April 2019

THE SUMMER COTTAGE by Viola Shipman is set in Saugatuck, Michigan, a city that I always have wanted to visit. It’s also where the author has a home, so the feel of the place is very authentic.

In this book, Adie Lou Kruger (I must ask where that name came from) is getting divorced from her professor husband, who took a shine to one of his grad students. As they are splitting up their assets, she realizes that she wants Cozy Cottage, a summer home that needs a lot of love to be restored. While it’s short on the latest design features, it’s big on memories as Adie Lou’s grandparents were big on rules for enjoying life at the cottage, and she intends to keep forging these traditions and transform the house into a B&B.

I loved reading about the home restoration --- and all the crazy moments that she went through before the place was ready to rent. And from there, it was as much fun to see life from the other side of the front desk, as Adie Lou caters to demanding guests --- but also encourages them to adapt her grandparents’ rules.

The story is actually based on the rules that the author’s grandparents (Viola Shipman is a pen name for Wade Rouse) adopted when he spent summers visiting their summer cottage. In this book, each room in the inn has a rule ascribed to it, which has the guests continually seeing a special mantra to relax!

This is the fourth book in the Viola Shipman Heirloom Novels series, and it’s the most contemporary and my favorite of the four. Adie Lou’s character is terrific, and for anyone who has desired to live in a vacation spot, it captures the spirit of that perfectly. Book groups could have fun talking about family traditions, as well as living out dreams. And for meetings, there is a recipe for Blue Moon ice cream, which is unique to that part of the country. This is a great summer read --- the first one to come out!