At Home on Ladybug Farm

At Home on Ladybug Farm continues the adventures of Cici, Lindsay, and Bridget as they try to turn their run-down estate in the Shenandoah Valley into a home. They have plenty of adventures from sheep shearing and an invasion of 144 chicks to barn fires that lead to discovering hidden treasures. Along the way they learn a few life lessons and help a few people along. Cici's daughter, Lori has moved in with the three women and her youthful exuberance and naivete are a nice balance in this book.
In addition, there are frequent flashbacks through out the book telling the story of the house's history. It was a nice touch to learn the details of the house's past and then be able to anticipate the moment when the women would discover the show more truth through some happy accidnt. The historical perspective added a nice dimension.
I enjoyed A Year on Ladybug Farm very much and At Home on Ladybug Farm was a nice follow up. I was happy to be able to catch up with Cici, Lindsay, and Bridget as well as Noah, Ida Mae and others. It's a warm, generous book filled with good humor. I hope there are more in the series to come! show less

Donna Ball's Ladyburg Farm series is a lovely escape from the world. At Home on Ladybug Farm is the second book and follows the story of three friends--Lindsey, Bridget and Cici--as they move into the next year of life on an old farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Cici's daughter Lori joins them and we learn more about Noah, the talented young artist they have incorporated into their household. Bambi the deer is joined by sheep and pigs and, as someone who kept farm animals, I laughed out loud a few times at the shenanigans.

I love this series like I loved the Mitford series by Jan Karon. So easy and sweet, mostly happy endings, which are sometimes needed. I believe in happy endings, and I am happy when I get them. You also know what to expect from these books, which is good too sometimes.

This book continues along the same vein as the first, this time with the addition of Cici's daughter Lori, and more about Noah, a teenage boy they are unofficially fostering. The young adults add a new perspective to the book that was missing in the first, and are also trying to find themselves and their place in the world.

Interspersed throughout the book are flashbacks to the house through the hundred some years in its history, from the civil war on up. We are show more introduced to the inhabitants of Blackwell Farms, and what had transpired through the years. These were my favorite parts in the book I think, and also served another purpose - that you learn at the very end of the book. show less

I love this Ladybug Farm Series! This is the kind of book you do not want to end-you can image yourself as one of the three 50 (something) women, planning their day which comes with many obstacles and challenges. It is so exciting-their adventures, and planning their future (even though they thought they were retiring), and yet so much more to life.

I love the characters and the connections of the three women who are best friends, who gave up their city life to live in the country and tackle the restoration of an historic estate in Virginia. I adore their friendship with gay couple (Derrick and Paul-they are divine) and can image them sitting around drinking wine in the gardens and love their style!

What was very exciting about this #2 show more installment of the series was adding more from Lori (Cici’s daughter) which grows up and matures during the book, and learning more details about Noah (teen who is helping them out on the farm which they take under their wing), especially Lindsay. She is a mentor to him in so many ways from the art, landscape design, to every aspect of the land and home. I fell in love with his character. Also Ida May (housekeeper) is hiding a lot of stories throughout the book which comes to surface with a little historical fiction from past generations of the lovely historic home and how they seamlessly blend into this new generation.

This book will make you laugh and cry (the animals are funny and all the crazy things which happen, but there is so much love here). Cannot wait to see what is happening in the next book! This sequel is amazing and love Donna Ball’s writing style. I want to savor each moment as love everything about this series from the gourmet cooking, gardening, restoration, entertaining, designing, friendship, to being creative and thinking outside the box.

When you love historic inns, properties, real estate, and bed and breakfast and especially elegant farm inns, you can relate. This is a 5 star series and highly recommend. I have already purchased the e-book #3 (Love Letters from Ladybug Farm).

After reading Donna latest, “The Hummingbird House” (2013), I had to begin reading Ladybug Farm series and I am thorough enjoying it. I can escape with this book and imagine myself in the setting (not sure when I am going to get any work done), as want to lock myself in and enjoy this delightful and charming series!

All about dreams and making them happen – never giving up. An inspiring read which you will not soon forget! show less

So, this picks up just a few months from where we left off after the first book.

The ladies now have 2 late-teen kiddos living with them and contributing some slave labor to the household. The older of the two is a college dropout, spoiled and strikes me as the “ooh, it’s tooooo haaaard, I don’t liiiiiike it” kind of why girl I love to hate. So she has like this totally brill plan, yeah, to like make money with like, uh the farm. Or several totally brill and not actually well-researched or thought out plans. No, she doesn’t actually speak that way in the book, but damned if I didn’t hear that in the back of my head.

The boy teen is really just fodder for drama–nothing house-related except that he does work around the house show more (and nearly burns stuff down and steals other things). I’ve got little use for his story line.

A change from the last book, that initially I hated, then I liked, then it took a left turn at “really, really, you just didn’t have to do that” is these snippet chapters where we see a little bit into the lives of women who have lived at the house over the years. I think I was mixed on this because this is really a “life and times of x persons” type of book who rest on renovations as facilitating why they are together and we care (like life and times books of knitters or book groups). And I haven’t been coached to care about the characters who are from different times that don’t impact the current characters in the book–or do they??? That’s all I’ll say about it. I won’t spoil the details, but contrived and unbelievable are two words to describe how I feel about it.

So, this is clearly less positive than the last review. And yet, I still like the farm. I’d still read another. The writing is still well done–despite the plot wanting some help at times. And for as much as I hate the totally brill idea chick, it’s kind of fun contemplating what the different ideas actually implemented would mean for the farm.

Read it if you liked the first one. show less

Improbable, yet still fun to follow plot and character twists and turns lead the way,
along with the beautiful scenery and fun sheep-in-sheep's clothing.

(Even in 2009 edition, a fat NO to mention of trump.)

When the last locked cellar door was opened, I hoped to see that the Blackwell Home had played
a big part in the Underground Railroad.

More Diversity welcome in all the books!

Readers may well hope that Mandy is woven in for a good Noah memory.

Tired of city life, Cici, Bridget, and Lindsay purchased a farm in the Shenandoah Valley which they intend to restore. Cici's daughter Lori has dropped out of college and moved in with them. They've also taken in an orphaned boy. The ladies must come up with a way to make the farm pay for itself. They encounter their fair share of troubles along the way. This is a pleasant escape. I do love the way that they utilize the library to learn about things they need to know in their venture. I also love the way that the farm's history was woven into the story. I discovered that this is the second in the series, although I have not read the first. I will be on the lookout for that book as well. It's just a nice story about rural life.