Heirlooms Book Review
About the Book
Answering a woman’s desperate call for help, young Navy widow Helen Devries opens her Whidbey Island home as a refuge to Choi Eunhee. As they bond over common losses and a delicate, potentially devastating secret, their friendship spans the remainder of their lives.
After losing her mother, Cassidy Quinn spent her childhood summers with her gran, Helen, at her farmhouse. Nourished by her grandmother’s love and encouragement, Cassidy discovers a passion that she hopes will bloom into a career. But after Helen passes, Cassidy learns that her home and garden have fallen into serious disrepair. Worse, a looming tax debt threatens her inheritance. Facing the loss of her legacy and in need of allies and ideas, Cassidy reaches out to Nick, her former love, despite the complicated emotions brought by having him back in her life.
Cassidy inherits not only the family home but a task, spoken with her grandmother’s final breaths: ask Grace Kim—Eunhee’s granddaughter—to help sort through the contents of the locked hope chest in the attic. As she and Grace dig into the past, they unearth their grandmothers’ long-held secret and more. Each startling revelation reshapes their understanding of their grandmothers and ultimately inspires the courage to take risks and make changes to own their lives.
Set in both modern-day and midcentury Whidbey Island, Washington, this dual-narrative story of four women—grandmothers and granddaughters—intertwines across generations to explore the secrets we keep, the love we pass down, and the heirlooms we inherit from a well-lived life.
My Thoughts
Ah, how can I describe a book as beautiful as this one? If you’re someone who loves the beauty of nature and incorporating it into your every day life, this is the book for you. Through the author’s prose, you will be able to smell the sweet fragrances of flowers and the lovely aromas of fresh garden vegetables cooking in a quaint kitchen.
You will also find yourself immersed in two different worlds – one of a Korean mother and American nurse in 1950s America, as well as one of a young girl in present day trying to carve her own path in life. You will also find yourself filled with compassion toward those who have been given a different path to travel in life, whether due to disability or because of the heartache they’ve endured.
It has been many years since Sandra’s last fiction release, but I can assure you, the wait has been well worth it. If you follow Sandra on social media, you know that she has a deep love for the Whidbey Island setting and all the culture surrounding it. This affection shines through on each page through these characters that you want to wrap in a warm hug. As you read, you will instantly see the care and thoughtfulness that went into this story. Here’s hoping that we will have another novel as beautiful as this one very soon!
5 Stars
**Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing a copy for review. All thoughts are my own.
**A future Jewelry Stories post is planned for this story and you will not want to miss it!
Have I convinced you to add this book to your TBR pile yet? If so, here are just a view places you can find your own copy –
- Scribd – available in eBook form. Scribd is a monthly book subscription, and they have SO MANY CHRISTIAN FICTION books to choose from in electronic and audio formats. I simply love it, and never have a shortage of new books to read. If you’d like to give it a try, use my referral link, and you’ll get your first 60 days absolutely free.
- Amazon – Kindle version here or read for free through Kindle Unlimited.
**This post contains affiliate links.
