HEIRLOOMS by Sandra Byrd, Reviewed by Rebecca Maney

"Keep what is handed down to you, but then make it own your own - the taste of your hands."

Cassidy Quinn was trying as hard as she could to keep what had been handed down to her - her grandmother's property, teeming with life even after the woman's death - and to make it her own. Her visions for the grand old farm were not the problem, it was how she was going to manage it from California, where the job she thought she had always wanted was waiting for her. Now . . . she wasn't so sure.

But there was still the simple matter of that promise, one that her beloved Gran had asked her to keep; to share the contents of an old trunk in the attic with her best friend Grace Kim, the granddaughter of Gran's best friend. Odd. So odd. And why is Nick back in town?

An emotive story about life, love, and legacy, "Heirlooms" is practically a book of proverbs; partnering international culinary arts with horticulture and agriculture; a grand display of life lessons from the Creator of all creation, for in Gran's own words, "It's only a better home and garden if it's used to nurture others". You will have to read it for yourself to determine if Cassidy did just that.

 

*I purchased a copy and was under no obligation to provide a positive review.  3.5 stars

 

SEE REVIEWS by KIM  AND PAULA

BackCover Blurb:
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.

Tyndale House Publishing, July 5, 2022

Available in digital ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook:

Buy HEIRLOOMS at Amazon, Christianbook .com, or Baker Book House