phyllish
Written on Mar 11, 2019
My rating is 4.5 stars
Erynn Mangum is one of my go-to authors. I absolutely love her novellas - the first of her books I read is one called Fish and Chips. If you haven't read it, do yourself a favor and read it now!
I try to read all of her books and though I purchased this one shortly after it came out in November, I was unable to squeeze in reading it until now. And, ironically, I realized after I was partway through that I haven't read any of the other books in this series. How did that happen? I was glad that I didn't feel lost not knowing Maya or Jack from the previous stories.
Paisley's love for the animals and her daily trips around the zoo were so fun to read about. The various problems she had to deal with added interesting insight into what it would be like to work at a zoo. I appreciated that the author didn't overly romanticize it and showed the reality of smells and other problems she would have encountered on a regular basis.
Room for Cream had me torn. I was cheering for Presley to get the zoo director's job, yet really wanted it for Jack and for Alex. Each had such a compelling reason to be the best one for the position! I kept making up scenarios where somehow they could all get it but if the author had resolved the story in that way, I would have felt cheated with the easy solution.
My heart was torn for Presley and her feelings of inadequacy. With my parents supporting me so well, it is very hard to imagine what that would be like, yet the author had me experiencing a little of that emotion.
The friendship that sprung up so unexpectedly between Maya and Paisley was so refreshing. I loved Maya and am looking forward to going back and reading all her books to learn more about her. She and Paisley bonded over their grief for life not working out according to their own plans.
In the midst of the yearning, are fun zoo puns, a budding romance, and especially a growing awareness that God just might be more than a disinterested Creator and that He just might have a plan for Paisley's life that is beyond what she imagines.
The ending of Room for Cream was satisfying and yet a cliff-hanger. It certainly left me hungry for more. The next book is slated for release sometime this spring. So I now have the opportunity to go back and start from the first book of the Maya Davis series!
Read my full review with a Preview at Among the Reads