With a delicious cover that sparked up my whimsical, creative side, this debut was entertaining, light, and a quick read. The small-town drama was fun, and I especially loved the quirkiness that was present throughout the novel. The premise was good, and I liked the surprises that cropped up along the way to flesh out the story.The hippo was one of my favorite parts of this story. I still don’t understand how it works exactly, but I’m hopeful that this will be a thread strung throughout the entire series. Maybe eventually the secrets will be revealed, but I’m not even sure if I want them to be. It’s a fascinating aspect to the story, and I can see how it could play a huge role in each of the Restoring Heritage novels.
The search for belonging someplace was poignant and well written. This is such a relatable topic to a wide variety of people (the entire human race, perhaps?), and Mrs. Faris showed great skill for pulling out different nuances of this topic with each of her POV characters. It was beautiful to watch those threads unfold and see those characters dig deeper and deeper into their issues the further along the story went. That journey they each took was what kept me charmed beyond the initial discovery of how cute and fun this story was going to be. When all those storylines around that theme came together toward the end (and I won’t reveal how, because it’s too sweet to spoil), my heart felt the crescendo and tears washed my face. It was such an emotional finale for me, which I absolutely love in a novel. I’m hoping for more of this type of thing from this author as she grows in her writing journey with each new book.
