Book Description:
When life feels like it’s closing in around you, sometimes the solution is to open the doors wide and invite others in . . .
Jewel McKerry is on the brink of unraveling as she heads home to Oregon to help care for her father who has early-onset dementia. Her thirteen-year-old daughter is upset about the move. Her beekeeper dad is a humorous handful. Her mom is overworked and overwhelmed. Finances are stretched tight. And, according to her father, the neighbors are nothing but trouble.
Despite all of these challenges, Jewel takes on one more when she convinces her parents to turn their decrepit farmhouse into a B&B in order to make some needed money. Her old high school flame turned contractor steps in to help, but Jewel isn’t sure she can really trust him. And those “troublesome” neighbors? The handsome widower and his teenage daughter just might be the key to making all this work.
Get ready for a summer filled with family, good humor, and new beginnings!
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading Welcome to the Honey B&B, a contemporary fiction novel set in a small Oregon town. Jewel is an artist who owns a gallery in San Jose, California. She’s a single parent with a thirteen year old daughter, Cooper, who’s difficult to manage and has friends who could lead her astray. Jewel decides to relocate with Cooper back to her home town in Oregon to help her parents, Honey and CT.
Honey is a retired school teacher in her late sixties who lives on the farm with CT who has FTD—early onset dementia. Honey’s retirement plans are in tatters as the daily grind of caring for CT wears her out. Honey welcomes the arrival of Jewel and Cooper who live with them in the two storey farmhouse and help her manage CT’s caring needs.
We meet Honey’s neighbor, Miguel, who has a daughter around the same age as Cooper. Jewel has plans to generate farm income by converting the farmhouse into a B&B. Cooper shares her grandpa’s love for bee keeping.
The story includes many humorous and poignant moments as we discover how CT’s dementia has a profound and life changing impact on his loved ones. The reality of caring for a loved one with FTD is not sugarcoated and we see the raw emotion of their rollercoaster journey on the page. The characters draw on their faith to understand and process CT’s diagnosis and what it means for their family.
I recommend Welcome to the Honey B&B to contemporary fiction readers who like charming small town family stories that include issues relating to a loved one’s dementia diagnosis, romantic elements, and relevant faith threads in the story.
Many thanks to Revell and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.
Check out my Fan Girling with Narelle podcast/YouTube episode on the book at the link below.
Thank you!
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