I was surprised but how much I liked this book.

It was a simple easy read but enjoyable. ( )

An old love letter found in her recently departed mother's vintage '72 VW bug inspires Claire James on a journey to search out the writer of the letter. It was very easy to leave her current life in Los Angeles because her sister and husband kicked her out, she lost her job and had nowhere else to be. After a series of frustrating events, she finds herself in Capitola, CA and in the middle of even more mystery into her mother's past life. Trying to find one man leads to the discovery of even more than she could have realized.
My take:
This book has it's good and bad. I really had trouble with the naivete of Claire, granted she was only 23, but coming from LA, she should have known better to get into vehicles with strangers in this day and age...let alone going home with a tow truck driver? Just wasn't plausible for me. Their was a lot of God will Provide situations that always seemed to work out...may have been more believable if God answered no a few times instead of really weird coincidences. But...all that aside... the author has a knack for writing...the descriptions, the character developments, the plot..all there... so for a debut author...pretty good...I'll keep a watch to see what she comes up with next. I think this book would be good for a younger reader (12-16)...a coming to age book if you will.
About the author:
While this is her first novel, she has written a tween book called The Christian Girl's guide to Style. She has a few more books to be released in the next couple of years. You can find out more about Sherry Kyle on her website!

5 out of 7 thumbs.. (worth a read from the library) ( )

My opinion: We first meet Claire, a 23 year old who just lost her mom after a long battle with cancer. She has an older sister, Haley, who is married. When their mom became sick all of the responsibilities of caring for her fell on Claire. Now she has no idea what to do. That is until she finds a letter in the glove compartment of her mom's old VW. The letter is addressed to her mom and the date is 1972; it's a love letter and it's only signed with the initial "M". There's a return address, so Claire decides to set out and try to find the man who loved her mother all of those years ago. She doesn't get very far, however, when she rear-ends a motorhome. Luckily the driver and his wife are very kind and let Claire stay with them for the evening, since her car is no longer driveable. She instantly feels a connection to them and their friends, the Andersons (especially their daughter, Samantha, who is about the same age). As much as she wants to stay with these new friends she has made, she knows she needs to make it to Capitola, where she's hoping the writer of the letter is still living. So she calls for a tow truck in the middle of the night to come pick her up. Unfortunately she has no money to pay for repairs, so the man, Tom, who drives the tow truck decides to let her stay with him and his wife for the night. It's against her better judgement, but Claire feels like she has no other choice so she agrees. Tom's wife Nancy welcomes Claire with open arms, and when they find out her situation they let her know she can stay as long as she wants, until she can get a job and a place of her own. Everything just keeps falling into place: she finds a nice house to rent, makes a lot of new friends, and meets a guy that makes her go weak at the knees. But no matter how great things are going, she can't forget why she really came to Capitola in the first place...to find out who loved her mother so much once upon a time. And she won't stop until she discovers the truth.

I really liked this book a lot. You of course immediately feel bad for Claire; she lost her mother, really the only one, besides her sister, who really cares for Claire. She lives with her sister and her abusive husband for awhile, but when she loses her job he tells her she has to get out. You want her sister to fight harder to let Claire stay, but Claire knows that Haley's husband will just make problems for both of them if she does stay so that's when she ultimately leaves. I think she is incredibly brave for going out on her own, not knowing how she's going to provide for herself or where she will live. Thank goodness for the wonderful people she meets along the way to help her out. I was really happy for her that everything kept working out so well, and the place she ends up renting finally is the return address on the letter! The undercurrent of this book is definitely that everything happens for a reason. I think everyone can relate to that; like me for example, if I had never moved to Kansas I would never have met my husband, would not have my wonderful son. Her neighbor, a police officer named Blake, immediately attracts her attention and they spend a lot of time together. They made such a cute couple, but it took her quite a while to allow herself to believe they could be together. After going through losing her mom, and seeing how the men in her mom's life treated her, it's easy to see why she's so hesitant. Luckily he's very patient and allows her the space she needs to be able to move forward. She gets a job caring for an older woman, Geraldine; Geraldine becomes Claire's roommate in the house and pays the rent, plus gives Claire money every month for helping her which I think is super generous. It helps that the owner of the place is Geraldine's son! I think moving out on her own and searching for this mysterious man helps Claire get through her grief and discover who she is. It was a perfect feel-good story that I just couldn't put down. It's very predictable for the most part, but that didn't even matter to me. It was well written and the ending is great. Everyone should definitely give this book a chance! ( )