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For the next two days we will be learning about Emilie Richards’ latest release – Sunset Bridge. I was honored to be given a copy of this book to read and review. It is certainly different from what I’ve been reading recently, but I totally enjoyed my experience with this wonderful story! Today I’ll be posting my review. Make sure you pop back tomorrow as Emilie will be joining us for an interview! Without further ado, here are my thoughts on Sunset Bridge!
Sunset Bridge by Emilie Richards
ISBN: 0778312380
Publisher: Mira
Release: June 21, 2011
Source: I was sent a copy by the author to read and review
Former socialite Tracy Deloche has nothing to her name but five ramshackle beach cottages and the unlikely friendships she’s formed with her tenants. Wanda, wise waitress turned popular pie-shop owner. Janya, the young Indian wife whose arranged marriage surprises her every day. Alice, a widow raising her complex tween-age granddaughter. And Maggie, Wanda’s daughter, a former Miami cop with a love life as complicated as Tracy’s own.
The new man in Tracy’s life hasn’t mentioned love or commitment— and Tracy has just discovered she’s pregnant. Janya longs to be a mother—and suddenly has two young siblings in her care. Maggie helps out at Wanda’s Wonderful Pies…but is the kitchen big enough for both Gray women? And Alice may lose her beloved granddaughter to someone no one expected….
As a tropical storm brews, the wind carries surprises and secrets over the bridge to Happiness Key. Now, more than ever, five friends will discover just how much they need one another.
Sunset Bridge by Emilie Richards is a remarkable book, one to be savored slowly. I haven’t read a book by Ms. Richards in several years and was honored to be asked to review her latest release.
Sunset Bridge is the story of a collection of 5 women. Their point of connection is where they live; they all live at Happiness Key – a collection of beach cottages that Tracy Deloche has inherited and is determined to keep. Tracy is described as a former socialite. Her high roller ex-husband scammed investors and her family members out of their money and although was briefly in jail, is now nowhere to be found. She is trying to start her life over again, and has been casually seeing Marsh, a man with a son and a rather complicated life. Wanda is the mother of Maggie and a former waitress. She is now struggling to make a success of her pie shop – Wanda’s Wonderful Pies. Her daughter Maggie has dramatically quit her job as a police officer for the Miami police department, left her life and husband Felo and is coming home to Happiness Key to help her mother with her pie shop while she puts her life back together. Alice is a grandmother that finds herself raising her granddaughter and facing the challenges that puts on her life and her lifestyle. Jayna is an Indian immigrant in an arranged marriage facing a possible life without the children she desperately wants because her husband is unable to give her those children.
This is a wonderful story of how all these women’s lives intersect at a period of time when they are all going through turmoil in their own lives. The women are beautifully written, creating rich characters with great depth. The men in their lives are present and are significant, but completely secondary to the main story line. The books I often read are about a relationship between a man and a woman. Each one of these women have a relationship with a man, but it’s story is an added bonus to the women’s story itself.
The storyline is tightly bound, creating a meandering paths down which the author leads the reader. Once the reader gets through the first 20 or so pages, the story grabs hold and becomes one that is difficult to put down. The reader becomes engrossed in the women’s lives! I loved reading this book! Find a block of a few hours and a comfy chair and wrap yourself in this wonderful warm sweater of a book called Sunset Bridge! Oh yes, bring kleenex!
Remember to come back tomorrow to find out more about this outstanding author!
Purchase Sunset Bridge (Happiness Key) from Amazon
I haven’t read this author before but this sounds like a nice girlfriend book. Nice review, Barb!
BTW I absolutely love the new look. It looks great.
Thanks Ing!
That’s a perfect description! It’s a girlfriend book 🙂
Thanks for the compliment! I like it as well – still tweeking, but it’s growing on me!
Well you did a good job designing it. I like how it’s looking already!
I have read every book that Emilie Richards has written since her first release in 1985 with the exception of this one, her latest. Your review is excellent. I can’t wait to read this one, too! She is my absolutely favorite author. I think she is just fantastic.
Have never read books by this author, but I must read this one. Great review.
Hi Deanna!
I really enjoyed this book! Not my usual read, but a lovely story none the less!