Abbie Rose Stone’s acquired wisdom runs deep, and so do her scars. She has successfully navigated the shoals of a long marriage, infertility, challenging children, and a career. Now it’s her turn to realize her dream: producing hard apple cider along the northern shores of Lake Michigan that she loves. She manages to resist new versions of the old pull of family dynamics that threaten to derail … derail her plan—but nothing can protect her from the shock a lovely young stranger delivers when she exposes a long-held secret. In the wake of this revelation, Abbie must overcome circumstances that severely test her self-determination, her loyalties, and her understanding of what constitutes true family.
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A beautifully rendered story about pursuing a dream while untangling a mystery. I loved the way that Stark Nemon centered the many different ways that people make families. Her descriptive writing is gorgeous and her characters are multifaceted and real. Anyone looking for a book to encourage them to strike out on their own path will love Hard Cider.
At age fifty-four, Abbie Rose decides its time to follow her long-held dream: to produce hard apple cider on the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan where her family has vacationed for over twenty years.
Situated on Lake Michigan’s sand dunes, the family cottage had been their escape from the high-pressure life of Ann Arbor, Michigan where Abbie taught and her husband Steve had a law practice. With a windfall of money, Abbie has purchased a farmhouse and outbuildings and is ready to learn the skills needed–business and professional–to create a quality product.
Abbie’s dream is not Steve’s dream. He not only has no interest in her plan, he thinks it is a bad decision. He likes Ann Arbor life.
Their marriage has been challenged before. First, battling infertility and through failed treatments and in-vitro fertilization and grappling with the decision of surrogacy vs. adoption. And secondly, when their house burned down right after Abbie finally gave birth to a son after adopting two other boys.
As Abbie forges ahead with her plans, living Up North while Steve stays in the city, her attention is further divided by her boys’ personal problems and challenges. Then a young woman, Julia, arrives in Northport whose secret will bring further turmoil and tension in Abbie’s life and marriage.
Barbara Stark-Nemon’s novel Hard Cider has a distinct Michigan flavor, reflecting her life in Ann Arbor and Northport.
Michigan ranks as the second or third state in apple production and has more farm and fruit stands than any other state.
And where there are apples, there is apple cider!
Hard Apple Cider is a leader in the craft brew industry, especially in Michigan. Michigan is already fifth in the nation for its number of breweries, microbreweries, and brewpubs.
So, Steve’s objections aside, Abbie is onto something. And she needs the challenge and she needs to at least try and make her lifetime dream come true.
Readers who are not interested in Michigan and our apples will find their interest perk up when Julia comes on the scene. Abbie must juggle the needs of her sons and husband and the secret she discovers while holding fast to her dream.
Fans of women’s fiction will enjoy Hard Cider.
Oh, and there is knitting.
I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Enjoyable story about family relationships with fascinating descriptions of hard cider production and lushly painted seasonal landscapes of northern MI. Well paced with a beautiful ending.
Hard Cider gives a realistic view of what it is like to build and maintain a family. It also reminds us that the work is never finished, even after the children of a family are grown. Family secrets can be difficult, but their revelation can also be an added blessing to the lives of those involved.
As a bonus, we get a fascinating look at the business of making hard cider. It’s much more complicated than I had ever imagined. I also really appreciated the story of a woman in the second half of her life looking to start on a new dream.
Abbie Rose has done everything she was supposed to do. Stuck with the good if not perfect marriage and the good teaching career, persevered through infertility, adoption, raising a perpetually challenging child. Now in retirement, she has a dream—to produce hard cider on the shores of her beloved Northern Michigan farmstead, up to now a vacation cottage. She embarks on learning the entire process, from apple growing to bottling and distribution. She has money from an inheritance. It’s her turn now, isn’t it? Isn’t it?
Abbie’s family doesn’t stand in her way, but they don’t step up to support. The questions they raise carry the whiff of doubt about Abbie’s ability to be an effective entrepreneur and whether her dream is a wise use of the money.
Abbie’s family’s indifference wouldn’t be enough to sustain a necessary book-length level of suspense. So it’s the subtleties just below the surface that dig in and stick. By any measure, Abbie has a good life—two homes, good health, meaningful career, decent hardworking husband, amiable children. It’s too tempting to ask, why isn’t that enough? Why the risky dream she can’t let go of? Because that’s what humans do—they dream, and take risks that don’t “make sense” to achieve their dreams. The ability and opportunity to dream is intrinsic to the human condition. Abbie’s family’s reticence to let her do that also carries a barely detectable but distinct current that made me wonder if they’d object in the same way if she were an entrepreneurial man. Just sayin’.
In the movie Angels in the Outfield, coach Danny Glover rejects a piece of seemingly outlandish advice as “wacko, crazy!” But then he relents: “What’s the worst that can happen? We fall out of last place?” Abbie’s family needs to ask, what’s the worst that can happen? Then let her go to bat while they cheer from the dugout. Do they? The book doesn’t give us the full answer, and that’s okay. Kinda like real life. Bottoms up!
An absorbing read with a likable main character. I was swept up by the quest for a second chapter and the subsequent plot twists that force the main character to open her heart again and again. A lovely book that reminds us that we are capable of loving beyond expectations.
Easy and interesting read
I always enjoy when a novel takes me into territory I don’t know. In Hard Cider, it’s not hard to guess that territory is apples, cider, and the industry of making it, and clearly author Barbara Stark-Nemon knows her way around the arena, whether through experience or very thorough research. I walked away feeling incredibly well educated on the subject!
The writing is detailed and lyrical, offering images, sensations, visuals, place, setting that are all rich and evocative, and that clearly is where this writer’s forte lies. Her characters are well developed, individual, naturally expressive, and fascinating to follow, particularly the main protagonist, Abbie Rose Stone. There are family politics to deal with, issues surrounding parenthood and procreation, and how individuals make and further family, whatever the biology. The exploration of gender roles and the complexities of setting a new course later in life was provocative and all really enjoyable to read.
My biggest critique regards plot, the propulsion of the story forward. I realized at some point that I was over a third of the way through the book and there was not yet a compelling plot pushing me to turn the page. There were copious, almost didactic sections detailing the history, background, theories, practices and procedures of processing hard cider, and while that was interesting to a point, I found myself skipping through some of those to get to the story, what happens to these characters.
When we did finally hit a point of suspense, it was compelling, fascinating and unexpected, but it came so late in the book, that with the author’s choice to end it when she did, I felt a bit shortchanged in the development of that crucial plot point and the new, developing relationships that followed. I might have suggested “pruning” the educational sections some to allow more time for all of that.
But the thoughtful, lovely writing of this author comes through notwithstanding. It is a read that takes you into a cold, beautiful part of the country and the life of a strong, independent women stretching beyond the limitations of family life. It’s a good read.
The beautiful, descriptive prose of Barbara Stark-Nemon’s Hard Cider introduced me to both the landscape of Michigan and the production of hard apple cider. The protagonist, Abbie Rose, is embarking on a late in life quest to fulfill her dream to create a cider business, unsupported by her family. She is no stranger to adversity — having coped with loss, infertility, and parenting challenges — and she pushes forward, determined to persevere. But when a young woman with a secret enters her life, her steadfastness is challenged. A wonderful novel about the importance of family, forgiveness, and pursing your dreams.
I received this book from the author through a giveaway. I enjoyed the mother/son relationship because most of the books I read focus on mother/ daughter relationships.
Hard Cider is filled with stunning descriptions of Northern Michigan’s seasonal landscapes. When family matriarch Abbie Rose has decided it’s her turn to follow her dream she does it with a determined passion despite what others want her to do and as astonishes revelations are thrown in her path. I highly recommend this page-turning lovely novel.
Barbara Stark Nemon has done it again. I loved her earlier book, Even in Darkness, and her follow-up did not disappoint. The fact that Hard Cider is of a completely different genre to her debut is a good indicator of Nemon’s talent as a writer. Hard Cider is one of those books that seems like it’s about one thing, but then reveals itself to be about something else entirely! I love those kinds of books – lots of layers!
The protagonist of the story, Abbie Rose, is on a quest to start her own hard cider business and in the process discovers some family secrets that may derail not only the business but her family as well. This book is about determination, new beginnings, forgiveness and, ultimately, love. It’s an extremely well-written tale that kept me up at night turning pages. I didn’t want it to end!
“Decisions get made for us sometimes.” Abbie Rose, our main character, is about to find this out.
A middle aged wife and mother living in Ann Arbor, she has always nursed the desire to produce hard cider. Her plans for this become sidelined when complications enter her life.
As she works through these difficulties the descriptions of the scenery and the making of hard cider helped me to feel a part of this book.
It is a wonderful and well written novel.
Family values of living and loving are apparent in so many ways. Impressive is Abbie’s patience, persistence and determination in the struggle with the cider mill, all good qualities needed in our own lives.
It’s difficult to try to achieve a personal dream if you are married with children and it’s even more difficult when you are in your 50s and don’t have the support of your husband or your sons. But with a lot of hard work and perseverance, personal dreams can be reached.
Abbie Rose Stone is 54 years old. Her husband likes his life in Ann Arbor and only visits their cabin near Traverse City when it suits his schedule. Their three sons are scattered all over and rarely get home. Abby prefers the quiet of the cabin on the shore of Lake Michigan and goes there to revive her soul and help get her bearings in her life. She has always had a dream to have her own business and has decided that she wants to start a business that makes hard cider from the plentiful apples in the area. Her husband and sons are skeptical but she forges ahead with her plans. Just when things are starting to look positive for her, several major things happen in her family that cause family turmoil and may make her dream impossible to reach.
This is wonderful story about family and love and reaching your dreams no matter what your age. I absolutely loved Abbie Rose and feel like I could sit down and have a cup or coffee with her.
This was a special book to me because I am familiar with the area that the book is set in and think that the shore of Lake Michigan is the most beautiful place in the world. That said, you don’t need to be familiar with the area to enjoy the beauty of the area that the author provides.
This is my first book by Barbara Stark-Nemon but I enjoyed this one so much that I just ordered her early book. A big thank you to the publisher for providing this book for me to read and review. All opinions are my own.
I felt like this book dragged a little too much. I enjoyed the details about the growing of apples and how to make cider. But that was about the only thing I appreciated. The end of the book really focuses on the family. It was an easy and quick read. Just not my cup of tea.
Thank you to NetGalley and She Writes Press for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
Would love to give this book a higher rating but there was so much content that needed to be edited down and so much more that could have been added to really tell the story that was started.
Too slow moving.
1st time I’ve read a book about hard cider. Haven’t read many books set in Michigan so this was informative. Good writing.