I came upon the Cedar Key series by Terri Dulong due to finishing another novel about knitting and this book was suggested to me afterwards.

The main character, Sydney Webster, finds herself starting all over again in her early fifties on Cedar Key, an island off the coast of Florida. Moving in with her college best friend Alison, Sydney starts to work on herself and her relationship with her adult daughter, Monica.

This was a very fast read and I ended up liking Sydney though at times she was very frustrating. There were several times in the novel that I thought she was being very childish.

I did like the descriptions of the island and the other residents like Saren, Miss Dora, and Alison. Everyone in the novel felt like a fully fleshed out character.

There were really just two things that I had a hard time with which is why I lowered my rating by a star and a half.

First, the resolution of Sydney's background was far-fetched. Having the author's characters say over and over again this is like something that would happen in a movie and saying that it was very hard to believe did not make it more palatable to me as a reader.

Second, I really wanted to hear more about Sydney spinning the cat and dog hair into wool to make sweaters/scarves, etc. for the pet owners. The sentences would just read that Sydney spun on her wheel but other than that I didn't get a sense of what she was doing exactly besides spinning. I wanted more details since I was so fascinated by her spinning and her idea for a job sounded really interesting.

I would definitely recommend this novel to others! ( )

Disappointing. I made a JE for Bookcrossing. http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/11417475 ( )

A cozy story with a number of characters to enjoy. I selected the book for the knitting angle, but it was not all that central to the story. OK for a relaxing read. I would say it was moderately well written with beautiful descriptions of the scenery on the island. Perhaps it was just the formatting in the kindle version, but the transitions between events were often without warning. Themes of birth, death, love and commitment are explored. ( )

Another enjoyable book to relax and read. This is the first of I think three in a series. Nice knitting features also. ( )

Great story of what to do when life turns you curve after curve. Well-written and great characters. Awesome debut novel...can't wait for more. ( )