FAMILY TREE by Susan Wiggs

William Morrow

August 9^th, 2016
978-0-06-242543-0
Contemporary Romance, Women’s Fiction
Paperback ARC
Reviewed by Dawn (love2read28@gmail.com)
Obtained by Publisher
3.5 Hearts

 

Annie Rush loves her handsome husband, is producing one of the hottest cooking shows on TV and now she has found out she is pregnant with their first child. Life is good for Annie until it all comes crashing down around her in one fell swoop. After waking up from a year long coma, Annie finds out her life now is infinitely different then before. Now she is back home in Switchback, Vermont, in the family home, where they have a generations old maple farm. Now Annie has to relearn who she is again as her memories come back in fits and waves, as her past emerges to help her with her present and maybe gives her a future that will be exactly what she wants this time around. Can a life that was changed in a blink of an eye turn out to be one that will give way to a future that is dawning around her?

 

FAMILY TREE is a wonderful tale of a woman betrayed, lost and broken who finds the strength to move ahead even as she doesn’t know what is normal anymore. Susan Wiggs is a wonderful storyteller who delivers a complex yet highly emotional story that will steal her readers’ hearts from the first page to the last. With each page I turned in FAMILY TREE, the reader gets to meet Annie as a young adult and the Annie that emerges from a cocoon of sorts after a devastating accident alters her life in a way she never imagines. Ms. Wiggs delves deep into Annie and her family as she gives the reader glimpses of our heroine’s past that will lead her onto a path that life is determined her to forge. With the deft strokes of a master storyteller, Ms. Wiggs delivers a story that is at times heartfelt, delightful and full of emotion that will warm you on a cold winter’s night.

 

FAMILT TREE introduces the reader to the Rush family, their friends and the small town of Switchback, Vermont. I loved the small town atmosphere and how the author was able to incorporate the maple farm in the story. There were a lot of wonderful scenes set at the Maple farm and gives the reader a glimpse into how its run plus some yummy scenes where I was hoping the author would include recipes for the reader to enjoy. The characters are well written, delightful and quite entertaining. I loved how diverse they are and add in an ex-husband who is quite a dog, well let’s just say I was rooting for Annie to give him hell in the end. The secondary characters are equally entertaining and I loved seeing glimpses of some of them as youngsters. It made them a bit more real to me and life-like.

FAMILY TREE is at times emotional, uplifting and quite a delight to read. I finished it in one sitting and fell in love with the story, the characters and this writer. Ms. Wiggs delves deep in a character that will equally charm and entertain you throughout the book. Even the back and forth between the past and present didn’t annoy me like it normally would have. It gave the characters more depth, in my opinion, to see how they reached where they were in the present life. If you enjoy a story full of mesmerizing characters, a writer who knows how to tell a story and steal the readers’ heart, then you will not be disappointed by FAMILY TREE. I am eager to see where this author goes next and hope I won’t have to wait too long for the next book.

 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement