Book Review: "Angel Lane"

Angel Lane

by Sheila Roberts
NY: St. Martin's Press, 2009

Searching for a feel-good story about three businesswomen in a small town trying to help it regain its heart? "Angel Lane" is just the ticket. Sarah, a baker, is a grandmother sorely missing her grandchildren who have just moved away. Emma is struggling to keep her new quilt shop open. She dreams of a life out of the movies, but reality has her living alone with a stray cat who doesn't like her. Jamie, who runs a very successful chocolate business, is divorced from an abusive cop. She is working hard at starting over, but is extremely reluctant to open her heart to an attractive cop and his two young daughters.

These three women decide to start a "good-deed" campaign encouraging other in their community to perform random acts of kindness. The story tells of many of these deeds and their outcomes (which are not always positive!). It also tells of their relationships with each other and others in their world and how they develop. This story features three of my favorite things - baked goods, chocolate, and quilting. Even if it lacked all three, it still would have been a great read. It is light reading with a positive message. It pulled on my heart and made me both cry and laugh. I recommend it highly!

While this isn't technically part of the book review, this next line was my favorite part of the book. There is a point in the story when Emma is truly on the verge of losing her business.

"I'm a failure," Emma sobbed.
"No you're not," Sarah said fiercely. "Failures don't even try. You try harder than anyone I know."

That was something I really needed to hear.




Here is a link to a great interview with Sheila Roberts about this book:
http://asthepagesturn.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/after-all-the-edits-and-tweaks-i-fall-in-love-with-it-again-interview-with-sheila-roberts-author-of-angel-lane/