"The Innkeeper's Wife" by Savannah Jezowski

Awwwwwwww.  This is such a lovely story!  As someone who struggled with getting pregnant initially, though I've since had three healthy babies, I really identified a lot with things going on in this book.

Ginny and Caleb are in their mid-thirties.  They own and run a bed-and-breakfast.  They've wanted children for years, but never conceived.  In the middle of a Christmas snowstorm, a young couple arrives at the b&b, which is full.  The young woman is great with child, to say the least, and Ginny struggles to be courteous, let along kind, with this girl who has what Ginny so desperately wants.

Over the next few hours, Ginny comes to understand that what you want isn't always what you need, and whether or not you like a situation, that doesn't mean you can walk away from it.  I shed a tear or two over this story, but good tears.  The happy kind.

Particularly Good Bits:

Were all those tears for nothing?  Just salty water to fill up a well of pain that would never be emptied?

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG for discussion of childbirth-related behavior, the mention of "missing periods" and taking pregnancy tests, and other things younger kids might not be ready for or interested in.  Nothing gratuitous, no bad bad language or violence or smut.

This is my second book read and reviewed for the Literary Christmas Link-up.