After only reading a few lines, I realized that I had read about these characters and loved them before!! Sadly, Margaret has since died and the remaining friends are still dealing with the grief from her passing. Louise gets a surprise visit from her best friend Roxie's husband with an unreal proposal, Charlotte is working hard in Arizona at an abused womens refuge and is she falling in love at last? And Beatrice and Jessie are dealing with their own life situations. This book has recipes for each chapter which makes it super enjoyable! ( )

This is one of the books I picked up during a certain book retailers semi-annual massive clearance sales. I tend to buy a ton of books at like a buck a piece that I would have otherwise never read. This is probably not a book I would have picked up on my own, but yet it was a book I actually enjoyed reading. I could see myself reading this book a couple of years ago and not enjoying it nearly as much I do now. A few years ago I would not have been able to relate to anything these women were going through, but it's funny how as the years go by people change.

This is a story about a group of women, there story started I think four books before this one, and they are women who have grown children, finished college, some retired, some still working. But regardless these are all women who have lived life. As a group they have gone through some hard things, losing a member of the group to cancer, problems in marriages, the loss of loved ones, strained relationships with children. But through everything they have stuck together, and have been true friends to one another. I can only hope that I end up with friends as good as they are to each other.

Bea is a character that is perhaps a bit too over dramatized. She plays the role of meddling friend, and she has almost an overwhelming personality. I have to admit I had a hard time taking her seriously, but then she had a moment outside her house where she completely broke down in front of a stranger, and she became much more of a person in that moment.

I really loved Charlotte, I could probably read a book about only Charlotte. She is a pastor who now runs a domestic abuse shelter. She is a strong woman, who knows the job she does is so important to so many women, but it is a hard job to do. As she mentions throughout the book, she can't save them all, and the sad reality is a lot of women go back to their abusive situations, and Charlotte feels that loss every time she isn't able to "save" one of those women. It's totally understandable that after seeing the results of unhealthy relationships all day long she would have a hard time trusting any relationship she has.

Overall I think this is a story a lot of women would enjoy, I think my mom would enjoy reading this book. I had a couple of problems with the book, but they didn't make the book any less of a good read. My first issue was the pacing, well not so much the pacing, but the passage of time within the book. You would get a chapter or two that happened during times close together, and then a few weeks or months would have gone by. I felt like I missed out on events that happened during those times. I also felt like the end was wrapped up too easily in some regards and other things were completely left out. A character is alluded to having some kind of revenge plot with another for most of the book, but it is never addressed at the end of the book, felt like it left you hanging. Also at the end suddenly, and very much without warning, a character receives something that allows for her to just sweep in an solve everyone's problems. It felt almost like the author needed to tie things up at the end and wanted it all to end nicely, so she just wrapped it all up with a shiny new bow.

I did enjoy reading the book, so I'll give it three stars because it did have a couple of issues within it, but I think if you are looking for a relaxing read, this may be an option for many people out there. ( )

This book was a big disappointment to me. Aside from the scattered writing and too-quick-and-easy wrap up, it was not what I expected. From the description, I expected an inspirational fiction with Christian themes. Instead, I found characters who attended church (one was even a pastor!) but never talked about God, and who had no problems with, and even almost encouraged, homosexuality, adultery, pseudo-polygamy, cursing, stealing and other big issues. I found these characters to behave like immature college kids, despite the fact they were supposed to be between 40 and 70 years old. The writing itself was hard to follow at times and would mention things that we never heard about (it did touch on things from the previous books, which I have not read, but the issues I had all pertained to this book). I would not recommend this book. ( )

I liked the recipes between chapters. Interesting book. I enjoyed the interaction between the characters. I did feel like I should have read other books in the series to really understand this book. ( )

This was a very pleasant book to read. It raises a lot of important issues that would make a for a terrific discussion at a book group. If you are looking for an action-packed thriller, this might not be the best choice. But if you are looking for a solidly crafted novel, with a wide variety of complex characters, this is a great book. Fan's of the Mitford series will find this book (and the others in the series) welcomed reads. The recipes in the book were interesting, and it would be a good discussion to see how the story tied to the recipes. Overall, a good read. ( )