Starting in August 2021, I’m changing up my book review format just a bit. In the past, I would write fairly lengthy reviews, but I’ve come to realize in this busy world of ours, that people just don’t have the time any more – or the desire – to read such long reviews. Hence – “Mel’s Mini Reviews” will now be the name of the game on this blog!
My reviews will always be about a book I rated with either 4 or 5 stars on Goodreads and/or BookBub and/or Amazon. There are soooo many books available for readers to choose from—and to choose to buy—that I want to save you readers both selection time and hard-earned money. I want to give you “the best bang for your buck.” So, even though there are some 3-star books that are still “good,” I’ll only post reviews about the “better” and “best” books I’ve read.
**** 4 Stars ****
Book Summary
Present Day. After tragedy plunges her into grief and unresolved anger, Sarah Ashby returns to her childhood home determined to finally follow her long-denied dream of running Old Depot Grocery alongside her mother and grandmother. But when she arrives, her mother, Rosemary, announces to her that the store is closing. Sarah and her grandmother, Glory Ann, make a pact to save the store, but Rosemary has worked her entire life to make sure her daughter never follows in her footsteps. She has her reasons–but she’ll certainly never reveal the real one.
1965. Glory Ann confesses to her family that she’s pregnant with her deceased fiancé’s baby. Pressured into a marriage of convenience with a shopkeeper to preserve the family reputation, Glory Ann vows never to love again. But some promises are not as easily kept as she imagined.
This dual-timeline story from Amanda Cox deftly explores the complexity of a mother-daughter dynamic, the way the secrets we keep shape our lives and the lives of others, and the healing power of telling the truth.
My Thoughts
Many mothers and daughters are great friends who feel comfortable telling each other things they wouldn’t share with anyone else. Most times though, the relationship wasn’t always that close, and it was only after the passing of time, and learning previously undisclosed information about each other, and coming to understand the whys and why nots the mom and/or daughter took certain actions or not in the past, that then the connection and special bond between the two really formed.
Amanda Cox dives deep into this issue that it’s often many, many, pieces of a person’s life that combine to make them into the “person they are today” and to make them believe certain truths—and non-truths—about their mom, daughter, grandmother, sister, spouse, grandfather, or people in general.
Just like the author did in her debut novel The Edge of Belonging, Amanda Cox has again shown her skill in penning a deep, touching story. After reading The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery, readers no doubt will reevaluate the relationships they have with their own family members, and ponder ways they might have misunderstood each other in the past, and how they can now grow those relationships into something beautiful.
Note: I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this novel for being a part of Revell Read’s Blogger Program. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions expressed are my own.