REVIEW: The Hope Chest by Carolyn Brown

The Hope Chest by Carolyn Brown is a story of love, forgiveness and finding oneself. Carolyn Brown always tells a story that warms the heart!

Following Nanny Lucy O’Reilly’s death and a court battle over the contested will, the O’Reilly cousins, April, Nessa and Flynn arrive in Blossom, Texas to receive their inheritance from their grandmother. According to the will the cousins inherited their grandmother’s house. One condition mentioned in the will stated that all three had to finish the quilt their Nanny had started and have it approved by the local quilting group before they could open up Nanny Lucy’s hope chest. Also the hope chest would go to the first cousin to get married. All three were willing to move into their grandmother’s house and abide by the will’s stipulations.

Turns out the three thirty-two-year-old cousins needed the time in Blossom to get their lives together. Nessa is the daughter of Lucy’s son Issac who is a preacher but Nessa sees him as less a man of god and more an overbearing parent. He tried to get her to marry a man of his choice just after Nessa graduated from high school. Nessa put her foot down on that idea and remained a rebel in the eyes of her parents. When Flynn was fifteen his mother, who was divorced from his father, was killed in an auto accident on her way to pick up Flynn in Blossom. Lucy sent Flynn to live with her son Matthew even though Flynn didn’t want to go. Flynn knew his father really didn’t want him. April’s mother Rachel died four days after April’s birth and was raised by her grandmother. The three cousins got to spend a couple weeks together at their grandmother’s house each summer and here they are back again.

The Hope Chest is a testament to the power of love and healing. The three cousins all came from different backgrounds and had differing perceptions of their grandmother. Their childhoods had greatly affected how they lived their lives up until the point of returning to Blossom and living together and working on the quilt together. The quilt ends up being a memory quilt. Spending time together working on the quilt and talking things over brought them close to each other. The things they learned about their grandmother, especially her having to deal with her bipolar disorder, brought them forgiveness for and acknowledged their love for their grandmother. I love this author’s writing style. As I read I get so invested in the lives of the characters I can’t put the book down. When I finish one of Carolyn Brown’s stories I always feel like I’ve walked a mile in her characters’ shoes and appreciate the love they discover.

QOTD: Is it possible to turn our lives around?

Book Info:

Publication: June 22nd 2021 | Montlake | N/A

A grandmother’s loving bequest changes three lives forever in a heartwarming novel about finding love, hope, and family by New York Times bestselling author Carolyn Brown.

An inheritance has reunited three estranged cousins. Their grandmother Lucy left Nessa, Flynn, and April her home nestled in the woods near Blossom, Texas, as well as a hope chest to be unlocked after they complete a special task. Together, they must hand-stitch a cherished quilt Lucy left unfinished. It meant everything to her. And now, to three people struggling with their own patchwork pasts…

To Nessa, the house has always been an escape from her strict parents—a home away from home. Flynn has followed a profligate path into adulthood, never guessing it would lead him here. And the town of Blossom only stirs up a lifetime of disappointments for April. Lost and with nowhere to go, her last chance is helping fulfill Nanny Lucy’s final wish.

Thread by healing thread, Nessa, Flynn, and April bond over the quilt and all it represents. As they discover the family they’ve been looking for in one another, they share more than memories. They share the hope of new beginnings.