Red Mill Bookstore Review

The Red Mill Bookstore is the latest in Lin Stepp's Smoky Mountain series. I've enjoyed  other books in this series—Happy Valley, Downsizing, Eight at the Lake, Seeking Ayita, and Shop on the Corner—and I also enjoyed this one. 

Some of the resident cats were interested in the book:

Grover: Look Otis! I heard there's a black and white cat in this book.
Otis: Grover, I don't think it's about you, though.

Grover is right—there is a black and white cat. Plus an orange cat and a calico.

Chloe: Did you hear that, Rufus? There are cats that look like us!
Rufus: I'll take a look after I finish my nap.

 

Like some of Stepp's other Smoky Mountain novels, The Red Mill Bookstore features a main character who is faced with a problem and who either finds her way to a new home or else finds her way back to her home or hometown. 

Ella Quinn is left adrift when her boss and good friend dies, and the Boston bookstore where Ella works must close. Ella had hoped to eventually own the bookstore, but now her dream can't come true. To make matters, Ella's father calls from England with news that her grandmother in Townsend Tennessee broke her arm and needs someone to help her. He's already arranged for Ella's plane ticket and will cover her expenses—but she has to leave Monday and it's already Friday. Ella goes to her condo and starts packing. While her two best friends visit, her boyfriend shows up and is surprised that Ella isn't dressed for the symphony. She tries to explain that she forgot and that she has to leave soon to help her grandmother and she'll be gone about six weeks, but her boyfriend is angry that she's leaving—after he spent $100 each for the tickets that will now go to waste. Ella's friend Cora, still dressed up for work, offers to go with him so the tickets will be used.

When Ella arrives in Tennessee, a childhood friend—Jesse Helton, whom she hasn't seen in fourteen years—is waiting at the airport to drive her to Townsend. While Jesse works in his family's business, Helton Repairs, he also sometimes works for Ella's father, Hershel Quinn, who owns the Red Mill. So, Jesse and Ella will be seeing a lot of each other while she's in town. 

Ella soon reconnects with family and neighbors and is a great help to her grandmother. Ella soon loves the town, the mill and the activities surrounding it, her family, neighbors, and—eventually—a certain young man. But her dream was to own a bookstore, and—eventually—this dream comes true. To find out how, you need to read the book.

One of the things I liked about The Red Mill Bookstore is the map that Stepp includes:

In The Red Mill Bookstore, setting is important. Stepp includes many of the local attractions—for instance, hiking trails and festivals. Townsend is a real town in Tennessee and some of its festivals, such as the Hot Air Balloon Festival mentioned in the book really do happen. 

The Red Mill Bookstore is rich in family and community values, a sense of commitment, and the importance of faith. While the story has several themes, probably the two most important  are that you can go home again and that dreams can come true. 

Rufus: We are a family, too!

Orville: Of course Rufus, We're brothers!

Chloe: Well, I'm not kin to you two, but we do share a bed.

The cats agree with me that The Red Mill Bookstore is a good read. 

Skippy: Nothing like reading a good book before you take a nap!

Rufus: There's nothing like curling up with a good book!

The book debuts on April 1, but you can pre-order from Amazon.

~

Daddy's Girl

The other day, I was privileged to receive an advance copy of Lin Stepp's lastest Smoky Mountain romance, Daddy's Girl. I've posted about some of Linn's books before—Saving Laurel Springs and Welcome Back. Both of those books were about women returning to places where they grew up.

Daddy's Girl, however, is about a woman who never left the small North Carolina town where she was born. Olivia Benton's mother died when she was a child, and her grandmother died a few years after, so Olivia becomes the one who looks after her father, cooks his meals, and looks after the family home. She especially enjoys taking care of her grandmother's lavish garden in back of the house. Later, she buys a florist shop a florist shop and loves running it.

Tanner: "I'll read it after I see what'sgoing on outside."

Meanwhile, her friends in the popular clique to which she'd belonged in high school are going to college, getting married, etc. Even her childhood next-door neighbor and best friend, the nerdy out-cast Weird Warner Zachary—the target of much high school bullying, goes to college in New York and gets married. While Olivia dates off and on, she never gets serious. She is, after all, Daddy's Girl—even though Daddy had started dating the widow of one of his colleagues.

Arlo: "I'll put it at the top of my to-read stack."

Ten years after high school, when Olivia and her three ex-cheerleader besties are having lunch in the same Bryon City drugstore where they've been meeting since high school, a black Mercedes pulls up out front and a well-dressed guy comes in. He's handsome W.T. Zachary, a well-known author famous for his Geeky Gilmore series of books for young people—but he used to be Weird Warner. Olivia has always loved him even though she once rejected him, so awkwardness ensues. He's been widowed a year now, so much of the book deals with W.T.'s and Olivia's off-again/on again relationship.

But it deals with more. A sub-plot involves Olivia's employee Patti and her son who suffers at the hands of bullies. Patti is a relative newcomer in town and seems to have some secrets in her past. But she won't talk about the past. Then there's a vandal who spray-paints messages on buildings in town, but no one has been able to catch him.

Alfreda: "What I liked best is that this book had a cat in it."

I won't give away anymore of the plot, except to say it has some twists and turns, and everything works out in the end. It's a clean, up-beat book that will appeal to women of any age. Since it addresses some of the choices a young woman must make, it would be a great book for a mother to read with her teenage daughter.

One of the things I really like about Lin Stepp's books is the richness of detail in her setting, and the map that she provides. Bryson City is a real town, and she mentions some of the real places. She gives the reader a wonderful glimpse of small town life.

She has created believable characters that are not without flaws, and some of those characters will likey remind you of someone you went to high school with or someone you've met.

Another plus is the study guide she included in the book. Daddy's Girl could provide a book club with much to discuss. The book debuts on April 1, 2017, but you can preorder a copy from Amazon.

For more information about the author or her book, visit her Amazon author page or her website, www.linstepp.com.