Book Review: Sweet Tomorrows

This is the final episode in Debbie Macomber's Rose Harbor series. I was grateful to have the time to listen to it before Christmas, since I have left off writing for a spell (and it is certainly too cold to be walking the high school track). Sweet Tomorrows was a fun book to listen to and filled my treadmill time nicely.

Mark Taylor left Cedar Cove almost a year ago to complete a reconnaissance mission for the military. Once again, inn owner Jo Marie Rose finds herself waiting in limbo. At his insistence that she move on, Jo Marie begins dating again. She also takes in a more permanent guest, when she welcomes Emily Gaffney as a temporary boarder (Emily is taking on a teaching position and needs a place to stay while she searches for the right house). Despite two broken engagements, brought on in part by her infertility, Emily is determined to find a house and fill it with foster children. The owner of the house she has her eye on comes across as very gruff (because of his own grief and brokenness) and her hopes seem thin. But once again, as in previous books, the inn works its healing magic and hearts are filled with new hope and love.

Debbie Macomber has the ability to make her characters feel real, like friends you simply haven't met yet. She creates an enticing environment in Cedar Cove and peoples it with conflicting relationships and life problems. But, there is always redemption and healing waiting in the wings. I'd love to take a lesson from her on how to make that work out to such reader satisfaction. I'm sad to see the series end and will miss the characters. Perhaps she will reprise them again in the distant future.