A Year of Extraordinary Moments by Bette Lee Crosby is the second A Magnolia Grove Novel. Dominic DeLuca left Magnolia Grove three and a half years ago and swore that he would never return. His grandmother, Alice calls telling Dominic that her cancer has returned, and she only has months to live. Alice would like him to return home to help her finalize details. Dominic reluctantly returns to Magnolia Grove, but he is not prepared for his grandmother’s interference in his life. Tracy Briggs lives with her mother, Lila and her hearing impaired son, Lucas and manages the Snip ‘N Save magazine that her father began. Tracy has turned her life around since she left Dominic and returned home. Her sister, Meghan is happy working alongside her husband, Tom at the Kindness Animal Clinic. She wants Tracy to have a fulfilling personal life and encourages her to go out with Gabriel Hawke. When Gabriel asks Tracy to accompany him to an awards dinner, it is beginning of their relationship. Alice is unable to get a straight answer from Dominic regarding Lucas’ parentage, and she decides to take matters into her own hands. Alice sets out to get answers and ends up having a special relationship with her great-grandson as well as Tracy. It leads Alice to make decisions that will lead to unexpected repercussions. Come along to Magnolia Grove for A Year of Extraordinary Moments.

A Year of Extraordinary Moments is not a standalone novel. You need to read The Summer of New Beginnings before embarking on A Year of Extraordinary Moments. I did find the story to be a slow starter. The beginning was off-putting to me, and I wish the author had started A Year of Extraordinary Moments on a different note. However, the pace slowly increases, and the story becomes more intriguing. By the halfway mark, I was engrossed and kept reading until I finished. I was surprised to find foul language and intimate relations before marriage included in A Year of Extraordinary Moments. I thought A Year of Extraordinary Moments was a Christian novel. The characters were well-developed, and I like that they keep evolving (except for one). Alice was such a loving character. You could feel the love she had for family and the pain she was experiencing from her illness and Dominic’s actions. The point-of-view alternates between Meghan, Dominic, Tracy, and Alice. It allows the reader to see each person’s perspective and understand what they are thinking and feeling. However, it is also distracting and made it hard to become fully engaged in the book. Bette Lee Crosby portrays what a family experiences when a child is hearing impaired. In this book, Lucas is learning to speak with the aid of his cochlear implant and speech therapy. I appreciated that the author shows the difference between a job and career that someone enjoys. It is important to find your niche and follow your dreams. I did feel the romance between Gabriel and Tracy was rushed. One minute Tracy states they are just friends and then he asks her out for which he receives a resounding yes (I experienced whiplash at her sudden change of mind). I was happy to see them become a couple, but their relationship seemed rushed. There are some loving moments with Alice, Tracy, Charlie, and Lucas that will touch your heart. A Year of Extraordinary Moments has family love and drama, friendship, romance, hope, faith and tension blended into one absorbing novel. ( )

MY REVIEW OF “A YEAR OF EXTRAORDINARY MOMENTS” (MAGNOLIA GROVE #2) BY Bette Lee Crosby, Lake Union Press, October 2018

Kudos to Bette Lee Crosby, Author of “A Year of Extraordinary Moments” for pulling my heartstrings and writing such an emotional realistic, enjoyable, delightful, memorable, and captivating novel. I had the most enchanting visit this afternoon reading the sequel to “The Summer of New Beginnings”. I loved the first book, and I loved this as well. The Genres for ” A Year of Extraordinary Moments” are Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Romance with a dash of suspense and mystery.. The timeline of the story is in the present and goes back to the past when it pertains to the characters or events in the story.

I highly recommend this novel to readers that enjoy family drama, sister relationships, and mother and daughter, and mother and son relationships. Bette describes her colorful cast of characters, as people who could live in our neighborhood. Each of the characters have their own set of problems, and day-to-day problems. Some characters have shady motives and think of themselves. I appreciate that Bette Lee Crosby writes about the importance of family, emotional support, and somehow everything seems to work out. Bette adds the touch of a beloved pet, and also shows the needs for acceptance for children and adults with disabilities.

In this wonderful book, we learn and see how Tracy Briggs and her hearing-impaired young son are doing. Tracy is trying to step up to the plate and be the best and responsible Mom. Is there romance in Tracy’s future? What could prevent Tracy from the happiness she deserves? There are some intriguing new characters and some wonderful friends from the first book. Although this could be read as a stand-alone, I thing that reading the first book would enhance the experience. I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest review. ( )

It was wonderful to re-connect with the Briggs family from book 1 in this series - The Summer of New Beginnings. I really enjoy reading about this family and hope that there will be more books about them in the future. The family is made up of the widowed mom and two sisters Meghan and Tracy. Book 1 was Meghan's story where she had her struggles and got her happily ever after. In this new novel, we get Tracy's story. Tracy was an unwed mother with a young son Lucas who is hearing impaired. When she left her nasty boyfriend, Dominic, she moved back into her family home. Just as her life gets back in a good place, Dominic comes back to town to try to win her back. Does he really want her back or does it all have something to do with his grandmother's farm and fact that she might leave it to Lucas when she dies. Alice, Dominic's grandmother is absolutely the nicest person that I've met in a book in a long time. She cared about her family despite the way they treated her and only wanted the best for everyone.

I highly recommend this series. The characters are well written - flaws and all - and feel like people that you know. As usual, Betty Lee Crosby brings us wonderful characters and a fantastic book.

Thanks to the author for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own. ( )