Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I’m fairly sure I spotted Karen Hawkins’ The Book Charmer on the Overdrive app while I was looking for something else; the title led me to read the description, and I promptly checked it out. How could I possibly pass up a book where the books talk to the small town librarian, telling her who needs to read them?

As for how I liked it, well–I gifted it to two different family members for Christmas. That pretty much says it, right? Hawkins’ Dove Pond is reminiscent of the setting of a Sarah Addison Allen novel, and I loved that the focus was as much or more on the non-romantic relationships as the romance. (Don’t get me wrong, I love a good romance, but books in any genre are stronger for being properly focused. Not every book with a romantic element ought to read like a romance.) The Book Charmer delivers a rosy view of small town life while portraying difficult life situations with gentle honesty, and having grown up in a small town myself–not to mention having a parent with dementia, which is one of the difficult situations portrayed–I fell completely under its spell. If you’re looking for a gentle yet substantive piece of southern women’s fiction, look no further; if you want a feel-good read that acknowledges the hard while celebrating the good, this is a book for you. It might be a bit far on the women-centric scale to have been a favorite of Dieter’s, but dang, I loved listening to it.