I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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The Ashwood women don’t have much in common...except their ability to keep secrets.
When Lark Ashwood’s beloved grandmother dies, she and her sisters discover an unfinished quilt. Finishing it could be the reason Lark’s been looking for to stop running from the past, but is she ever going to be brave enough to share her biggest secret with the people she ought to be closest to?
Hannah can’t believe she’s back in Bear Creek, the tiny town she sacrificed everything to escape from. The plan? Help her sisters renovate her grandmother’s house and leave as fast as humanly possible. Until she comes face-to-face with a man from her past. But getting close to him again might mean confessing what really drove her away...
Stay-at-home mom Avery has built a perfect life, but at a cost. She’ll need all her family around her, and all her strength, to decide if the price of perfection is one she can afford to keep paying.
This summer, the Ashwood women must lean on each other like never before, if they are to stitch their family back together, one truth at a time...
Maisey Yates’ books always feel like home to me–like I’m there with friends and family from page one. I always enjoy how the author weaves together several characters’ stories into one cohesive narrative in the end, and Confessions from The Quilting Circle was no exception. In this novel, we get to know a mother, Mary, and her three adult daughters Avery, Hannah, and Lark. There are many secrets that these women hold close, and as this novel progresses, the family’s dynamics and perspectives of each other change as each one is revealed.
Brought back to their hometown by the death of their beloved grandmother, the women must clean out their grandmother’s home and business and then figure out what to do with her estate. Youngest daughter Lark has been a bit of a wanderer for her adult life, being a graphics artist that didn’t have to be tied down to one area. Middle child Hannah has been single mindedly focused on her violin playing career, working towards being the featured artist–not just first chair–for the symphony she’s given years of her life to in another state. And oldest daughter Avery has done everything she can to be the picture-perfect doctor’s wife, PTA and event planning mother that she could be. While Avery chose to stick around their hometown, Lark and Hannah rarely come back to visit–and now they regret it once their grandmother is gone.
Mary’s always tried to be the mother to her daughters that she didn’t get growing up since her mother abandoned her father and her when she was a little girl. But her control and high expectations have distanced each of her daughters from her. The men for each lady, whether they were from the past or have been there through thick and thin, made for some complicated parts of the book to read emotions-wise, but they each added so much to the story.
Ultimately, the three girls had a relationship with their grandmother that their mother never got to have. When cleaning out the attic of their grandmother’s home, they find boxes of fabric and plans for making a quilt that their grandmother had started. Each of the boxes has an old journal in it along with fabric special to that person. Lark wants them all to complete the project that their grandmother never had the chance to finish–even though she was in her nineties when she passed. The four women work together to complete the quilt, and all the past hurts come to life as they’re in the same town and under the same few roofs over the next months.
I give Confessions from The Quilting Circle a 4.5 out of 5. Each woman’s story was traumatic and life changing in its own unique way, and I enjoyed how they all unfolded as being together in their hometown finally allows the secrets to unravel. The small town Oregon setting was picturesque and at times suffocating, and having grown up in a small town I was right there with them. The characters in this book are certainly complex and a bit self-absorbed or a bit brittle to deal with, but once you read on and get to why they are the way they, you completely understand the hardships, turmoil, and tragedies that have shaped them into the women they are today. The multiple points of view along with journal entries from past women in the family going back to the 1800s really moved the plot along and set things on the right path. I really enjoyed reading Confessions from The Quilting Circle, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes books full of family hurt, drama, turmoil, as well as reconciliation and second chances.
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About Maisey Yates
New York Times Bestselling author Maisey Yates lives in rural Oregon with her three children and her husband, whose chiseled jaw and arresting features continue to make her swoon. She feels the epic trek she takes several times a day from her office to her coffee maker is a true example of her pioneer spirit.
Connect with Maisey Yates
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