Happiness Key

Happiness Key

Last summer I read Fortunate Harbor (my review) and I recently ran across the first book in the series, Happiness Key at the library.  Tracey is freshly divorced from a husband who is in prison.  For some reason he put this rundown Florida development in her name.  It has several small rental properties and the tenants are all on month-to-month leases.  Her goal is to sell the property to a developer and use the money to start a new life.  The only problem is that a local preservation organization has targeted the property and vowed to keep any development plans tied up in court, thereby drastically lowering the value.  

While collecting rents shortly after moving to Florida, she discovers one of the tenants dead in his bed.  Looking for information about him and his family draws her and the other residents into a friendship.  We learn about their live and loves and of course, at the end, they find the man's family, and have learned about themselves too.  

As I said about Fortunate Harbor, this reminds me of Debbie Macomber's Yarn Shop books and if you like "group of women" novels,  you'll like this one.  Grade:  B+

My Review: Rising Tides

Rising Tides was an interesting book to be reading this weekend, the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.  Set in South Louisiana in 1965, much of the action takes place in the days just before Hurricane Betsy, New Orleans' previous worst hurricane ever.  Rising Tides is the sequel to Iron Lace which I reviewed not long ago.  Aurore is now dead, and has summoned family and some friends to her summer home in Grand Isle for the reading of her will.  She declared that anyone who did not stay for the whole four days would forfeit his/her share of the estate.  The first three days small bequests are made, bequests it quickly becomes apparent are meant to shed light on family secrets--on her secrets.  On the fourth day the big bequests are given, and with them, one of the biggest secrets.  The storm brewing in the Gulf is no worse than the one hitting this family, and like the way Katrina's destruction of New Orleans has allowed some things to be rebuilt in a better way, so Aurore hoped that by making her family face the storm caused by the truth, she'd allow them to rebuild their lives on a firm, elevated foundation.  Grade:  B+

Fortunate Harbor: My Review

My youngest and I have been going to the library just about every Monday evening this summer for story and craft time. She really enjoys the crafts and the kids, and mostly listens to the stories too.  I'm much happier with the lady running it than I was with the one doing it when my big ones were small, but I do think she over-reaches on the crafts, given the age group she attracts.  But, to get back to why you are reading this, our library is large with a children's room that is bigger than many entire libraries in which I've been.  This is good because they have so much room to do stuff with the kids and bad because you aren't supposed to leave the little ones un-attended and you can't look at grown-up books in there.  However, the new acquisitions shelf is located where I can see the door to the kids room and the books, both, so I send her into the kids room and quickly peruse the new acquisitions for anything that looks good.  This week I found Fortunate Harbor (Happiness Key) by Emilie Richards.  I've read many of her books before and have enjoyed them, so I grabbed it.

Fortunate Harbor is about five women who live in a run-down Florida development.  Tracy is the owner.   She is the ex-wife of a wealthy businessman who was sent to prison for fraud.  All their wealth is gone, but somehow and for some reason, her ex put this property in her name and the Feds didn't get it.  She has been making a new life for herself here, a life that includes a new man, but at about the same time both their ex-spouses appear.  Why?

Janya is from India.  She and her husband are in an arranged marriage and have been happy.  They recently began to try for a baby, but have not succeeded.  Now her husband is keeping increasingly late hours and doesn't want to do what is necessary if a baby is desired.

Wanda is a waitress who is fired when the new owners of the neighborhood seafood place re-do it into a tapas bar and she doesn't meet the new image.  She decides to open a shop to sell the pies about which all her friends rave.

Alice is the grandmother of Olivia.  She is a neighbor but doesn't play a large part in this book.

Dana is a single mother who worked with Wanda.  Wanda tells her about the vacant cabin in the area and then hires her at the pie shop.  Dana is terrified of men or of letting anyone know about her past.  Why?

Supporting characters include Tracy's new love interest and ex-husband, an eccentric rich woman and a rival baker and together they make a cozy story of neighbors who look out for each other, and couples who love.  In a lot of ways it is like Debbie Macomber's Yarn Shop books or The Red Hat Club books or the Potluck Club books.  It is light enjoyable fluffy reading, just perfect for a day at the beach.
Grade:  B

Review: Iron Lace by Emilie Richards

 It's funny how covers change over the years.  My copy of Iron Lace has a southern mansion surrounded by azaleas and live oaks.  Evidently it is due to be re-released soon with the cover shown.  I suspect I got mine from Bookmooch and it has been sitting in my garage for quite some time.  I'm not sure if I'm getting pickier about review books, or if my sources haven't offered quite as many, but in any case, I'm finally having time to attack the pile in the garage, rather than just the stack of new arrivals.

Iron Lace is the story of Aurore Gerritsen, a New Orleans woman born around the turn of the century.  For reasons that become apparent through the book, in 1965 she chooses to tell her life story, her autobiography as it were, to a young Negro journalist. She tells what she remembers of a night a Hurricane hit Grand Isle, and communities nearby.  She tells of a trip to the bayou and meeting a man with whom she'll later fall in love. She tells of her marriage, and of the births of her children.  Knowing what I know about New Orleans, I wasn't surprised at the way everything tied together.  My only complaint is that a couple of ends were left hanging--we know enough to guess but Richards doesn't really give us answers.

I enjoyed the book, which from what I've been able to tell is probably a good picture of race relations at that time in the history of the city.  As a resident, I enjoyed reading about familiar places and people, and I didn't see anything that made me say "Richards needed a New Orleanian to read this before it was published".  Grade B+