Book Description
From bestselling Christian fiction author Sally John comes the second book in a series featuring new beginnings and unexpected romance.
Welcome to the Casa de Vida--eleven quaint bungalows located three blocks from the Pacific Ocean in tiny Seaside Village, California. Owner Liv McAlister never advertises vacancies beyond a small hand-lettered sign out front, preferring to trust that God will send the right tenant at just the right time. And He always does.
Heidi Hathaway's life has been turned upside down. After an accident leaves her injured, unable to work, and incapable of negotiating the stairs in her multilevel oceanfront condo, she leases her home and moves into a cozy little cottage in the charming garden complex where her friend Piper lives. There she finds so much more than a place to rest and recover.
Piper Keyes knows Jared is not coming back from Afghanistan. After making it through the fifth anniversary of his death, she wonders if she's at last ready to get on with life. She gingerly explores new avenues--photography, cooking, and buying her own boutique--and learns to open her heart again.
The most comforting thing about living at the Casa is that the women there become each other's mentors and confidantes, learning from their own mistakes and arriving at new, healed places in their lives.
Welcome to the Casa de Vida--eleven quaint bungalows located three blocks from the Pacific Ocean in tiny Seaside Village, California. Owner Liv McAlister never advertises vacancies beyond a small hand-lettered sign out front, preferring to trust that God will send the right tenant at just the right time. And He always does.
Heidi Hathaway's life has been turned upside down. After an accident leaves her injured, unable to work, and incapable of negotiating the stairs in her multilevel oceanfront condo, she leases her home and moves into a cozy little cottage in the charming garden complex where her friend Piper lives. There she finds so much more than a place to rest and recover.
Piper Keyes knows Jared is not coming back from Afghanistan. After making it through the fifth anniversary of his death, she wonders if she's at last ready to get on with life. She gingerly explores new avenues--photography, cooking, and buying her own boutique--and learns to open her heart again.
The most comforting thing about living at the Casa is that the women there become each other's mentors and confidantes, learning from their own mistakes and arriving at new, healed places in their lives.
Review
I received an eARC copy of this book from the publisher. Here is my honest review.
Once I got into this book, I really enjoyed it. I don't recall why I didn't fall into it right away; it was interesting, especially with the opening car crash and then the switch to a different character's perpective. I must have had a lot going on because when I picked it back up this week, I read it very quickly.
The romance is fairly average - I fully expected Heidi to end up with who she did at the end. What really made this special for me was the character development and the exploration Heidi goes through in finding herself after her accident. I like every character in this book. Every. Single. One. Even those that are more tertiary characters rather than secondary characters. I want to live at Casa de Vida. The sense of community and love that flowed through that courtyard was tangible and inviting.
I was very happy to see this is only the second book in the series; it will be easy to catch up and future stories to look forward to!
I gave this book: ★★★★
★ = I did not like it ★★ = It was okay ★★★ = I liked it
★★★★ = I really liked it ★★★★★ = I loved it
1 comment:
This sounds like a book I would like. I like stories where people kind of find their strength and rebuild themselves. The setting sounds like a nice vacation read. I'll have to look for this one! Great review!
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