Title: Farewell to Cedar Key by Terri DuLong
Cedar Key Series Book Six
Publisher: Kensington
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 321 pages
Book Rating: A
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Author
Summary:
New York Times bestselling author Terri DuLong welcomes you to the colorful community of Cedar Key, Florida–a place where hearts are warm and friendship is true…
Josie Sullivan adores her Cedar Key home. It’s been the ideal place to raise her daughter, Orli, who’s just turning sixteen. Now that Josie has realized her dream of becoming a registered nurse, she’s been offered the perfect job too–helping Dr. Simon Mancini run his new practice.
Until the clinic opens, Josie is filling in at Yarning Together, where she launches a series of knitting classes for men. Yet for all the vibrant changes, there are some tangled threads. Josie’s romance-author mother, Shelby, receives a worrying diagnosis. And though Josie has always guarded her independence, her connection to Orli’s father, Grant, seems to be rekindling. Most of all, as Shelby’s college classmates rally around their dear friend, Josie begins to see that “home” is more than a place;it’s the relationships woven into each life, strand by strand…
The Review:
Farewell to Cedar Key is the sixth and final novel in Terri DuLong’s delightfully heartwarming Cedar Key series. This charming installment is a little bittersweet since it is time to bid a fond farewell to the town and its inhabitants, but it is also another beautiful story of family, friendship and love.
Josie Sullivan is an independent single mother with strong ties to Cedar Key. She never married Grant, her daughter Orli’s father, but they have a good relationship and he has always supported her decisions. Josie has a sometimes difficult, but always loving, relationship with her controlling mother Shelby, a best-selling romance novelist. With a new career opportunity on the horizon, Josie’s life is turned upside down by romance, a scary health diagnosis for her mom and Orli’s unexpected decisions about her future.
Josie has not dated much over the years, so she is a little surprised by her attraction to newcomer Simon Mancini, the new doctor in town and Josie’s new boss. Although she has concerns about an office romance, Josie does see Simon socially, but she is unclear if his interest in her goes beyond friendship.
Even more surprising to Josie are her suddenly complicated feelings for Grant. They have maintained an easygoing friendship over the years and she has never questioned her decision to raise Orli on her own. But when she and Orli travel to Boston to celebrate Christmas and Orli’s sixteenth birthday with Grant, Josie is stunned at her renewed feelings for him. Returning to Cedar Key clarifies which man her heart belongs to, but that only makes her decisions about her future that much more difficult.
As with previous novels in the Cedar Key series, the storyline is refreshingly light and conflict free. Matters of the heart are resolved fairly easily with little angst or fanfare. The story arc that deals with Shelby’s health issue is handled realistically and this part of the plot is a turning point for Josie’s relationship with her mother.
While it is always difficult to say goodbye to familiar friends and faces, Farewell to Cedar Key is the perfect finale for the Cedar Key series. Many of the characters from previous installments make guest appearances and Josie is not the only person who unexpectedly finds love. It is another warm and inviting novel from Terri DuLong that old and new fans do not want to miss.
