New York Times bestselling author Karen Hawkins returns to her beloved Dove Pond series with another “mesmerizing fusion of the mystical and the everyday” (Susan Andersen, New York Times bestselling author)–but this time, the magic is in the tea leaves. Ava Dove–the sixth of the seven famed Dove sisters and owner of Ava Dove’s Landscaping and Specialty Teas–is frantic. Just as her fabulous … frantic.
Just as her fabulous new tearoom is about to open, her herbal teas have gone wonky. Suddenly, her sleep-inducing tea is startling her clients awake with vivid dreams, her romance-kindling tea is causing people to blurt out their darkest secrets, and her anti-anxiety tea is making them spend hours staring into mirrors. Ava is desperate for a remedy, but her search leads her into dangerous territory, as she is forced to face a dark secret she’s been hiding for over a decade.
Meanwhile, successful architect Ellen Foster has arrived in Dove Pond to attend the funeral of her estranged daughter, Julie. Grieving deeply, Ellen is determined to fix up her daughter’s ramshackle house, sell it, and then sweep her sixteen-year-old granddaughter, Kristen, off to a saner, calmer life in Raleigh. But Kristen has other plans. Desperate to stay with her friends in Dove Pond, Kristen sets off on a quest she’s avoided her whole life–to find her never-been-there father in the hopes of winning her freedom from the grandmother she barely knows.
Together, Ava, Kristen, and Ellen embark on a reluctant but magical journey of healing, friendship, and family that will delight fans of Alice Hoffman, Kate Morton, and Sarah Addison Allen.
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I’ve been eagerly awaiting A Cup of Silver Linings by Karen Hawkins. Before you start this novel, I highly recommend reading The Book Charmer and the Novella in the series. Then you will have all the background information and you will know who all the characters are.
Karen Hawkins is a wonderful writer who ties in magical realism, hope, love and melancholy masterly. This series is so much more than a small town fiction.
A Cup of Silver Linings splits its point of view over a few characters. We have Kristen who lost her mother, Ellen who lost her daughter and Ava who has a secret.
Ava Dove is one of the seven talented Dove sisters. Ava’s talent is with plants. She is able to read their feelings, know what they need and in return they flourish in her care. Ava has a very success landscaping business and she also makes teas to remedy almost everyone in town. Hawkins weaves a mystery through Ava’s story in a very subtle yet effective way. It all begins when one of her teas is not performing as it should. I love Ava’s character and through her we also get to see bring back characters from the town. Her sister, Sarah, is a favorite!
Ellen is a successful architect and has been estranged from her daughter and granddaughter. The book opens with her perspective at her daughter’s funeral. Kristen is another main character in the book. She is a high schooler and Ellen’s granddaughter. They are both learning about each other, the woman they lost and uncovering a mystery of their own. Their story is a beautifully written tale of grief, healing and finding family.
I felt the deep loss of a mother throughout the book. The other town folk bring comfort and levity to the novel until Ava’s secret is reveled. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to where the next one takes us!
Thank you to #Netgalley and #gallerybooks for an ARC in exchange for a review.
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