March 4, 2019
Hannon returns to Hope Harbor, Ore., for this pleasing fifth installment (after Pelican Point) of her inspirational series. Jeannette Mason leaves Cincinnati and her job as a teacher to open a tea room in Hope Harbor after a personal tragedy. Taking quickly to the area’s natural charms, Jeannette infuses her offerings with the lavender she plants in her garden. Jeannette’s introduction to her new neighbors comes at the expense of some of those plants after the beagle owned by California transplants Logan West and his five-year old niece, Molly, tears through Jeannette’s garden. Although she finds Logan handsome, Jeannette’s need for privacy causes her to rebuff his friendly advances until a family from Syria, who immigrated to the U.S. through the sponsorship of Hope Harbor’s Grace Christian Church. Jeannette and Logan welcome the family at a church gathering, and they start to grow closer when Jeannette begins helping with day care for Molly and Elisa, a six-year-old Syrian girl. While the plot plods slowly in some sections, Hope Harbor provides the comfort Jeannette needs in order to open up to a new beginning. This quaint love story is full of faith and characters that readers will want to root for until the end.
April 1, 2019
Hannon continues the Hope Harbor series (Pelican Point, 2018). Two traumatized neighbors find love and support in a small coastal town in Oregon. After his brother died in the military, and his mother suffered a heart attack, Logan became the new guardian of his five-year-old niece. He is also the new urgent-care doctor in town, but finding childcare for Molly, who is reeling from the losses in her life, is challenging. Jeannette, who runs a lavender farm and a tea room, is trying to resist getting to know her handsome neighbor and precocious Molly. She has suffered terrible tragedies and wants peace and quiet. But when a Syrian refugee family comes to town, Jeannette offers to help them learn English and realizes that the grandmother could watch Molly. So she finds herself involved with all of them. Add to that taco-truck owner Charlie, who seems to impart messages from God, and readers will delight in this pleasant romance with its tempting food descriptions. Hannon's take on loss and survival is simpatico with Debbie Macomber's Blossom Street series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)