladys from the Bewitched TV series because she’s always nosing around Linden Falls
- Hazel – a woman in the Aspen Grove care center whose son left a wish for someone to comfort her
- Reed Walker – a childhood friend of Paige and her brother Jed, an author, temporarily relocated back to Linden Falls while his mother recovers at the care center after breaking her hip
This book hit very close to home and nearly took my breath away.
Paige moved back to Linden Falls after losing her husband five months before. He had been in a car accident, went through a lot of treatment, but ultimately didn’t survive. Just a few weeks after Paige moved back home with her mother Margot, who ran the town bookstore, Margot passed away unexpectedly in her sleep.
Eighteen months ago, I lost my husband after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Six months later, I unexpectedly lost my mother when she collapsed at home. I repeat, this book hit very close to home.
When the story begins, Paige is preparing to re-open the bookstore, not because she’s ready but because she promised her brother. She wants to carry her mother’s legacy—at least for now. After her husband’s death, she cancelled or delayed her illustration contracts, so running the bookstore gives her something to do.
Just a few days after her mother’s funeral, Paige receives a call from the Aspen Grove care center, wondering if Paige would continue to bring Gladys to visit the residents of the center every week. Paige doesn’t really want to go. She remembers the care center where her husband was treated as being too institutional and smelling like antiseptic. But she is convinced to at least come once because the residents look forward to Gladys’s visits each week.
After Paige hangs up from her call with the center, Gladys comes in with a wish from the tree stuck in her fur. “Please comfort my mom, Hazel, who I’ve had to leave at Aspen Grove. She won’t leave Linden Falls and can no longer care for herself but needs a friend or two to watch over her. I hate leaving her, but she won’t move to Boston, and it would ease my worry if I knew someone cared about her. – Robert”
Once Paige goes to Aspen Grove, she understands, and she continues her mother’s work at the center, where she also meets Hazel.
And that is all the story I will spoil. 😉
This book runs the gamut of emotions—heartache, grief, the promise of second chances, the comfort of friends, and the unconditional love of a pet. Gladys is listed as a main character because she is a main character. Dogs seem to know when their people need comfort, and Gladys excels in this story.
Paige’s story embraces the sadness and uses it to power through to the promise of an amazing future…in the shade of the Wishing Tree.
If you enjoyed this post, please comment below. Subscribe for regular updates, and share it with your friends. If you’re interested in starting a conversation, send an email to booksundertheblanket@gmail.com.
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using the links on my site.
