Title: Flowers on Main (2/14 Chesapeake Shores series)
Author: Sherryl Woods
Published: Kindle Edition was published October 26th 2020 (first published April 28th 2009)
Final grade: 4/5
For those of you who missed the review for Book One, this is part of a series that was the inspiration for the Hallmark Channel Series Chesapeake Shores which is on season 5. Elements of this book appear in the series, but unlike Abby’s book, Bree’s book has really little to do with the television series
NOTE: This book, and therefore this review, mention miscarriage. If this is something that makes you uncomfortable, please do not click on the read more.
Bree O’Brien is the middle child of five, and more introspective and introverted. She loves writing and flowers. She comes home for the opening of her sister’s Inn and decides to stay around as she has become disillusioned about her life in Chicago. Her boyfriend and former mentor has increased her insecurities enough that she feels she doesn’t have what it takes to be a writer, even though her plays have won critical approval.
Like Abby, she runs into her first love, Jake Collins, who now runs the local nursery and flower supply company. When she decides to open a florist shop in Chesapeake to run on her other love then writing, it forces the two of them together more often. Unlike Abby however, there is a lot of bad blood between her and Jake.
Woods tackles another topic not often seen in modern romance novels. Bree had a miscarriage when she was younger and it deeply effected both her and Jake. Jake was able to grieve when it happened, but Bree ended up diving full force into her career, postponing dealing with her emotions regarding the situation till much later. This also goes for the emotions she hasn’t faced about her mother leaving when Mick and Megan got divorced 16 years before.
One of the ongoing themes in this series is dealing with long term emotional pain. Megan spends several of the books trying to reach out to her children. Many of the children feel abandoned and left behind by their mother, and Bree is no exception.
Bree is forced to deal with the past emotional upheavals of her mother leaving when she was a teenager, as well as her miscarriage and the break up of her engagement with Jake. There is also realizing that Marty, her ex, had treated her poorly and was trying to keep her below him and adoring rather then on the same level.
This novel also does a good job of expanding the Chesapeake Shores universe. We meet more characters, get other point of views, and more details on the ongoing B plot line of Mick and Megan’s attempts to mend fences. Its also an improvement on book one in that the main male character, Jake, is easier to like up front.
I give this a 4/5
Sokorra Lewis 