Reviewer: Amy Lignor
Title: Spinning Forward
Author: Terri DuLong
Publisher: Kensington
ISBN-13: 978-0-7582-3204-5
Release Date: November 2009
Genre/Sub-genre: Fiction
Year/Setting: Present Day, Florida
Overall Rating: 3.5
Sexual Content Rating: Subtle
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: None
Violent Content Rating: None
Terri's Website: www.TerriDuLong.com
Dear Readers,
Debut novels are sometimes extremely difficult to review. These are brand new writers who you want to support as much as possible. Especially when you know how it feels to crash and burn before you’ve ever gotten the chance to fly. I am quite pleased that I have no problem reconciling myself with how "brutally honest" I have to be on this one. I truly found this story, for lack of a better word, cozy.
Sydney Webster is our main character. She is a New Englander whose husband has recently passed away. Although Sydney loved her husband, he left her with a great deal of debt that Sydney had no idea he’d accumulated. When the sheriff comes knocking on her door and kicks her out of the home she thought was hers, she finds herself needing to escape. Sydney is in her early fifties and has what all of us have, that moment of, "Can I start again? Or, am I just too dang old to even try?" The upside for Sydney is that her best friend Allison has a wonderful B&B on an island called Cedar Key in Florida. And Allison wants nothing more than to see her friend mend, and begin a bright, new future. So…Sydney flees to the tiny island.
After the tears of pain and anger have subsided, she gets a job at the local Café. Her knees and feet are aching badly, and she knows that she needs something else to make ends meet. What she does know is yarn. She knows the intricacies of making something beautiful, and decides – with a lump in her throat and fear in her belly – to rent out a lovely little shop and make a go of Spinning Forward – the knitting store of her adult dreams.
The best part of this novel, to me, was the small town community of Cedar Key. I am from a VERY small town in Connecticut, so I was right at home. Everyone knows everything you’ve ever done, said, or…anyone you’ve ever dated. There are no secrets in a small town, at least not for long. Sydney "runs" into a man by the name of Noah Hale. The man is simply, drop-dead gorgeous. Unfortunately, he’s also one of those infuriating men who seem to have a smirk for just about everything, and poor Sydney can’t seem to stand up straight and not knock things over when he sends that handsome smile in her direction. Add in an incredible – billion-to-one chance meeting with her long lost mother, who she’s never known because she was adopted as an infant, and things really start going crazy in Sydney’s world. This is a charming story with humorous, down-home characters that reminded me so much of the world I left behind so long ago. Read this. Smell the home-baked cheesecake; hear the laughter of the neighbors who want to share and be a part of your life; and watch the sun rise high and bright over someone’s second chance at life. You’ll be glad you did. I think Ms. DuLong has a very good, long future ahead of her in the literary world.
Until next time, Amy
Question or comment regarding the review or the book? Click here and let Amy know.
Top
Reviews
Featured Reviews
Archived Reviews