204 Rosewood Lane

I thought about giving this one 4 stars, but the mess with Zack and Rosie made me drop it one. Sorry, bickering couples are not my favorite thing to read about in romance novels. Another reason why I gave this one 3 stars, is that this one reads a bit like filler since you don't find out the resolution with a lot of things in this one until book #3, "311 Pelican Court".

One thing you can say about these books is that there is not a lack of characters. In "204 Rosewood Lane" we turn to Grace Sherman and her family. Grace's husband Dan has been missing for 6 months and she finally decides to go through with divorcing him. She has her two daughters, Maryellen and Kelly to lean on. Also she has a potential love interest too.

The good:

I show more liked seeing Grace become more sure of herself. From what we read about in book number one and here, she hasn't had a happy marriage. She also has managed to not shake the life out of her daughter Kelly who acts like a brat and her histrionics since her father has gone missing made me tired.

Macomber does a good job with juggling multiple people. Besides Grace, we have her daughter Maryellen as the focus, her relationship with a man named Jon, Olivia, Jack, and Olivia's ex husband Stan, Olivia's daughter Justine and Seth, along with Jack's son Eric, and Rosie and Zach Cox with their two kids. As I said in one of my other reviews, Macomber always introduces the couple who will be the focus in the next book in the preceding one. This time it's going to be Rosie and Zach. Problem was that the whole book felt weighted down with their acrimony.

Cedar Cove always feels lively and interesting and it feels like a real life place you can visit.

The bad:

I thought the nonsense between Olivia and Jack dealing with her ex and his son was boring to read about. Just have a conversation and stop playing games. They are both in their early 50s and I didn't have any patience with it at all.

Maryellen and Jon, I could not get over Maryellen and what she decides to keep a secret. Those that know me remember that my two most loathed romance plot lines are love triangles and secret babies. So guess which one this is.

Rosie and Zach, good grief. I didn't know who I wanted to shake more.



Rosie was acting like a martyr, but Zach acted like a throwback to the 1950s expecting a home cooked meal ready for him every night. Neither one of them really respected the duties the other one had during the day. And neither of them had any sense since they didn't seem to give their two kids chores which would help keep down the animosity about the cleanliness of the house and getting dinner together.

The book ends pretty abruptly and you have to read the next book to finish up some of the story-lines. show less

I picked up this book after reading The Shop on Blossom Street, to see if I just really liked the author or just that series. It really wasn't my type of book. While there were somewhat interesting plots, I had a really hard time keeping track of the characters and their involvement in the stories. Most of the stories reminded me of Lifetime movies and soap operas. I can handle that type of story if there's something else keeping me involved, but this didn't really have that for me. I don't plan on reading the rest of this series.

Dear Listener,
If you've been to Cedar Cove before we've probably met. You can usually find me either at home or at the public library, where I work. I've lived in this town all my life and raised two daughters here. But my husband and I - well, about six months ago, he disappeared. Just…disappeared. Where's Dan? Why did he go? Who's he with? Will I ever find out?
My hometown, my family and friends, bring me comfort during this difficult time. Comfort and a sense of shelter. I'm continually reminded that life can and does go on. For instance, everyone's been discussing weddings and babies lately. Justine - the only daughter of my best friend, Olivia Lockhart - impulsively got married a little while ago. My own daughter Kelly recently show more had a baby. Unfortunately, she refuses to accept that Dan might not return to see his first grandchild. My older daughter, Maryellen, is more realistic. I think she's seeing a new man, but for some reason she won't tell me who it is.
Then there's Jack, who's been pursuing a romance with Olivia, and his son, Eric, and Eric's girlfriend, Shelly (I think she's pregnant), and Zach and Rosemary Cox, whose marriage is reputedly on the skids and…Well, just come on over and we'll talk! show less

Residents of the close-knit community of Cedar Cove, Washington, have always assumed that Grace Sherman, the town librarian, is as demure as she appears - but they couldn't be more wrong. Underneath Grace's demure exterior, is a spine of steel that quickly surfaces when she must face the strange and sudden disappearance of her husband, Dan.

So, Cedar Cove bands together around one of its own, and Grace's family and friends bring great comfort to her at such a difficult time. But Grace is reminded that life can and does move on - and, amid the various weddings and births, and other major life events that occur in Cedar Cove - she must be strong enough to help her family deal with their own confusion and devastation at Dan's absence. show more However, will Grace's love, devotion, and dedication to her family in the face of such a personal tragedy, ultimately prove sufficient to keep them all together?

