Book Review- The Goodbye Cafe by Mariah Stewart

Welcome back the The Sugarhouse Theater and the three sisters who have to renovate it back to glory in order to claim their inheritance. This time Allie has to figure out just who she is and where she belongs. A sweet and engrossing story that delivers the perfect ending to the three sisters.

My Rating for The Goodbye Cafe: 4 stars

Available at amazon

For Allie Hudson Monroe, finishing up the renovation of the family theater can’t get here fast enough so she can claim her inheritance and get back to Los Angeles where her life and teenage daughter live.  But she never anticipated that reuniting with her sister, Des and a new found sister, Cara, would impact her nor the ties that bind them together would strengthen as time went on. As the final touches are added to the theater, Allie finds herself in a quandary, does she stay and make a life with family and friends she has made in the hometown of her father or go back to the big city lights where she is just a cog in a wheel? Allie is about to figure out that life has a few more tricks up her sleeves for her as she finally finds the woman she was meant to be in Pennsylvania.

THE GOODBYE CAFÉ is the final story of the Hudson sister’s trilogy and one I loved to pieces. As we have seen in the past two books (The Last Chance Matinee and The Sugarhouse Blues), all three sisters are unique and entertaining. From Cara, the untold half-sister of Allie and Des to the strained relationship Allie in this third book become the woman she was meant to be, to tap into her background in art to save the day and the theater that has become to mean so much to the girls. I love how the author delivers a character rich story that centers on family. With some amazing secondary characters alongside Cara, Des and Allie, the reader is charmed by THE GOODBYE CAFÉ as well as the other two books in the series. I loved all three books, but Allie was my favorite by far character in the series. She was prickly, caustic and determined to leave as fast as she could without forfeiting her inheritance. But we see the growth Allie goes through to book three and I know I had my doubts about her but dang, doesn’t the author deliver a perfect story for Allie. Between a love interest that started in book 1, The Last Chance Matinee, to making new friends who give Allie the strength to keep reaching for the stars. All the characters are well written and kept my attention till the very end of the book.

THE GOODBYE CAFÉ is a perfect read on a spring afternoon, with a chilled glass of iced tea and maybe some of Cara’s granola to munch on. Ms. Stewart delivers a fast-paced storyline that ties up a lot of loose ends as well as giving sneak peeks into Cara, Des and other characters lives as Allie finds just where she belongs. If you haven’t checked this series out, I highly recommend it. It’s a great feel good story that will leave you breathless and with a smile on your face when the last page is read.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement

The Hudson Sisters Trilogy:

Book 1: The Last Chance Matinee

Book 2: The Sugarhouse Blues

Book 3: The Goodbye Cafe

Book Spotlight~ Dune Drive by Mariah Stewart

Spend your summer on Cannonball Island!

Welcome back to the Chesapeake Bay town of St. Dennis and Cannonball Island. I love this series and look forward to the next installment in Dune Drive.

DUNE DRIVE

Book 12 of The Chesapeake Diaries series

On sale July 31, 2018!

Book description

Always believing she was an ugly duckling, Chrissy Jenkins thought she had finally turned into a swan when her real-life Prince Charming swept her off her feet. But as his true character began to crack his perfect facade, Chrissy realized that not only was she better off without him, but that she was the only one who had the power to transform her life.

Returning to her ancestral home on Cannonball Island for a family wedding, Chrissy is reintroduced to a legacy she’d all but forgotten. In choosing to stay on the island, she reboots her life, successfully reinventing herself as a chef at Blossoms, an up-and-coming restaurant in St. Dennis. But despite her newfound self-confidence, she still doesn’t trust her taste in men. So when she meets Jared Chandler, a handsome ship salvager staying at the inn while he conducts a nearby recovery operation, Chrissy’s certain she can keep him as a friend—even though he’s everything any woman would want in a man. As fellow newcomers, together they discover the charm of the historic bayside town and explore the idyllic island.

But when Chrissy agrees to be Jared’s date for his father’s wedding, they embark on a weekend that will find them each seeing the other in a completely different light, one that will change their lives forever.

Mass Market Paperback • Price: $7.99 • ISBN: 9781501154416

eBook • Price: $7.99 • ISBN: 9781501154423

Excerpt

Chrissie stretched one leg as close to the water as she could and with her big toe traced her name onto the surface, the way she had when she was a child. The water was cold, true spring being just around the corner, and the chill ran up her leg, but it made her feel alive. Her brother, Luke, once told her that writing your name on the Chesapeake meant you were part of it, would always be part of it. She wondered where Luke was now, and if writing his name on the bay had brought him back from time to time.

When their parents, Stephen and Dorothy, divorced, Luke went with their father, and one-year-old Chrissie stayed with their mother. As far as Chrissie knew, neither father nor brother had ever looked back. It was as if the earth had opened up and swallowed Stephen and Luke Jenkins body and soul, as far as she was concerned. Chrissie wouldn’t recognize either of them if they stood in front of her. Her father had been from the mainland and had no ties to the island except her mother. Once that bond had been broken and her mother remarried and moved to Pennsylvania, Chrissie figured her father had no reason to return. If her mother had heard from either of them, she’d never told Chrissie, and the few times Chrissie’d asked, her questions were ignored.

The last time Chrissie had asked, her mother had snapped, “That’s the agreement we made, no contact, and I’m sticking by it. So far, he has, too. What difference could it make now? He’s never been part of your life. He never wanted to be. Leave it alone, Chrissie. Don’t ask me again.”

To Chrissie, it was unforgivable on the part of both her parents—her mother for not telling her why her father left, and her father for never coming back. Once she’d started examining her life in earnest a year ago, it hadn’t been difficult for her to figure out that being abandoned by her father had contributed to the fact that her self-esteem had been so low she’d permitted herself to be abused. That her mother would never tell her why had only added to her poor self-image: as a child, she’d assumed he’d left because she was a bad girl. What other reason could there have been? Now, as an adult, she realized there’d had to be something other than that, that while children see everything that happens through their eyes as it relates to them, the constant arguing between her parents had probably been about something else. Try as she might, though, her mother would never tell her what that something had been.

She still thought of her father with a mixture of anger and longing. Had he ever remarried? Was he still alive? And Luke . . . ? She had no idea if he was dead or alive, either.

About the author

Mariah Stewart is the award-winning New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of numerous novels and several novellas and short stories. A native of Hightstown, New Jersey, she lives with her husband and two rambunctious rescue dogs amid the rolling hills of Chester County, Pennsylvania, where she savors country life and tends her gardens while she works on her next novel. Visit her website at MariahStewart.com, like her on Facebook at Facebook.com/AuthorMariahStewart, and follow her on Instagram @Mariah_Stewart_Books.