Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Fiction, Published 2006

Read June 2008

4/5

From the Cover:

In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in the smallest of towns, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit…

Review:

Set in North Carolina, the Waverley family is known for their peculiar ways with flowers and herbs grown from the garden in their backyard. Claire is no exception and she has created a profitable catering business from it. Claire lives alone in her grandmother’s house, pretty much apart from the outside world except for her customers and her crazy eighty-year-old distant cousin Evanelle. Claire uses flowers from her garden in all of her recipes to enhance or change the mood of the person eating.

“…all the locals knew that dishes made from the flowers that grew around the apple tree in the Waverley garden could affect the eater in curious ways. The biscuits with lilac jelly, the lavender tea cookies, and the tea cakes made with nasturtium mayonnaise the Ladies Aid ordered for their meetings once a month gave them the ability to keep secrets. The fried dandelion buds over marigold-petal rice, stuffed pumpkin blossoms, and rose-hip soup ensured that your company would notice only the beauty of your home and never the flaws. Anise hyssop honey butter on toast, angelica candy, and cupcakes with crystallized pansies made children thoughtful. Honeysuckle wine served on the Fourth of July gave you the ability to see in the dark…”

And if you eat an apple from the apple tree, that is if Claire allowed you anywhere near it, you would see the most significant event that would happen to you in your life, good or bad. The tree was a life force all its own and if it wanted you to see the future, it would throw apples until you got the hint.

I really enjoyed Evanelle’s character. She’s very eccentric and always knows what to give people before they ever actually need it. But fate is on her side and the random items she gives people always help them in
some unforeseen circumstance.

Claire has become set in her ways and only leaves the house for business. Then suddenly the fates turn the tides and upset Claire’s stable, yet isolated, world. First it’s her new next door neighbor, Tyler. He is very interested in getting to know Claire, but she doesn’t want anything to do with him. Then, her long-lost sister, Sydney, shows up with a daughter and upsets the entire town. Claire is constantly afraid of being left again by Sydney and her new love interest Tyler. But Claire has to learn to open her heart and let them in if she ever wants to find what the apple tree has in store for her.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a fairly quick read and the “magical realism” aspect of the novel was really enchanting. The different recipes Claire describes sound purely scrumptious. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a charming, uplifting read.

Summer at Willow Lake

Susan Wiggs

Fiction/Romance, Published 2006

Read March 2008

4.5/5

From the Beginning:

“Olivia Bellamy tried to decide what was worse. Being trapped at the top of a flagpole with no help in sight, or having help arrive in the form of a Hells Angel.

Her plan to raise the flags over Camp Kioga for the first time in ten years had seemed so simple. Then the cable and pulley snagged, but Olivia was undaunted. She had set up an old aluminum ladder and climbed to the top, only to discover she still couldn’t reach the snag. Shinnying up the pole was no big deal, she told herself — until she accidentally kicked over the ladder.”

Overall Opinion:

During college Olivia blossomed into a butterfly, so unlike the caterpillar she had been during her adolescence, not to mention every summer at Camp Kioga. Olivia, known as Lolly at camp, ate her way through her parent’s divorce and was often made fun of by the other campers. Now, transformed with a new look, she is a very beautiful and successful businesswoman with her own home staging business. Olivia has also had three failed engagements. After her latest breakup, her grandparents want Olivia to renovate Camp Kioga for their 50th wedding anniversary. As soon as Olivia leaves the city and enters the gates of Camp Kioga, she is once again faced with all her old insecurities, including her first love – Connor Davis, who she reluctantly hires as the project manager.

A myriad of people have joined Olivia at the camp to help out with the renovation project. I love the way Susan Wiggs portrays all of her characters. Several family members and friends are forever intertwined by their adventures at Camp Kioga. The book switches back and forth from the present to the past, filling in the blanks for several of the Bellamy family members. Although Olivia is the main character, the book is not always written from her viewpoint.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book and at almost 600 pages, I read this book in about 2 days. I’m definitely looking forward to following up on the rest of the Lakeshore Chronicles.