Season of Change - IgniteLit

Title: Season of Change
Author: Cathe Swanson
Series: Serenity Hill series, book 1
Major Themes: Christian Fiction, Books for Women
Synopsis: Charlea sees her mother and daughter making decisions that appear foolish—what can she do to stop them?

There are only a very few authors who I enjoy so much that I make sure I read everything they write. Cathe Swanson is one of those. In fact, she is very nearly my favorite author. She doesn’t write as many books as some authors I follow, but she takes her time with her books and they turn out very worthwhile. Her most recent one is Season of Change, and I loved it!

Charlea grew up on Serenity Hill, where her mother was one of a group of hippies. She left as soon as she possibly could, jumping into a quick marriage immediately after high school. Now, about 20 years later, widowed with one daughter, she lives in a house owned by her husband’s family—until it burns to the ground and she has to live with her mother, Pamela. She is shocked to learn that Pamela is working on expanding and upgrading her greenhouse in which she grows poinsettas. What a foolish idea, at her age! And it gets even worse when Charlea learns that her own daughter is going into business with Pamela—and they haven’t told Charlea anything about it.

Meanwhile, Charlea’s work is challenging. She works for a company who specialize in helping elderly people downsize and move, and is preparing to buy the franchise herself. She must work on finding the best ways to satisfy the needs and wishes of the people who need help, and then there appears to be dishonesty somewhere along the way—how should she handle all these challenges? And then, there is Drew, a man she dated one time many years ago and has been too embarrassed to talk to since. Now, he’s helping her mother—can she talk him into discouraging Pamela’s plans?

There were so many things I loved about Season of Change, it’s hard to know what to say. Because of the setting in which I grew up, I enjoyed the hippie and Jesus People mentions. I loved what Norbert told Charlea when she was stressing about the goat’s milk and what to do with it. I also loved that the romance was not the most important focus of the book. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, the story would have been complete without it; the ending seemed a bit rushed and tacked on (and that’s my only complaint about this book!). The main focus was Charlea’s internal changes, and the way she came to have a better relationship with her mother and daughter. I really liked the way all that was shown.

This book isn’t perfect. My daughter found herself confused all the way through the book, as the transitions between scenes weren’t very well done. Also, as I mentioned already, the ending felt rushed. Despite that, I liked the story very much and felt like the lessons Charlea learned were quite worth reading about!

I received a free copy of this book from Celebrate Lit, and these are my honest thoughts about it.

WARNING: A kiss is described in detail in chapter 18.