Love This Series

I read the books out of order so I am rereading again. I love how it gives life lessons without being preachy ( )

When I ran across this book, I was surprised to see Beverly Jenkins writing a contemporary story. I read the description and I was all in. Loved the premise, love the beautifully drawn characters, love the world-building, and really loved the story told. Can't recommend this enough. ( )

A well-written book with a few twists and turns. A story about the importance of giving back and helping when you can. ( )

After reading and adoring On the Corner of Hope and Main, I knew I had to go back and start this series from the beginning. It was even harder for me to put down Bring on the Blessings, so I gave in and gobbled this book up in a single day. It is a lot of fun!

The series starts with our heroine, Bernadine Brown. As the blurb mentions, she has just turned 52 when she catches her husband of thirty years cheating on her with his secretary. She doesn't get mad, she gets even: she walks out, takes him to the cleaners, and comes away $275 million richer. She's always been a believer in blessings, and passing on her good fortune, so she starts asking God to show her how she can pay it back. Two years into her journey, she finds her answer: (1) the historic town of Henry Adams, Kansas, has put itself up for sale on eBay, and (2) her background and career as a social worker gives her the incentive to start a foster children project in her new town.

She buys Henry Adams and heads to town to see what she's getting herself into. The town is tiny and is decaying rapidly, but there is a core of elders who care about their town and their history and upholding the ties that originally bound the town together. They welcome Bernadine and her foster care project, so she sets to work. She's picked five children to bring to Henry Adams, and sets about finding foster families to care for them. Two of the parents are Henry Adams locals, two families move to town, and Bernadine herself takes in one of the kids.

This novel is their story.

We meet Bernadine, the children - ranging from selectively mute 7-year-old Zoey to the hotheaded headstrong teenaged Crystal - and the people who become their families: Trent July, town mayor; his father, the ultra-smooth Malachi; his grandmother, the formidable town matriarch, Tamar; his high school sweetheart who moves back to town, Lily Fontaine; the Paynes, who move to town after retiring from the military to foster one of the children; and the Garlands, a world-famous singer and her pediatrician husband, who also move in to take one of the kids. We meet this main cast of characters' friends and enemies - including former mayor Riley Curry and his 600 lb hog Cletus, both of whom provide plenty of comic relief.

I loved this. Yes, it's unrealistic how quickly and efficiently Bernadine turns the town around (and bulldozes everyone who steps into her path with her huge wealth and powerful friends), but the warmth and friendship between the OG Henry Adams people and the new people causing ripples in their wake is lush and addicting. You want to read about these people and their lives.

I loved the kid characters. They each had distinct personalities and distinct shades to their personalities. My favorite is probably Amari, the 11-year-old auto thief who ends up fostering with Trent July. None of the kids bedded down easily with their new families, but there was no unnecessary drama or angst, either. Okay, the ending was OTT, but somehow, it fit =)

There is a lot of God on these pages (even though the deity is not always referred to as such), so if that's not your thing you may wanna give this a pass. Me, I can appreciate it, being from a religious background growing up in the South.

The overarching theme of the book is second chances: we have a couple of second chance romances (with Trent and Lily hitting the very familiar Ms. Bev romantic notes), and a lot of characters starting over in their lives. Bernadine is 52; Trent and Lily are 40; Malachi is 60-something; Tamar and her friends are in their 80s. It's rather like the Golden Girls - these "seniors" are definitely still out here, living their best lives, haha.

I can't wait to dive into #2, so here I go! ( )

Love This Series

I read the books out of order so I am rereading again. I love how it gives life lessons without being preachy ( )