I've just finished this fabulous book from Debbie Macomber. I'm not a love-all-of-Debbie's stuff reader at all, but this was a terrific story. Our heroine Shay is a girl with a past who has just been released from prison and finds herself in a church one  day, just sitting there to get out of the Seattle cold. The pastor, Drew, offers to help her and she ends up in a programme to get her life on track. Drew's wife died a few years earlier and he's raising two kids on his own, but he finds himself drawn to Shay and drawn to her resilience to get her life on track, to get a job and a place of her own, and to take classes to move ahead into a future she could only dream about. What did I like about this story? Pretty much everything, actually.  There were really likeable and relateable characters, a heroine who really has a good heart and is determined to try and make a go of life. A hero who sees beyond her gruff exterior and finds himself attracted to a woma

Posting excerpts cos its an excerpt kind of season. Here's one from All About Sage . The reception was informal, with finger foods and desserts, waiters serving champagne, and a jazz trio playing softly in the background. Sage spent some time talking with Mrs Parker, Jack’s housekeeper, who was running through the details of a murderer who had appealed to a higher court for a retrial. “ So how do you know Robyn?” Mrs Parker asked when she’d finished listing the reasons why he was so clearly guilty and wasting taxpayer money on a joke retrial. “ We’re neighbours. She rented the house next door to me when her marriage broke up. We’ve been neighbours for just a couple of years but it feels like forever. We’ve become—” She held up her fingers knotted together. “Like that.” “ I see.” Mrs Parker nodded sympathetically. Strands of her wild grey hair escaped from her bun. “You lose your friend and you end up getting new neighbours. Good luck with that.” Sage exhaled.

Love this.