I must say that I haven't read that many books by Debbie Macomber before. The Shop on Blossom Street was my first one - and that was on a recommendation from my sister who lives in Australia. I'm usually not that much of a romance fan, but this book was a fast-paced and engaging story that I really enjoyed. Dan's disappearance certainly played an important role in the story - however, the romantic elements of the story weren't overwhelming; which is also something that I appreciated. I give this book a definite A! show less

The second book in Macomber's Cedar Cove series, this one continued where the first book left off. I was glad to know what finally happened to Dan, although it was put off until the end of the book, and was honestly a little anticlimactic and a bit unbelievable. I really like Mary-Ellen's storyline, but was a bit put off by Justine's sudden change from not wanting marriage or children to suddenly getting married and immediately having Seth's baby. It seems a bit contrived to think that someone would have the profound of a shift in ideals in real life. Zach and Rosemary were interesting, but not so much as the other characters. I really disliked Rosemary and her attitude. She is the type of women who drives their husband's right into the show more arms of their personal assistant. It should be interesting to see how their relationship progresses in the next book. show less

This book came to me via two friends. I've read the series before or a companion series that features some of the same characters.

For me, the number of characters in this book--some with very similar names--made it difficult to keep track of who was who and who was with whom. I felt like there really was no focal point character.

My other issue with most Macomber books is the sexual level she allows her characters to go to in what is/was marketed as a "clean" romance series. For this book, I will give her that Justine and Seth are married to each other and sex within marriage is true-to-life. My big issue with them is that though they seem to both know that they need to talk about important issues, it seems they end up having sex rather show more than talking about those issues. Apparently, they must have talked about them offstage since Seth gives up commercial fishing which would keep him away for months at a time and they decide to purchase a local restaurant. I did like that there was a discussion of restaurants having a high failure rate--though we didn't see any stumbling blocks along the way for them as they worked on changing the restaurant to their vision for it. And of course, it's fiction, so their restaurant will probably thrive despite the high failure level for new restaurants.

My biggest "sex" issue with this book is what happens between Maryellen and Jon. Jon's obviously interested in a relationship with Maryellen while she's still gun shy due to a previous marriage when she was very young. I'd like to think that Jon's forcing her to visit him at his home to get photos for her gallery was not a preplanned seduction to get her into bed--it it was, I would have hoped he'd also planned birth control, but not all guys think birth control is their responsibility. I'd like to think, based on what I see of Jon in other parts of the book, that he would be a responsible man and have had supplies on hand if he'd planned on trying to lure Maryellen to his bed.

Maryellen and Jon have what ends up being a one-night-stand. Maryellen ends up pregnant. She does make the assumption that Jon will be relieved that he is absolved of parental responsibility instead of telling him and seeing what his reaction will be. I did feel bad that Jon ended up finding out she was pregnant by accident instead of hearing it from her; however, I found it hard to believe that he wouldn't have heard someone talking about it prior to Maryellen's obviously pregnant self showing up in his work kitchen. Jack seems to have some secret in his past that we don't learn in this book. Maryellen ends up telling us about her earlier marriage relationship and pregnancy during this book. And honestly--to get pregnant outside of being married once is bad enough, but now she's had it happen twice!!

There's also one other couple--Jack and Grace, I think--where there's one scene where Jack seems to be inviting Grace to an "intimate" evening and that gets interrupted by Jack's son's (ex)girlfriend going into labor. Again, something I feel should be only in a marriage relationship, so Jack's attempt didn't sit well with me (though I guess since both were married to someone else before and had sexual relationships within their marriages--both have children--that sex is something they'd think about in a relationship that is turning serious. I just didn't like that he wanted something to happen when they don't even seem to have their relationship figured out yet. I could understand if they wanted to talk about compatibility etc. but that didn't seem to be his goal, which was a bit disappointing to me show less

Picking up several of the loose threads left at the end of "16 Lighthouse Road", "204 Rosewood Lane" is the second book in Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove series. The book focuses mostly on Grace Sherman as she copes with the disappearance of her husband Dan and finally learns what happened to him. The book also deals with Grace's best friend, Olivia, and her ongoing romance with newspaperman Jack Griffin, plus some surprising news from her ex-husband, Stan, and distressing news about her mother, Charlotte. All of their children have relationship issues and there are a few unexpected pregnancies along the way. Finally, the book features Zach and Rosemary Cox and their marriage woes.

"204 Rosewood Lane" is another one of Macomber's nice, show more cozy stories. It was nice to have closure to the disappearance of Dan Sherman, even if Macomber did seem to have different plans for him originally and had to backtrack, not always successfully, to cover up some plot lines initiated in the first book that didn't fit in this book. Macomber seems to lose track of some of her characters; Charlotte is absent for much of the book, appears long enough to get some devastating news about her health, and then pretty much disappears again, seemingly making a miraculous recovery. Still, despite the flaws, Macomber is a gifted storyteller, who creates characters readers care about, enough so that they will want to buy the next book in the series, if only to find out who the mysterious stranger was who died while staying at Bob and Peggy Beldon's bed-and-breakfast. And to find out if Olivia is in love with Jack or still in love with her ex, Stan. And if the Cox's marriage can be saved. You get the idea!

"204 Rosewood Lane" is a good, cozy read. show less