Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Heirlooms By Sandra Byrd

HEIRLOOMS
by Sandra Byrd
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
ISBN: 978-1496426871
 
As a big fan of Sandra Byrd, I was super excited when she invited me to review her new book as an ebook ARC. Of course, I said yes and she sent me her book for review!

Summary:

Answering a woman’s desperate call for help, young Navy widow Helen Devries opens her Whidbey Island home as a refuge to Choi Eunhee. As they bond over common losses and a delicate, potentially devastating secret, their friendship spans the remainder of their lives.

After losing her mother, Cassidy Quinn spent her childhood summers with her gran, Helen, at her farmhouse. Nourished by her grandmother’s love and encouragement, Cassidy discovers a passion that she hopes will bloom into a career. But after Helen passes, Cassidy learns that her home and garden have fallen into serious disrepair. Worse, a looming tax debt threatens her inheritance. Facing the loss of her legacy and in need of allies and ideas, Cassidy reaches out to Nick, her former love, despite the complicated emotions brought by having him back in her life.

Cassidy inherits not only the family home but a task, spoken with her grandmother’s final breaths: ask Grace Kim—Eunhee’s granddaughter—to help sort through the contents of the locked hope chest in the attic. As she and Grace dig into the past, they unearth their grandmothers’ long-held secret and more. Each startling revelation reshapes their understanding of their grandmothers and ultimately inspires the courage to take risks and make changes to own their lives.

Set in both modern-day and midcentury Whidbey Island, Washington, this dual-narrative story of four women—grandmothers and granddaughters—intertwines across generations to explore the secrets we keep, the love we pass down, and the heirlooms we inherit from a well-lived life.

My Review:

If you love stories that bind women together, Heirlooms will be good for your heart. It makes you reflect on the sweet friendship you have and family that's not always blood family.

Helen is a woman of substance and character. I liked her immediately. She's suffered loss, but when it comes time to help another, she's all in. I enjoyed getting to know Eunhee. I felt that the author did an incredible job of portraying the Korean culture that she came from. She gave me a deep sense of passing important family traditions on to the next generation.

I loved how their granddaughters in this split time story are best of friends as well! Cassidy has had a lot of loss in her life as well (and I'll just say here for the record I'm not a fan of her dad and even less so of her stepmom who we thankfully never have to meet). When you talk about life not going as planned, Cassidy has had her lion's share of it. Grace ends up living with her - reminiscent of Helen and Eunhee - and it was sweet to watch them support each other. As a gardener, I appreciated all of the flowers and gardening references throughout the story!

The story also shows us in many ways how important community can be, especially during hard times. The author does an incredible portrayal of characters are differently abled: autism and Down syndrome. It was incredible to see the ripple effect a baby's life had on three generations. The author handled the subject matter with deftness and sensitivity.

I appreciated how Eunhee's life as well as their neighbor Johanna's glorified the Lord without bombarding Helen over the head with their faith. They lived it out for her to see. It certainly made an impact in the best of ways!

Altogether a very satisfying story that will stick in my heart for a long time!

About the Author:

After earning her first rejection at the age of thirteen, bestselling author Sandra Byrd has now published fifty books. Sandra's delighted to kick off her new historical romance series with Tyndale House Publishers, Victorian Ladies, with Lady of a Thousand Treasures. The three-book Victorian Ladies series follows her historically sound Gothic romances, Daughters of Hampshire, launched with the bestselling Mist of Midnight, which earned a coveted Editor's Choice award from the Historical Novel Society. The second book, Bride of a Distant Isle, has been selected by Romantic Times as a Top Pick. The third in the series, A Lady in Disguise, was published in 2017. Check out her contemporary adult fiction debut, Let Them Eat Cake, which was a Christy Award finalist, as was her first historical novel, To Die For: A Novel of Anne BoleynTo Die For was also named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2011, and The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr was named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2012. Sandra has published dozens of books for kids, tweens, and teens, including the bestselling The One Year Be-Tween You and God Devotions for Girls. She continued her work as a devotionalist, with The One Year Home and Garden Devotions, and The One Year Experiencing God's Love Devotional. Please visit www.sandrabyrd.com to learn more or to invite Sandra to your book club via Skype.

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