"Wishing on Willows" by Katie Ganshert

• Trade Paperback - $9.99
• ISBN: 9780307730404

Review: This novel is about a young widow, Robin Price, dealing with a three-year-old son, a struggling cafe, and her fading memories of her husband.  Her allegiance to the small town of Peaks where she has grown up and all her family live is challenged when developer, Ian McKay, seeks to buy her cafe and a mission, "One Life" that can't afford rent elsewhere.  Although her coffee shop, "Willow Tree," is in the red, she feels she can't let go of it because of the ties to her late husband.  On a honeymoon in France, he commented that her eyes lit up in every single cafe they visited and expressed his desire for her to one day have her own cafe!

Her three-year-old, Caleb, is one of the few bright spots in her life and she fights being over-protective of him fearing he will be taken from her, too.  Her cheerleader sister-in-law, Amanda, encourages her to face reality and also give Ian a chance as he seeks a relationship with Robin. 

Robin is a fighter and change doesn't come easily to her, so much so that after chapter after chapter of walls being built up about selling and new relationships, the reader may say "All right, already!  We all know how this is going to end.  Let's just get on with it!"  I'll admit I found the book longer than necessary.   Additionally, I felt the writer could have come up with a more believable ending.  Ian wades into a pond and finds her wedding ring which she had tossed there in total frustration.  Really?  Finding a ring is one thing, but in the bottom of a pond?

Overall, I would give the book two and a half stars out of five.  I tend to like my fiction a little more believable, but that would be non-fiction, wouldn't it??                

Author's Website More Info Read Chapter One Author Bio

DISCLOSURE:  We received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. Opinions expressed are solely those of the reviewer.  (rev.C.Karns, Elementary Music Teacher)