My Never Ending List

She’d been slumbering for a year; the world around her had been carrying on without her. Her mother-in-law Cricket tried to transform Kate’s daughter Devin, as she saw fit and Kate’s husband was now buried deep into the earth’s surface. Devin tried to wake her mother from her slumber as they gathered the rest of their belongings. They were now moving in with Cricket. The trunk in the attic with its hidden treasures was still holding Devin’s attention. Hidden between the old, enchanted clothing the two discovered a hidden postcard. Devin immediately sets her sights on this icon destination as her mother reminiscences about the summer she spent there when she was 12. Lost Lake, the magical lake ran by her Aunt Eby, the best summer she ever had.

Images and memories of my own summers came swarming up to me as I captured this image in my head. Attending church camp every year, I hated to go but coming home I always seemed to have had a good time. As Sarah Allen’s words swam across the page, they captured the true essence of the novel. Every character had a story and together they made a community, a community that was important to the survival of this novel. I drifted inside this story and became an invisible part of the population of Lost Lake.   As Kate’s head becomes clearer and her mind no longer was lost to the trauma of her husband’s passing, she realizes that life is passing her by. A last minute decision to return to Lost Lake is set into motion, as Grandma Cricket’s plans get derailed.   What Kate and Devin find at Lost Lake is more than just cabins and a lake, they found what they were missing. This book carries so much and it does not leave you hanging.   I loved all the relationships and the host of interesting characters that I got to meet, they really were fantastic.   The outstanding stories that were intertwined inside the pages really made me love the drama and the relationships that transpired or were in place already.   The magical realism the author inserted in the novel had me hooting and hollering (I kid you not!) as it made me smile and it added to the characters and their personalities. This was a wonderful, fabulous, incredible novel. I will definitely be reading more by this author.