Single mom Cordy spends everything she has on a cute little cottage in a small English village, sight unseen. When she and her toddler arrive there, that cottage turns out to be full of leaks, creaks, and grime. But Cordy has nowhere else to go, so she rolls up her sleeves, blows her nose and dries her eyes, and gets to work figuring out how to make a life there for herself and her daughter.
Enter a surprise delivery of beehives. And Ronan, a young man who's only in town for a few days to convince his younger brother to go back to veterinary school. And an older gentleman with lots of advice on how to care for bees. Next thing you know, Cordy and Ronan have the house fixed up, and Cordy has opened a small shop in her front room. She sells honey and baked goods and cute gifts, and she manages to make enough to keep herself and her daughter fed and clothed and housed.
And then, her ex shows up. The father of her child who had no interest in their baby's existence until now. Oh, and he has the power to shut down Cordy's shop.
But it all turns out okay!
I really love books about setting up a store and managing a store, as well as books about fixing up a house and decorating it and getting settled. So that whole aspect of the book really drew me in. But what I loved best about this book was how Cordy's friends encouraged her to look outside herself for help. There's a wonderful discussion of why Cordy doesn't attend worship services that doesn't dismiss her struggles or her reasons why she hasn't attended services in a long time, but also doesn't brush off attending worship services as unnecessary if someone doesn't "feel like it." That is a really important conversation within the book, but also one that resonated with me. This line hit me especially strongly:
"People shouldn't keep you away from God. People may be rude from time to time, and there are some in the church who can be unkind, but those people do not represent Christ."
I lost a friend in recent years who felt insulted by something someone in our congregation said to her, and she decided that meant she wasn't welcome in our church anymore. I'm not even sure who said it, or if they meant it as an insult, but that's how she took it, and I wish so hard I could have read this book a couple of years ago (except it hadn't been written yet when all that went down) because maybe I could have quoted that line up there to her, and maybe it would have helped.
Anyway, this is a really enjoyable book, and quite funny!
(More) Particularly Good Bits:
"Forgiving him doesn't mean you drop all your boundaries. Just because you forgive someone, doesn't mean you let them back to do the same thing they did before."
"I knew that his not liking French fries was a sign."
"Falling in love is easy, but sometimes you have to choose to love someone. Not all the time, because if you have to choose all the time that's forcing it, but in the hard moments. In the 'we have no money' moments or the 'someone is trying to pull us apart' moments, that's when you choose to love, and Malcolm didn't."
I generally prefer life without spectators.
"You make everything feel like home."
If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for discussions of unwed motherhood and some kissing. No smut, no cussing, not much violence (someone does get punched in the face...).
This is my 54th book read for #TheUnreadShelfProject2023.
That sounds like a lovely sweet book! I really like your description of it.
ReplyDeleteAww, thanks! I kind of would like to try keeping bees one day (this may be hereditary -- my great-grandfather kept bees, my grandma wanted to, my dad wanted to, and one of my cousins on his side keeps them), so I really liked all the things about beekeeping in this book.
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