The Cottage on Juniper Ridge
By Sheila Roberts
Publisher: Harlequin
Mira
Release Date:
February 25, 2014
Jen Heath has lost all joy in her life. She is working two
jobs in order to pay her mortgage, her car payment, and her maxed out credit
cards. Looking back, she realizes she was crazy to buy the Seattle condo she
fell in love with but couldn’t really afford and crazier to hit the limit on
her credit cards for all the furniture and accessories she just had to have for
her new home. Now she has no time to enjoy her home or her friends, and even finding
time for her family is a stretch. A year after her divorce, she still can’t find
time to date. Jen used to love Christmas, but now the holiday just means more
tasks added to her must-do list. After a particularly difficult day, Jen goes
home, calls in sick, and curls up with a book that her sister gave her—Simplicity by Muriel Sterling. As a
result of reading the book, in an impulsive move to simplify her life, Jen
quits her job, puts her condo up for sale, and moves to the small town of Icicle
Falls, Washington, where she discovers the joys of life with fewer stresses, including
a part-time job at a bookstore, and new friends who are kindred spirits, and
begins writing a book. Learning to drive on snowy roads presents a challenge,
but if only her landlord, sexy firefighter Garrett Armstrong, would stop jumping
to conclusions about her similarity to his irresponsible ex-wife, life would be
practically perfect.
Jen is only one of the women whose lives are transformed by
reading Simplicity. Stacy Thomas’s
motto when it comes to collectibles or sale items is the more, the merrier.
When she decorates her home for Christmas, it is so cluttered that her guests
can’t find a place to set a cup of coffee, and her husband complains that she
has taken over their shared closets. Single mother, Chita Arness is stretched
so thin with her job, her kids, and her volunteer activities that she has no
time for herself. Even Jen’s sister Toni worries that her husband’s work which,
thanks to the computer, infringes on personal time, her daughter’s constant
texting, and her son’s video games are destroying the loving connection that
once characterized her marriage and family.
Each of these women will discover ways to simplify her life, ways that
will allow her to have a life that is richer and more satisfying than the one
she has known.
Although there are
several romantic elements in The Cottage
on Juniper Ridge, the primary one being Jen and Garrett’s relationship, the
novel is more women’s fiction than romance. The focus is on the women and their
friendships and individual journeys, and the romances are just one part of the
women’s lives. As readers familiar with Sheila Roberts’s books will expect,
there is a rich vein of humor, some of it quite broad and some of it wonderfully
subtle. I found myself smiling a lot during the sisterly exchanges between Jen
and Toni. But there is also wisdom that
most of us would do well to heed in the idea of simplifying complicated,
overextended lives.
I’ve enjoyed all of the Icicle Falls books, but this one is
my favorite. I liked Jen, and even though I could have shaken Garrett a few
times, I liked him too. His stubborn clinging to clearly wrong-headed
conclusions and his basic decency reminded me of men I know. I also liked that
Roberts showcased women at various stages of their lives—from the single Jen to
the older, twice-widowed author of Simplicity.
This is the fourth book in the series, and while it can be read as a
standalone, it is a more satisfying reading experience for those who have read
the other books and are familiar with Icicle Falls.
I know people who are
skeptical about the power of a book to change lives, but I’m a believer because
I can point to several that changed mine. Can you point to particular books
that changed your life in specific ways?
