Book written by Karen Hawkins, published 2021.
Welcome back to Dove Pond! This small town in North Carolina is quaint, cozy, and home to a tight-knit community, as most small towns stereotypically are. But there’s a special magic in Dove Pond, one that allows the famous Dove sisters, Ava and Sarah, to communicate with plants and books and better serve their neighbors.
Ava Dove has an unnaturally green thumb. The plants she works with tell her exactly what they need to be healthy and effective in her organic teas. But, just as Ava is getting ready to open a new tearoom, Ava’s teas have started misbehaving. Instead of bringing sleep and relief from pain, Ava’s clients are complaining of vivid dreams and uncontrollable fits of honesty. To add to her stress, a long-kept secret is weighing heavily on Ava’s mind, and she doesn’t know how much longer she can keep it in the dark before it forces itself into the open.
Just down the street from Ava, Ellen Foster is trying to move on after her daughter’s death. She hadn’t seen or heard from Julie in over a decade, and when the invitation for the funeral arrived, Ellen realized she would never get the chance to reconnect. But she still has a chance with her estranged granddaughter, Kristen. Ellen just needs to find a way to persuade Kristen to move back with her to Raleigh. Kristen hates the idea of leaving Dove Pond. It’s where she and her mom made a life for themselves, just the two of them. Determined to stay in the only home she’s ever known, Kristen sets out to find her absent father, her only chance to overrule Ellen's decision.
As far as sequels go, I greatly enjoyed it! I tore through it in a single day, and it managed to keep me on my toes in a way the first book didn’t. This one is more intense in terms of magical elements and mistakes made, but it still focuses on themes of community, family, friendship, and grief. It’s still just as heartfelt, mesmerizing, and uplifting as The Book Charmer.
This book contains minor language, and that’s really it.
If you know what Ava keeps in the box under her bed, you’re ready for the next section of this review!
"We can't always fix what we break. Sometimes we just have to accept the consequences and let time heal things as well as it can."
If you read my review of The Book Charmer, you know I was invested in the relationship between Blake and Sarah more than anything else. Before coming into this book, all I had really wanted was to know if Sarah had gotten over her inability to form a coherent sentence when talking to Blake. I was expecting any news on that front to be delivered the same way Trav and Grace’s engagement was, casually and without fanfare. I never would have guessed that Ava had been so engrained in all of that drama! I was flabbergasted that she had interfered in Sarah’s feelings, and, not only that, Ava managed to keep a book from talking to Sarah. That’s pretty hardcore! And the aftermath of that ordeal was hard to read. I’m really close with my sister, so the anguish and bitterness between Ava and Sarah felt particularly raw and lonely to me. I can’t imagine going through something like that with my sister.
BUT THEN! Blake came through! I had never expected Blake to be bitter and hateful toward the Doves forever, but I certainly figured that any chance he and Sarah had would be gone once he knew the truth. But he actually asked Sarah out on a date! And he wasn’t intimidated or weirded out by her rambling! He actually seemed pleasantly amused by it. It was a lovely, satisfying turn of events, and, really, it was the highlight of the book for me.
I wasn’t drawn to the storyline of Ellen and Kristen. I can appreciate their journey; they deal with a lot, and Hawkins provided them with a wonderful perspective on grief. But their story and relationship were very reminiscent of Daisy and Grace’s in The Book Charmer. Again, it wasn’t bad, but it felt a bit like a repeat, and it didn’t inspire anything new for me. I would welcome any new developments regarding Kristen and Dylan’s relationship though. Hopefully, they’ll get more opportunities to connect with each other and develop a strong father/daughter relationship. Speaking of Dylan, I would also welcome any developments regarding the relationship between him and Ava. Just saying.
The epilogue implied that Ella Dove, another famed Dove sister, will be returning to Dove Pond. According to Hawkins’ website, the next Dove Pond book will focus on Ella, and since her special gift is baking, I am particularly excited about this next book! It releases in August of this year. See you in the fall, Dove Pond! I look forward to the magic that comes next!
Comentários