First line: Another day in Mayberry, Jamie Moore thought as she waved the last two customers of the day out the door of the Chocolate Bar.
From the back cover: Keep the heart in Heart Lake. That’s exactly what three small-town shop owners hope to do when they launch their crazy-ambitious “Have a Heart” campaign – asking neighbors to commit one random act of kindness every day. Emma, Sarah, and Jamie love their lakeside community, but the little town is growing too big too fast, and doing a good deed never hurt anyone. Or so they thought…
When Emma slashes prices at her quilt shop, she almost stitches her way into bankruptcy. Sarah’s free cooking class boils down to a hotbed of crime when some punk kid swipes her favorite heirloom. And at Jamie’s chocolate shop, things take a bittersweet turn when a local policeman starts giving her grief, stirring up feelings she’s tried to forget – and slowly melts away her defenses…
With irresistible humor, warmth, affection – and recipes! – author Sheila Roberts serves up a generous, openhearted story about the friendships we make, the chances we take, and the lives we touch every day.
My thoughts: Every once in a while, you come across a book that you can delve right into and feel as though you are a part of the story. Angel Lane is one of those books. I really enjoy Sheila Roberts’s style of writing and her characters are so real and true to life. They are, quite simply, everyday women that most anyone can relate to in some way.
In Heart Lake, Washington, quilt store owner Emma Swanson, bakery shopkeeper Sarah Goodwin and her niece Chocolate Bar owner Jamie Moore decide to do something nice for their small town. They organize the “keep the heart in Heart Lake” campaign asking residents to do something nice for someone else every day. The three women plan to be role models, but not one expected the consequences of kindness to themselves.
Angel Lane gives a delightful reminder that even the smallest of good deeds brings about huge results! And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the amazing recipes included in the back of the book. I definitely plan on trying a few of them, including the Pumpkin Cookies, the Ginger Cookies and the Chocolate Mint Pie! I love reading Sheila Roberts and wonder if she ever plans to revisit Heart Lake? I would love to hear more about these three women who after finishing this book almost feel as if they are friends.
(I borrowed this book from the library.)
Sounds like a great book.