Definitely one of the better books I have recently read. The story kept me wanting to skip work and just read – oh wait that’s kind of what I do for a living – but you get the idea.

Marva has had a rough life, some of which even she is not sure she remembers. She knows what’s it like to lose people, unfortunately, as it has happened multiple times in her life. Because of these losses, she has learned to function without becoming attached or relying on others. However, after a move to Jackson Pond and moving in with her spinster Aunt Violet, the blinders start to fall away and Marva blossoms. I’d almost say this is a coming of age story – it’s just that the character’s age is mid-fifties – but better late than never.

While this is the fourth book in the Jackson Pond series, each book concentrates on a specific character and at no time did I feel like I was missing part of the story by not having read the other books. However the author’s style and the characters in this book make me very likely to go and discover who else lives in Jackson Pond.

Marva, at her core, is a strong and intelligent woman, but everyone can use a good talking to once in a while, even if you do it to yourself during a walk.

This story does have a bit of skipping around in the timeline of Marva’s life, but the transitions are expertly handled, and I never lost track of where I was in the story. This is a book where I became attached to Marva and would love to live next door to her in Jackson Pond.