Joyce Magnin Moccero is the author of Charlotte Figg Takes Over Paradise which is the second in a series about Bright’s Pond which is somewhere in the Pennsylvania area since Charlotte moves to Paradise from a suburb of Pittsburg.  But you don’t have to read the first to appreciate the second novel.

Charlotte’s husband has recently died and she received (by  mistake) an ad for a trailer for sale in Paradise.  She puts it aside but once the activity surrounding the funeral has passed, she decides to purchase the trailer sight unseen.  Well as well all know, that isn’t necessarily a wise move, but this was about 40 years ago and things were a little different.  She arrives in Paradise and discovers the trailer is not what was pictured and is infested by raccoons and smells horrible.  Charlotte is discouraged but with the help of a few neighbors it becomes a habitable.

The trailer park has a wide variety of occupants including a wife-beating manager, the one armed maintenance man and a heavily tattooed woman with a large sculpture of a hand in her yard…large enough to climb up and sit in the palm.  Charlotte reaches out to befriend all of these people plus the remaining residents of the area and starts an all women’s softball team which she manages.

This story is about people banding together to right wrongs and to support each other in good times and in bad.  It is also about Charlotte finding her independence, becoming her own woman and not staying in the shadows.

I really enjoyed this book.  I will say that I wasn’t sure with the first chapter or two but am glad that I continued reading because I was inspired by Charlotte for leaving what she was comfortable with and starting over in a small town.  She even resists giving in to her overbearing mother who would love nothing more than for Charlotte to move to Florida with her.  It would have been very easy to give in, but that isn’t where God wanted Charlotte to be at that time in life.  He wanted her in Paradise to bring together this community.

Charlotte isn’t the only one that blossoms with the new friendships that are created.  Others become stronger with the various situations that they are faced with at the time.

I give this book 4 stars.