First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen

First Frost

by Sarah Addison Allen

Autumn has finally arrived in the small town of Bascom, North Carolina, heralded by a strange old man appearing with a beaten-up suitcase. He has stories to tell, stories that could change the lives of the Waverley women forever. But the Waverleys have enough trouble on their hands. Quiet Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverley's Candies, but it's nothing like she thought it would be, and it's slowly taking over her life. Claire's wild sister Sydney, still trying to leave her past behind, is about to combust with her desire for another new beginning. And Sydney's fifteen-year-old daughter Bay has given her heart away to the wrong boy and can't get it back.

From the author of the New York Times bestselling sensation GARDEN SPELLS, FIRST FROST is magical and atmospheric, taking readers back into the lives of the gifted Waverley women - back to their strange garden and temperamental apple tree, back to their house with a personality of its own, back to the men who love them fiercely - proving that a happily-ever-after is never the real ending to a story. It's where the real story begins.

Reviewed by ladygrey on

3 of 5 stars

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This book is absolutely delectable. I adore the way Sarah Addison Allen takes her characters, their struggles and fears and hopes and insecurities and love, and manifests them so tangibly as magic in her world.

And while I pretty much always love a Sarah Addison Allen novel, it was unexpectedly wonderful to go back to the Waverleys. Bay as a teenager was interesting and Claire and Sydney in the depths of their marriages were different than [b:Garden Spells|1158967|Garden Spells (Waverley Family, #1)|Sarah Addison Allen|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347309330s/1158967.jpg|2689445] and interesting. It was fantastic to go back to Bascomb and spend more time with these characters and get to know new ones. You don't need to have read Garden Spells, Allen very elegantly provides the information you need without blunt exposition. But of course having read it will provide some depth and nuance to this story.

I also love the first frost and the pressure it put on these characters and the different ways they dealt with it. While in some ways I was glad to read the end, in other ways I wanted more - more depth and more pages and more story. Not because it's lacking but because I enjoy it so much I'll take as much as she'll give me and always still want more.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 5 April, 2015: Finished reading
  • 5 April, 2015: Reviewed