Dollycas's Thoughts
Anna Kate has returned to Wicklow, Alabama following her Granny Zee's death. The trip did not go as planned. After the burial, Anna Kate learned the stipulations of her grandmother's will. She must remain in Wicklow and run her grandmother's Blackbird Café for two months. Then she can sell it and return to the life she had planned. But despite her best efforts, she finds herself making friends and trying to understand why her mother ran away from the town many years ago.
The Blackbird Café is a curious place that is a very important part of the small Southern town. Anna Kate still needs to learn about the mystery of it all. When her past is gradually revealed she is torn. Should she stay or should she go?
What a fascinating story.
âUnder midnight skies,
Blackbirds sing,
Loving notes,
Baked it pies,
Under midnight skiesâ
Anna Kate's mother vowed to never return to Wicklow, and she didn't. Some residents didn't even know Anna Kate existed. Now she is living above the cafe and trying to learn everything about it, its mysterious pies, and the blackbirds nesting in the trees nearby. She is approached by her father's family but because of her mother's warnings, she is not ready to get to know them in any way. Ms. Webber has created treasures in the residents of Wicklow. True Southern folk set in their ways. Some are outgoing and over the top, some are more held back and reserved, and many are dealing with underlying issues of their own. They were all interesting and developed well throughout the story. One little girl absolutely stole this grandma's heart.
The legend of the blackbirds was compelling. The droves of people coming to Wicklow to see them were stirring. What happened in the town of Wicklow was uplifting. The author has written a story full of life lessons, friendship, and family ties. This passage hit me in the heart.
âGrief was a capricious companion. Sometimes distant and aloof. Sometimes so overwhelming it was hard to think a straight thought. Its mood changed at whim, making it emotionally exhausting to keep up.â
Losing someone you love is so hard and those words describe how I feel more times than expected.
The magic in this book is so well done. It is light and not overpowering. The Southern charm courses throughout. The author balances family drama, romance, magic, and mystery very well. The comparison between a blackbird and Anna Kate resonated with me. She makes a huge decision that I questioned at first because she worked so hard and was getting close to a goal she had longed for but I believe as her story continues beyond the pages of this book she found a way to do everything she wanted to do.
Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe pulled me in and like Wicklow had ways of holding on. It's an engaging novel that I found heartwarming and unique. Heather Webber has created a dynamic community. I wish I could visit in real life and try a few pieces of the Blackbird Café special pies.
Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe was a charming, folksy tale of small-town life where everyone knows and talks about everyone and everything that happens. Anna Kate is the granddaughter of Zee, who recently passed away and left her Blackbird Cafe to Anna Kate with some special strings. Since Anna Kate had promised her mother (deceased 4 years prior) that she'll attend medical school, she has short timeline to work at the cafe, tie up legal ends of cafe and get to school. Everyone keeps telling her that she should stay and run the cafe, but she declares: A Promise is a Promise.
Meanwhile, she interacts with her father's family, who shunned her mother after her father was killed in car accident. Lots of drama! It was a sweet book, very predictable, and too much happened way too fast, but after all, it is fiction.
This small-town life reminded me how much I could never live in a place where everyone is in your business. But some folks like that, so I'm glad we all have choices.
Now, back some grisy psycho-thriller for me!!
