Valerie S. (VolunteerVal) - reviewed on 6/28/2017 + 652 more book reviews

The Summer Kitchen is book 2 in the Blue Sky Hill series but can be read on its own. The setting is an older economically depressed neighborhood in Dallas and the primary characters are well developed. SandraKaye and Cass are in mourning, scared of the future, and searching for meaning, although their lives are completely different. SandraKaye is married, has a family, and an enviable lifestyle and home, but her life is falling apart around her. Her physician husband is suddenly working many hours at the hospital and is seldom home; her son Jake has run off to Guatamela, her beloved uncle recently died due to a random act of violence, and her teenage son Christopher is struggling with all of the family changes. Cass is only 12 but presents herself to the world as a 17-year-old so she and her teenage brother Rusty won't raise the suspicions of well-intended strangers to call Child Protective Services since they're on their own following the death of their mother. This book is Christian fiction so references to church, prayer, faith, and God are part of the plot, but in a very natural non-preachy way. This novel does not shy away from tough subjects such as childhood hunger, domestic violence, drug abuse, etc. There's no romance in this book, which is a plus for some and a minus for others.

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