Product Description

New from the national bestselling author of The Saddlemaker's Wife and the Agatha Award-winning Benni Harper mystery series.

After being widowed, Love Mercy Johnson has come to terms with her life in Morro Bay, California. She spends her time writing columns for a regional magazine, helping her in-laws work their ranch, and trying to move on. But her dreams of reconciliation with her long-estranged grandchildren come true when her eighteen-year- old brokenhearted granddaughter, Rett, unexpectedly shows up. Together they struggle to co-exist while confronting old resentments and painful memories. When a family crisis forges an unexpected connection between the two grieving women, they must discover if by working together, they can change their lives, and the lives of those they love, for the better.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #247073 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780425225974
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The mysteries of the human heart fill Fowler's first of a sweet new series about Love Mercy Johnson of Morro Bay, Calif. This delightful departure from her Benni Harper mysteries (Tumbling Blocks, etc.) features cameos of Benni and husband Gabe, but Love, photojournalist and co-owner of the Buttercream Cafe, takes center stage with former Las Vega cop Melina "Mel" Le Blanc and Love's 18-year-old granddaughter, Loretta Lynn "Rett" Johnson. Rett suddenly arrives in San Celina County with a banjo stolen from her two-timing ex-boyfriend, Dale Bailey. Thirteen months have passed since Love lost her husband, Cy, and 14 years since Tommy, Rett's father, died. As Christmas approaches, Love must deal with Dale's hot pursuit of said banjo, her father-in-law's struggle with Alzheimer's and Mel's brush with a menace from her Vegas past. Fowler delivers some wise lessons on life (e.g., "Looks fade... a good heart doesn't") in a heartfelt tale sure to please her fans.
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Review
"The mysteries of the human heart fill Fowler's first of a sweet new series about Love Mercy Johnson of Morro Bay, Calif. Fowler delivers some wise lessons on life in a heartfelt tale sure to please her fans."
-PW, Starred Review

About the Author
Earlene Fowler was raised in La Puente, California, by a Southern mother and a Western father.

Customer Reviews

A Visit to Morro Bay
To start, I will make an unabashed admittance that I am a big fan of Earlene Fowler's Benni Harper mystery series. I'm such a fan that's it is hard to be objective about Fowler's books. However, after a long wait, I was disappointed that Fowler's new release was not going to be about Benni and company. I was a little reluctant to read this new book, afraid I would perhaps like the characters, as I did in Fowler's stand-alone, The Saddlemaker's Wife, but not come to love them. I was wrong.

Love Mercy, the titular character, is one of three main characters who live in Morro Bay, California. The story switches points of view between Love, her granddaughter Rett, and Mel, a close family friend. All three perspectives are interesting with each woman holding her own in their stories that weave together into the whole. This is not a murder mystery although there are some suspense and law enforcement elements to the novel. Overall, it's a story about women surviving, living happily, despite loss and suffering while surrounding themselves with a network of friends and family. It provides hope without being preachy or overly sentimental, a nice balance. This novel stands well on its own and should appeal to a broader audience, not just one that likes Fowler's mysteries. For example, I think my mother-in-law would enjoy this one while I'm not sure she would love the Benni series as much as I do.

Fowler tells a good story and writes relationships and emotions very well, without descending into the trite or melodramatic. She can write about death and grief, capturing all the emotions that accompany trying times, without being depressing. She writes about happier times as well, often pulling back and avoiding overly sentimental or sappy moments. Her deft hand in portraying Benni and Gabe's relationship has made me a fan, but this new novel shows that she can excel with other characters and plots just as well.

Another bonus for Fowler's fans is that Benni and company make appearances in this novel in smooth, understandable ways and without feeling like cameos written just to appease us. They are part of the supporting cast of characters, introduced in such a way that first time readers who don't know the characters may never know that they appear in an entire series of books. More interesting is that while the Benni Harper Ortiz series is set in the 1990s, Love Mercy is set in 2008, so we are learning about these characters' lives roughly fifteen years later. No spoilers, but Hud figures strongly in this novel for those who are particular fans of his.

So while I may miss Benni and Gabe's stories and hope for a new one in the near future, I am more than satisfied with this novel and hope we will see these characters again, even if it means more than a year's wait between Benni's stories.

Another Grand Slam
Love Mercy presents another stellar cast of characters with an intriguing plot. Three women in different seasons of life, ensnared in such different circumstances, join forces and face their problems head on. Thanks go out to the author for including our familiar family. It's an extra thread which Benni Harper fans will love. Love Mercy Johnson: we'll want to see more of her!

profound character study
In Morro Bay, California, Love Mercy Johnson has taken in stride recently becoming a widow as she is generally contented with her life though she still "talks" with her Cy and misses his foghorn laugh. She enjoys writing a column and taking photos for a magazine, working on her in-laws' cattle ranch and co-owning the Buttercream Café except for balancing the books. Her only regret is her rift with her grandchildren; she wishes she could patch things up with them, but they have long memories.

Out of the blue, her eighteen years old granddaughter, Loretta Lynn "Rett" arrives in Morro Bay after hitching across the country to escape from a relationship that turned ugly. Whereas Rett dreams of making it as a song writer or as a truck driver, Mercy wants her granddaughter in her life. Still they struggle to make amends, but the divide remains wide until a crisis forces grandma and grandchild to decide to unite or remain apart.

This is a profound character study of two women divided by a family feud that keeps each from reaching out to the other; something both emotionally need and want. Readers will admire Mercy, whose asides to Cy enable readers to understand her. Rett brings the youthful enthusiasm that anything is possible. Rotating perspective with Benni Harper playing a minor role, Earlene Fowler proves Rett's theory of life and relationships as she and her grandma hold the engaging plot together.

Harriet Klausner