Veena’s review of The Goodbye Café (Hudson Sisters, Book 3) by Mariah Stewart
Contemporary Romance/Women’s Fiction published by Gallery Books 26 Mar 19
Allie, Des and Cara, three sisters who are strangers linked by DNA through their father Fritz, come together to the small town of Hidden Falls to fulfill the terms of their father’s will. To add to their surprises is the discovery of an Aunt Barney, their father’s only sister, who’s kept the Hudson family an important part of the town after their father moved to California to live his dream. As the series progresses, these strangers bond into a family. Des and Cara have also found love and put down roots in this town. Allie is the last holdout. Will she really be able to leave all this behind to return to California?
Ben and Allie sparked each time they came together and not in a good way. Their first encounter, when Allie is driving inebriated after a few drinks for courage, is not off to a good start, considering that Ben is not only the police chief but also a survivor of having lost his wife and son to a drunk driver. Allie is an amazing mother and her relationship with her daughter is a large part of what defines and motivates her, but now she’s fulfilled as an artist and finding her place as a Hudson in this close-knit community. As she grows into this beautiful, amazing woman, the abrasive nature of her relationship with Ben also morphs into something quirky and fun. Her sojourn to the lake with Ben and the bear sighting makes quite the fun anecdote.
The series has been enjoyable, but to me this book is the cherry on top. Certainly the three sisters battle all odds to accomplish the impossible, becoming a family along the way and finding what truly makes them happy and fulfilled. Allie, though, is the most motivational character; a single mother who has raised an amazing daughter, an artist who put away her dreams only to use them now to accomplish the restoration they’re tasked with, fighting the constant lure of the bottle of alcohol she’s stashed, and if she’s not juggling enough balls, Barney gives her one more in the form of the Goodbye Café. In the process, Allie has transformed herself into a lovable human being who is capable of finding romantic love again, as well among other things.
I’m sorry to say goodbye to this series but am buoyed up by the fact that the author has introduced several new characters in this book and also left a strong hook that indicates there will be more with these characters.
Grade: B+
Summary:
California girl Allie Hudson Monroe can’t wait for the day when the renovations on the Sugarhouse Theater are complete so she can finally collect the inheritance from her father and leave Pennsylvania. After all, her life and her fourteen-year-old daughter are in Los Angeles.
But Allie’s divorce left her tottering on the edge of bankruptcy, so to keep up on payments for her house and her daughter’s private school tuition, Allie packed up and flew out east. But fate has a curve-ball or two to toss in Allie’s direction—she just doesn’t know it yet.
She hadn’t anticipated how her life would change after reuniting with her estranged sister, Des, or meeting her previously unknown half-sister, Cara. And she’d certainly never expected to find small-town living charming. But the biggest surprise was that her long-forgotten artistry would save the day when the theater’s renovation fund dried up.
With opening day upon the sisters, Allie’s free to go. But for the first time in her life, she feels like the woman she was always meant to be. Will she return to the West Coast and resume her previous life, or will the love of “this amazing, endearing family of women” (Robyn Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author) be enough to draw her back to the place where the Hudson roots grow so deep?
No excerpt available.
Other books in this series:
