StoreyBooks Reviews
I have read several really good books lately and I am happy to say that this is one of those books. It combines history with the present, family dynamics, a mystery, and one woman’s search for her true path.
Amber has made the journey to Apple Falls, Wisconsin, to get the family home in order so that it can be sold. She is from Chicago and has a life there, but what she doesn’t expect is to fall in love with this town and the home. I chuckled at her interactions with the contractor because he insisted on making the home true to the original time period. This included a stove that was heated by fire and not electricity. Despite wanting to modernize the farmhouse, Amber seemed to continually lose out to the contractor. This isn’t a bad thing because his ideas were always so much better.
One of my favorite characters was Great Aunt Irene. Despite being near the end of her days (at a mere 99), she was a spitfire and definitely put Amber through the wringer. She wanted Amber to find her mother’s journal but didn’t know where it was located in the house. That was part of the mystery, the journal and several other artifacts mentioned by Irene. Irene was a take-charge kind of woman in her day and she had quite the story to share with Amber about how she ran a dairy and her one true love.
This book wouldn’t be complete without the family drama when it came to Amber’s sister, Claire. Amber has regrets from her youth that have held her back but a tragedy pushes Amber on a road of forgiveness and rethinking her life and what she thought she knew to be true.
There is a love story/romance brewing. There is something about the neighbor, Hunter, that draws Amber to him. However, another man, Marc, stepped in first but is he who Amber should be with long-term? Are Marc’s motives pure or is there a hole he is trying to fill?
I did mention a mystery – part of it is finding the missing journal/diary. There are rumors about an icon and gold coins, but are they true? It is a trail that Amber follows and at some points almost too late. I loved the adventure and the clues that she found that had to be followed to the truth and the treasure.
The pace of this book is non-stop and it kept me engrossed until the very end. I had a hard time putting the book down and wouldn’t have objected to a few more chapters. Make sure to read the author’s notes….this is based on actual people and events!
We give this book 5 paws up.
Amber has made the journey to Apple Falls, Wisconsin, to get the family home in order so that it can be sold. She is from Chicago and has a life there, but what she doesn’t expect is to fall in love with this town and the home. I chuckled at her interactions with the contractor because he insisted on making the home true to the original time period. This included a stove that was heated by fire and not electricity. Despite wanting to modernize the farmhouse, Amber seemed to continually lose out to the contractor. This isn’t a bad thing because his ideas were always so much better.
One of my favorite characters was Great Aunt Irene. Despite being near the end of her days (at a mere 99), she was a spitfire and definitely put Amber through the wringer. She wanted Amber to find her mother’s journal but didn’t know where it was located in the house. That was part of the mystery, the journal and several other artifacts mentioned by Irene. Irene was a take-charge kind of woman in her day and she had quite the story to share with Amber about how she ran a dairy and her one true love.
This book wouldn’t be complete without the family drama when it came to Amber’s sister, Claire. Amber has regrets from her youth that have held her back but a tragedy pushes Amber on a road of forgiveness and rethinking her life and what she thought she knew to be true.
There is a love story/romance brewing. There is something about the neighbor, Hunter, that draws Amber to him. However, another man, Marc, stepped in first but is he who Amber should be with long-term? Are Marc’s motives pure or is there a hole he is trying to fill?
I did mention a mystery – part of it is finding the missing journal/diary. There are rumors about an icon and gold coins, but are they true? It is a trail that Amber follows and at some points almost too late. I loved the adventure and the clues that she found that had to be followed to the truth and the treasure.
The pace of this book is non-stop and it kept me engrossed until the very end. I had a hard time putting the book down and wouldn’t have objected to a few more chapters. Make sure to read the author’s notes….this is based on actual people and events!
We give this book 5 paws up.
Brianne’s Book Reviews
During WWI, Amber Bradshaw's mum's Great Gran Ina and Great Grandad Frank brought treasure to the U.S. Their daughter Amber's Great Great Aunt Irene is now in a nursing home and she has congestive heart failure. Before Amber's mum, Grace Morand Bradshaw died she made Amber promise she would go to the family home, a 100-year-old farmhouse and find the treasure. So Amber starts her excursion to Apple River Falls and makes a journey of self-discovery, too.
Set in Wisconsin, I adored this beautiful, well-written tale. The story is told via different timescales in the past and present. Twenty-seven year-old Amber was a great protagonist for those chapters in the present. The chapters in the past were in the form of journal entries between 1915 to 1918 by Ina Nicholescu as she was before her marriage in December 1915 before becoming Ina Morand at eighteen, which Amber found in the Morand farmhouse. There are also extracts from a notebook currently being written by Irene Morand, aged 99, from Apple River Falls nursing home.
I preferred the chapters from Amber which detailed Amber's feelings very articulately. Amber has come to Apple River Falls on a temporary basis only as she has a love of art and works at an art gallery, the Hillside Gallery in Chicago as does her BFF Cassidy Dillon. She brings her dog, Camelot with her, bought for her by her dad Andrew, who has battled with alcoholism. Amber has her own set of problems to contend with, including resentment at being left to bring up her sister Claire virtually by herself when Amber was 12, and Claire just 5, because of her father's drinking demons.
Whilst at the Morand farmhouse, Amber meets Hunter Freedman, who lives locally and helps out on the farm primarily feeding the calves, and working in the wheat fields and he used to attend art school in Santa Fe until he dropped out. She also meets Marc Rochet the manager of the branch of her Great Aunt Irene's bank and Ryan Amherst an expert at house renovation who is her contact for the repairs and refurbishment of the farmhouse.
The Cottonwoods is fast-paced, full of drama and there's a heck of a lot crammed in between the pages, so there's no room for tedium. I loved all of the characters, their challenges, and their hopes and dreams, and I was fully invested in them all. This novel has a little bit of everything including soupçons of romance and tragedy. An engrossing and very worthwhile novel.
Set in Wisconsin, I adored this beautiful, well-written tale. The story is told via different timescales in the past and present. Twenty-seven year-old Amber was a great protagonist for those chapters in the present. The chapters in the past were in the form of journal entries between 1915 to 1918 by Ina Nicholescu as she was before her marriage in December 1915 before becoming Ina Morand at eighteen, which Amber found in the Morand farmhouse. There are also extracts from a notebook currently being written by Irene Morand, aged 99, from Apple River Falls nursing home.
I preferred the chapters from Amber which detailed Amber's feelings very articulately. Amber has come to Apple River Falls on a temporary basis only as she has a love of art and works at an art gallery, the Hillside Gallery in Chicago as does her BFF Cassidy Dillon. She brings her dog, Camelot with her, bought for her by her dad Andrew, who has battled with alcoholism. Amber has her own set of problems to contend with, including resentment at being left to bring up her sister Claire virtually by herself when Amber was 12, and Claire just 5, because of her father's drinking demons.
Whilst at the Morand farmhouse, Amber meets Hunter Freedman, who lives locally and helps out on the farm primarily feeding the calves, and working in the wheat fields and he used to attend art school in Santa Fe until he dropped out. She also meets Marc Rochet the manager of the branch of her Great Aunt Irene's bank and Ryan Amherst an expert at house renovation who is her contact for the repairs and refurbishment of the farmhouse.
The Cottonwoods is fast-paced, full of drama and there's a heck of a lot crammed in between the pages, so there's no room for tedium. I loved all of the characters, their challenges, and their hopes and dreams, and I was fully invested in them all. This novel has a little bit of everything including soupçons of romance and tragedy. An engrossing and very worthwhile novel.
