REVIEW: Starting Over on Blackberry Lane by Sheila Roberts

In Starting Over on Blackberry Lane (Life in Icicle Falls #10) by Sheila Roberts, Running the Gingerbread Haus in Icicle Falls keeps baker Cass Wilkes busy. Which is a good thing, considering she’s feeling the effects of her empty-nest syndrome in a big way lately. Then her roof caves in at home, leaving her scrambling for a way to fix it. Fast. It just so happens that newcomer Grant Masters is starting a new handyman business in town and is auctioning off his services for a day, and all for a good cause. Cass can think of a few other things the widower with the movie star good looks could fix for her aside from her roof…

‘As if a hot man like Grant Masters would ever be interested in a chunky baker. She needed to get a grip on reality and quit thinking about getting a grip on Grant Masters.’

Knowing that her good friend Stefanie Stahl is about to have a nervous breakdown over her husband’s penchant for starting a project in their house and never finishing it, Cass asks Stef to join forces and pool their money to win the silent auction for Grant’s services. And they add to that list the help of their other friend and neighbor on Blackberry Lane, Griffin James, who has recently broken off her engagement with her longtime boyfriend and is thinking of sprucing up her house to put it on the market and move to New York City. What the ladies don’t realize, though, is that Grant Masters is in hot demand–for his handyman skills and for his charm and handsomeness. And winning the bid to get his assistance is just the beginning of the changes they will soon face: Cass with her lack of a love life, Stef with her frustrating husband and their communication issues, and Griffin at a crossroads in her personal life and her career.

‘She’d probably earn a lot more money in New York. But New York was big and expensive. And the idea of moving there was a little scary. Still, if she didn’t at least go check it out, would she look back in ten years and regret it?’

Perfectly titled, Starting Over on Blackberry Lane really did explore how three neighbors, women who were at different stages in their lives, navigated the changes they suddenly faced. Anger, joy, grief, and newfound love were just some of the emotions Sheila Roberts expertly wove into this tale of friendship and community.

‘She’d spend a lot of time complaining what a mess her house was, but apparently the house wasn’t the only thing on Blackberry Lane that needed renovation. She had a wall of her own that needed to get torn down, a thick wall of pride that she kept building higher and higher.’

I know I can always turn to the Life in Icicle Falls series for a dependably fun, heartwarming time. And I love how Sheila Roberts handles the realistic situations she puts her characters in and the reactions they have in response to their dilemmas. She doesn’t paint everything in a too overly happy way, allowing some tragedy and darker moments to touch the character’s lives. But I think Roberts has a wonderful way of putting a positive spin on things and never lets the tone of her books get too heavy, adding in some lighthearted humor and quick quips to buoy the character’s (and the reader’s) moods. I really think she excels at finding that balance which for me means that I can sail through each story and know I will enjoy myself.

Our three main female characters: Cass, Stef, and Griffin were a great bunch to get to know. They were all friends even though they were different in age and place in life. So it was fun to see twenty-something Griffin getting advice from thirty-something Stef and forty-something Cass. (Who in my head for some reason I kept thinking of as Mama Cass. LOL!) By the end of the book all three women had to face their own personal battles but ultimately ended up supporting each other in some way as things went off the rails. It truly was such a fantastic thing to watch how they benefited from each other and the friendship they’d formed.

The theme of the book revolved around not just the friendship of these women but also how they were all facing some type of improvement or renovation in their homes and their personal lives. Griffin made the major change of breaking it off with her fiance and wanted to fix up her house to potentially sell it and move to NYC to push her food photography career forward. Stef loved her husband dearly but was sick of him starting a home renovation project and forgetting about it, leaving her with a torn up house. And empty-nester Cass was in dire need of a new roof but was also dealing with the loneliness of no kids at home and having been divorced for a while. Griffin and Cass were the two I connected with the most and I loved their comical inner monologues. I did like Stef a lot as well but I had a harder time with her decisions, finding them to be a bit more selfish and hurtful toward her husband. Although of course things worked out in the end in a positive, and in some cases, a surprising way for all of them.

Starting Over on Blackberry Lane was a thoroughly entertaining way to spend a few hours. Easily read as a standalone or as part of the series, I think this is one book that will have readers laughing, crying, and cheering on each character right from the start.

Book Info:

Publication: Published February 28th 2017 | MIRA | Life in Icicle Falls #10

Time for a Change—or Three!

Stefanie Stahl has a husband with renovation ADD. He can’t seem to finish anything he starts and her house is littered with his “projects.” If he doesn’t smarten up, she swears she’s going to murder him and bury him under the pile of scrounged lumber in the backyard.

Her friend Griffin James is suddenly single and thinking maybe she needs to sell her fixer-upper and follow her career bliss up the ladder of success, even if that scary ladder is clear across the country. Getting her place ready to sell proves harder than she originally thought. She needs help.

She’s not the only one. Cass Wilkes, their neighbor, has an empty nest—with a leaking roof. When her ceiling crashes in, she knows it’s time to do something. When Grant Masters offers his handyman services at a fund-raiser auction, the three women go in together to outbid the competition and win their man. (Cass’s friends think she should win Grant in a different way, too!) Now it’s time to make some improvements…in their houses and their lives.