Review: Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen

Suley, Georgia, is home to Lost Lake Cottages and not much else. Which is why it's the perfect place for newly-widowed Kate and her eccentric eight-year-old daughter Devin to heal. Kate spent one memorable childhood summer at Lost Lake, had her first almost-kiss at Lost Lake, and met a boy named Wes at Lost Lake. It was a place for dreaming. But Kate doesn't believe in dreams anymore, and her Aunt Eby, Lost Lake's owner, wants to sell the place and move on. Lost Lake's magic is gone. As Kate discovers that time has a way of standing still at Lost Lake can she bring the cottages—and her heart—back to life? Because sometimes the things you love have a funny way of turning up again. And sometimes you never even know they were lost . . . until they are found

Hardcover, 296 pages

Published January 21st 2014 by St. Martin’s Press (first published January 2014)    

Terri's Thoughts:    

I received this book as part of a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.

I will keep this review short.  This book is what I term a "sleeper" story in the fact that not a lot really occurs throughout the novel yet a story unfolds nonetheless.  This was a story full of quirky people, a sense of community mixed in with a little bit of the unexplained.  Before I go any further I will note that the touch of the unexplained is very small in this story and this is by no means a paranormal story.  There was just a small sprinkling of what I will term imagination to give the story a little bit of an angle.

All of the characters were likably flawed and overcoming some kind of personal situation whether it be a recent death or the events of their past.  Each endeared themselves to me in a different way. Some of the love stories were timeless.  I must admit that I preferred the parts of the story that focused on the past more than the present day storyline.

At the end of the day the theme was love and moving forward. While this was not an exciting read it was at the end of the day a pleasant one

About the Author 

New York Times Bestselling novelist Sarah Addison Allen brings the full flavor of her southern upbringing to bear on her fiction -- a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town sensibility.

Born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Allen grew up with a love of books and an appreciation of good food (she credits her journalist father for the former and her mother, a fabulous cook, for the latter). In college, she majored in literature -- because, as she puts it, "I thought it was amazing that I could get a diploma just for reading fiction. It was like being able to major in eating chocolate."

After graduation, Allen began writing seriously. Her big break occurred in 2007 with the publication of her first mainstream novel, Garden Spells, a modern-day fairy tale about an enchanted apple tree and the family of North Carolina women who tend it. Booklist called Allen's accomplished debut "spellbindingly charming." The novel became a Barnes & Noble Recommends selection, and then a New York Times Bestseller.

Allen continues to serve heaping helpings of the fantastic and the familiar in fiction she describes as "Southern-fried magic realism." Clearly, it's a recipe readers are happy to eat up as fast as she can dish it out.

Her published books to date are: Garden Spells (2007), The Sugar Queen (2008), The Girl Who Chased the Moon (2010), The Peach Keeper (2011) and the upcoming Lost Lake, to be published January 21, 2014.
Website:  http://www.sarahaddisonallen.com/