Day: June 16, 2020

I would be hard-pressed to find a series that makes me feel calmer than this one. There is something about stepping into the world of the Anderson sisters that feels like a comforting hug. I was taken with The Magnolia Sisters, and in re-reading my review, I had to laugh. I didn’t care for May. Ironic, because I loved her as the main character in this book.

To be honest, she had me when she dressed up as Claire from “The Breakfast Club” for Annie’s 80s party. I think my issue with her in the first book was that we honestly didn’t get to see much of her, and what we did, she was pretty negative.

In this installment, with her at the forefront, we finally get to understand why she is so prickly. I’m not going to give it away, but let’s say that she has good reason to have put a shell around herself.

Just like the first book, you know that Tom and May are meant to be together (he’s the Bender to her Claire, and they both have a fondness for British murder mysteries), but their history keeps getting in the way.

Annie meddles (again – I love this girl and hope she gets her own story even though she isn’t an Anderson sister proper) so that Tom and May are forced to both confront their past and figure out their present and future. It’s not an easy road, and all of the pitfalls they face felt natural to the setting and the people.

The author does a fantastic job of capturing small-town life, from the nearly decade-old gossip to the community pulling together for a festival (pretty sure I worked with Miz Greyson at some point). I think that is what makes this series so likable. The people may get obnoxious and meddlesome, but they are ultimately there for each other.

I especially liked how the author started the book like a storyteller was setting the scene. It completely set the tone for me. That was nicely bookended, in not quite the same way, but with a fitting finish to the story.

I can’t wait to get Rose’s story. And I’m mentioning Annie again because by now she is pretty much an adopted Anderson sister. Can we make this happen?

Author Bio
Alys Murray is an author who writes for the romantic in all of us. Though she graduated with a degree in Drama from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and a Master’s in Film Studies from King’s College London, her irrepressible love of romance led her to a career as an author, and she couldn’t be happier to write these stories! Currently splitting time between her home state of Louisiana and London, she enjoys kissing books, Star Wars, and creating original pie recipes for all of her books. Tobey Maguire is her Spider-Man.