Amazon.com
In this Southern story of female relationships and family dysfunction, a vision of mortality provokes a widowed mother to reunite her three adult daughters. A decade of misunderstandings, ill will, and blame has kept the Taternalls apart. Bed & Breakfast recounts the story of the family coming back together over Christmas. The characters are well crafted and believable; readers are likely to recognize some personalities from the Taternall clan among their own friends and family.

Pretty good. I thought it would get better. I know others will like it more than I did as I like mystery better than novels as a rule.

This is taking a ride in the Busyangel wrap it up box.

I picked this book out of the Wrap It Up Bookbox. The idea behind the Wrap It Up Bookbox is to pick a book based solely on the very first sentence of the book. Since all the books are "wrapped up" and the first sentence of the book is taped on a post-it note on the outside, you really have no idea what type of book you are choosing. How fun.

"She'd woken around seven, shut off the alarm she always set as a precaution, and turned to look past the bedpost to the windows."

After reading the synopsis on the back cover, I think I picked a good one! This book sounds interesting and will now join my TBR pile. Thanks nuttyreader for including this title and also thanks to Busyangel for starting the Wrap It Up Bookbox!

I just finished reading this book and I agree with nuttyreader...I thought it would get better too. It wasn't bad, just not one of my favorites. I was glad to find out that in the end, everything turns out ok. I do like happy endings!

As I mentioned in my previous JE, I chose this book from the Wrap It Up Bookbox, based on the first sentence. Looking at the cover, it got me thinking...how about a Judge A Book By It's Cover Bookbox. With its lovely cover, this book was the inspiration! So far, I have twelve participants and it will be mailed out next week along with a dozen other books that have interesting covers as well. Similiar to the Wrap It Up Box, all books will be wrapped and chosen based on a description of the front cover. So, a big Thank You to nuttyreader for this book and to Busyangel for the Wrap It Up Bookbox!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book is being released as part of the Judge A Book By It's Cover Bookbox. First stop, Indiana.

Chose this from the Judge a Book By Its Cover Bookbox. Looks like an interesting read. Will be added to Mt. TBR.

I found this book interesting because Josie was a widow of a career military man. Being the wife of a retired career military man, I could relate to Josie...the separations, moving every few years, being away from extended family, and the desire to have your own home and put down roots. This was so much a part of the family dynamics now when she has her three grown daughters come home for the holidays. I liked that the author moved the book ahead one year and reminisced over all that had happened since the last holidays. It answered questions and gave the book closure.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sending to Aberpeter in Kirkland, WA.

arrived in the mail yesterday. thanks dabercro.

Bed & Breakfast by Lois Battlefield centers around Josie and her desire to bring her girls together for the holidays in an effort of family unity. Each of the girls carries her own memories and own coping strategies to deal with each other. There's Cam's I don't care personality, Lila's victim of circumstance attitude and Evie's dramatic statements of truth to get attention. The three girls and Josie must face their misconceptions and notions of each other in order to love themselves before they can fully accept each other. What I liked most about this book were the familiy dynamics and how each of the women had to face why she is the way she can understand/accept the other women of the family.

sending to the decoy winner in the Happy Day RABCK

THank you so much - this sounds like something that I would like, especially since I too am the wife of a career military man (now retired). I love the cute tin of English tea - the tea will be appreciated and I collect tins - double bonus! Thanks also for the sticky notes as they are something I use all the time at work (I am very visual and sometimes sticky notes are the only thing that keeps me straight). This was a great decoy box and I have your books ready to go (just finished one on Monday - it was on your wishlist and I wanted to include it - I hope to get this out tomorrow.)

This was a bit dated (written in the late 90s) but it was still very enjoyable. The story revolves around Josie who operates a bed-and-breakfast in her Beaufort home. She's the widow of a retired military man and decides to bring her 3 grown daughters (and their families) home for Christmas. The daughters are each struggling with their own lives. The daughters are somewhat stock characters. There's Cam, the daughter who left for New York and is struggling with career and love. There's Lila, the daughter who stayed close to home and has a husband who was just elected to the state legislature. Lila has 2 ungrateful children and a sweet husband who does nothing for her and then runs into an old friend. Finally, there's Evie who's living in Charleston writing a column that puts the foibles of her family on display. She is the least sympathetic of all of them. Josie has tried for years to accommodate everyone and during this Christmas as her children each find their way, so does she and through several upheavals, by the next Christmas, there's a new more assertive woman.

Quotes to remember:

...born dumb and had a relapse (what a great insult!)

...when you think about your life, it just spins out so fast it's like a spool of thread you've dropped and you're watching it roll across a polished floor.

I do think a house is like a person...much more interesting if it has a history.

...long enough for her to think about the nature of time - how it could stretch so that minutes seemed interminable, weighing on you so that you seemed to suffocate, how your fate could be changed in a heartbeat.

...thinking how strange it was that one changed so much on the outside while the inner self remained essentially the same.

Adding to the Bookbox of Intentional Variety

Left in the Little Free Library in front of the Universalist Unitarian Church.