Synopsis

The annual Sweet Water, Georgia, Christmas parade is nearing but relationships are fractured on Wild Rose Lane. Antique dealer Cheryl Calloway’s holiday spirit has tanked. It’s been a horrible year with her divorce, her ex marrying younger and perkier Miriam across the street, and Mama moving into Cheryl’s Victorian cottage with her Amazon parrot right before Thanksgiving. A party girl in her eighties, Mama smokes up a storm, likes her nightly vodka, has a hankering for men, and now a wingman named Nigel. If that isn’t enough, the Historical Society wants Cheryl to clean up all the projects on her porch waiting to go to Spivey’s Antique Mall for their Christmas Open House. Her desire to work her booth is as dead as her marriage. Miriam, President of the Historical Society, chastises her, “If it ain’t pretty don’t put it on the porch.” Then there’s Alice, her strange neighbor with the six-foot fluorescent light bulb cross nailed to the huge Magnolia tree in the middle of her rose garden. Alice watches all the neighbors too closely. Just when Cheryl thinks things can’t get worse, an incident shakes her to the core, and a mystery follows revealing family secrets long forgotten. Cheryl wants to believe in miracles and love again, and Dr. James may just be the man of her dreams as he helps her and Mama sort things out.

Filled with quirky characters, mystery, family secrets, and sweet love, all set in a hot Georgia small town.

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Review

This book will have you laughing and cringing all at the same time.

Cheryl has had a tough year or two, and now her mother has come to live with her and has brought along her pet parrot, Nigel. Mama is definitely one of those people that says and does what she wants no matter what anyone else requests. I love that she even has a romance going with Jackson, a semi-blind resident at the local retirement home. But I love that they don’t care about what others think and do what they want to do.

Cheryl is trying to get her life back together after divorcing her husband, who now lives across the street with his new wife, Miriam. Miriam is a handful and inserts herself into everyone else’s life and doesn’t care what that person thinks or wants. There is also the next-door neighbor, Annie, that is hiding a secret from Cheryl and Mama. We also have Dr. James, aka Jim, whom Cheryl meets, and they have some instant chemistry. He is just what Cheryl needs to move forward with her life.

This book is more than romance and mystery. It is about relationships, family, and the pursuit of happiness. It is sticking up for your family despite how crazy they might make you. I felt drawn to Cheryl and what she was experiencing when it came to her mother and her siblings. She was sort of “stuck” taking their mother in to live with her because she was single. But I think that despite the ups and down, they forged a strong bond with each other, and maybe this won’t be such a bad situation to be in…even with Nigel.

I really enjoyed the relationship dynamics between everyone, and it gave each of the characters depth which only added to the story.

I hope that this becomes a series. I would love to visit Sweet Water again!

We give this book 4 paws up.

About the Author

Barbara Barth turned to writing and adopting dogs to heal after her husband died fourteen years ago. Known as ‘Writer With Dogs,’ Barth currently lives with four Chihuahuas in a charming town forty miles outside of Atlanta. She is Literary Arts Chair at a small art center where she promotes writing activities, author events, book launches, and hosts an online group Walton Writers. Inspired by the wonderful artists around her, Barth started painting and has won several awards for her whimsical art.

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