Driftwood Summer by Patti Callahan Henry

Driftwood Summer   by Patti Callahan Henry was a book about a family in a small beachside town who have many conflicts and have gone their separate ways.  The family owns a bookstore on the beach run by one sister, Riley who is a single mom, never revealing the father of her son.  One sister, Maisy is an interior designer in California and escaped the family running away from something terrible she did to her best friend.  And then Adalee who is a college student.  They all come back together to the beachside bookstore, Driftwood Cottage to help their mother celebrate the anniversary of the bookstore with a week of special events.  It is during this time they face all the conflicts that tore them apart.  In trying to right their wrongs many secrets are revealed making this an interesting read.

I enjoyed all the story lines but it has always been my dream to open a bookstore on the beach and I loved reading that part of the story of how they ran the bookstore, the layout, the events they held and more.  I have never read a book by this author but I am sure I will be picking up more by her.  The descriptions of the characters made you invest in their lives and want them to work everything out.  It was easy to sympathize with them and what they were dealing with.  Definitely worth a read.

Kindred Spirits by Sarah Strohmeyer

Kindred Spirits is a book about 4 women who are always there for each other.  When one of the friends dies suddenly she leaves a note for the group that reveals a stunning secret they never knew about her.  She asks them to fulfill this final wish for her.  The remaining 3 women go on a road trip to do this one last thing for their friend Lynne.  During there trip they learn secrets about each other and become closer through their journey.  They are able to help each other through some tough times.

I enjoyed this book of women friendships, I could relate to these women.  The book reminded me a lot of Second Time Around, which I reviewed earlier.  The author, Sarah Strohmeyer writes so that you can picture each character and feel their joy and pain as though you were going through it.  I would recommend this book. It is another author I have never read before but will look for other books by her.

Some Assembly Required by Lynn Kiele Bonasia

I picked up Some Assembly Required by Lynn Kiele Bonasia because it was set on Cape Cod, my childhood home away from home.  It is a book about a 39 year old named Rose, she breaks up with her longtime boyfriend and heads to Cape Cod to start over.  She ends up with some very eccentric neighbors who you can't help but love.  There is an autistic boy who lives next door that holds the community together after his mom dies, he has no father, so the community bands together to take responsibility for him.  There is also a mystery of a man who went missing many years ago who has connections to Rose's neighbor, she wants to help out by trying to find out what really happened.  It is surprising what she finds out.

I thought it was a great book of love, loss, friendship with a little mystery thrown in.  I recognized some of the places they mentioned in the story.  I read her other book Summer Shift a couple years ago about a woman who runs a crab shack on Cape Cod, also a good book.  If you are looking for a quick read with lovable characters pick this one up.