When sisters Addie and Susanna receive invitations to a memorial for their Aunt Gayle, they’re heartbroken to learn the woman who raised them has passed away. But arriving on Anchor Island, they’re met with the shock of their lives: Gayle is alive and well, busily preparing her own ‘Celebration of Life’ at her beloved pudding bar, The Sweet Life Café.

Agreeing to stay for the event, the sisters begin sorting through their late father’s belongings, reopening wounds they thought long buried, and forcing them to reflect on their lives since leaving the island. Addie is struggling as a single mother, torn between love for her son and doubts about the life she can give him. Susanna’s marriage is crumbling, and being back on the island only reminds her why she couldn’t wait to escape.

But as Gayle prepares gooey brownies, steaming lattes and delicious cakes for her customers, and for her big event, she is hiding secrets of her own – including one that could change everything the sisters thought they knew about their family…

My Thoughts:

Aunt Gayle has a big secret and her nieces are invited to her memorial but one of the secrets is she is not dead. But the girls don’t know this and get a huge shock, but there is a reason Aunt Gayle wants them to all be together and it is a secret Aunt Gayle has kept. The sisters both have their own issues in their own lives and Aunt Gayle knows it’s best to share and share alike, but how will the sisters react when she tells them the truth. I found the story a long one and quite slow, I predicted what the secret was fairly early on and felt as though I was plodding through the book. The characters were ok but there was nothing special about this read especially set around a café.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

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