if you do, another, ah, girl thing but I’ll admit: acquagrill did make terribly good chocalate martinis.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published. yup, better, i’m thinking a new camera or software… (even though in truth I’m not a lavender brread fan, though I’ve eaten more than once as, well, it does tend to be . New York Times bestselling novelist Sarah Addison Allen was born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Sarah grew up with a love of books and an appreciation of good food (she credits her journalist father for the former and her mother, a fabulous cook, for the latter). For nearly a decade, 34-year-old Claire Waverley, at peace with her family inheritance, has lived in the house alone, embracing the spirit of the grandmother who raised her, ruing her mother's unfortunate destiny and seemingly unconcerned about the fate of her rebellious sister, Sydney, who freed herself long ago from their small town's constraints. Garden Spells is a truly cozy, healing read that makes its readers wistful for hot, southern nights spent on the porch, watching the fireflies.There is no happily ever after on that front, but there is a small shift in one of the characters, Emma, which feels consistent with Emma’s history with Sydney.

Sitting at his father's old desk, he had invoices in front of him, but judging by the way he jumped when Claire opened the door, his mind had been on other things. It's refreshing to find a Southern novel that doesn't depend on folksy humor or stereotypes but instead on the imaginative use of magical realism.Welcome to Bascom, North Carolina, where it seems that everyone has a story to tell about the Waverley women. Tyler has a romantic interest in Claire, but she's dismissive of him because she's afraid he'll leave her like almost everyone else has. Instead, he gets more attracted to her, even though an old girlfriend comes to stay with him for several days.

There were several things that I strongly disliked about the novel and those seriously hindered my enjoyment of the novel.Evanelle Franklin was seventy-nine years old, looked like she was one hundred and twenty, yet still managed to walk a mile around the track at Orion five days a week. Garden Spells has a harvest of rich characters, a plot that will have you checking what you eat, and a heart that is overflowing with the tangled joys and sorrows of love and life.

I just didn’t expect scenes to include domestic violence, abuse, and intense emotional manipulation.

As the sisters reconnect and learn to support one another, each finds romance where she least expects it, while Sydney’s child, Bay, discovers both the safe home she has longed for and her own surprising gifts. The dinner Claire was catering that night was being hosted by Anna Chapel, the head of the art department at Orion College, who gave a dinner party at the end of every spring semester for her department.