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Oliver's Well #2
The House on Honeysuckle Lane
Mary McDonough welcomes readers back to the small town of Oliver’s Well, Virginia, in a story of holiday and homecoming, as three siblings gather for a Christmas that brings unexpected gifts.
Even in a town as picturesque and rich in history as Oliver’s Well there’s something special about the Reynolds house on Honeysuckle Lane. Sturdy yet graceful, well-proportioned outside and within, it’s where Andie, Emma, and Daniel Reynolds grew up—before they began to grow apart.
For Danny, this first reunion since their mother’s death is a chance for him and his sisters to relive cherished holiday traditions—attending the church concert, lighting the town tree—before finally settling their parents’ estate. But readying the house for sale proves no easy task when every piece of furniture and every moment together stirs up the past.
Andie, the oldest sibling, didn’t just leave home years ago, she left her young daughter too. Though she’s found fulfillment and fame as a self-help author, coming back shakes her equilibrium. How can she presume to guide others if she can’t be honest with those closest to her, much less herself? Middle child Emma struck out on her own instead of accepting her father’s offer to share his business. Yet now she finds herself drawn back to her town’s quiet rhythms and routines, wondering if it’s possible to start over.
The house on Honeysuckle Lane contains a lifetime’s worth of joys and dreams, and its share of regrets too. This Christmas, it will be the place where Andie, Emma, and Danny come together to remember, laugh, fight, plan—and find their way forward as a family once more.
“A warm, heartfelt novel about what it means to belong to a family. You won't want to put it down.” --Mary Alice Monroe , New York Times bestselling author of A Lowcountry Wedding
Even in a town as picturesque and rich in history as Oliver’s Well there’s something special about the Reynolds house on Honeysuckle Lane. Sturdy yet graceful, well-proportioned outside and within, it’s where Andie, Emma, and Daniel Reynolds grew up—before they began to grow apart.
For Danny, this first reunion since their mother’s death is a chance for him and his sisters to relive cherished holiday traditions—attending the church concert, lighting the town tree—before finally settling their parents’ estate. But readying the house for sale proves no easy task when every piece of furniture and every moment together stirs up the past.
Andie, the oldest sibling, didn’t just leave home years ago, she left her young daughter too. Though she’s found fulfillment and fame as a self-help author, coming back shakes her equilibrium. How can she presume to guide others if she can’t be honest with those closest to her, much less herself? Middle child Emma struck out on her own instead of accepting her father’s offer to share his business. Yet now she finds herself drawn back to her town’s quiet rhythms and routines, wondering if it’s possible to start over.
The house on Honeysuckle Lane contains a lifetime’s worth of joys and dreams, and its share of regrets too. This Christmas, it will be the place where Andie, Emma, and Danny come together to remember, laugh, fight, plan—and find their way forward as a family once more.
“A warm, heartfelt novel about what it means to belong to a family. You won't want to put it down.” --Mary Alice Monroe , New York Times bestselling author of A Lowcountry Wedding
352 pages, Hardcover
Published September 27, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
March 7, 2017
I loved reading about the Reynolds family… I loved it so much, I wanted to leap into the pages and smack some sense into one of the siblings when Andie, Emma, or Daniel were thinking or behaving foolishly. That’s how believable and relatable these characters are. They feel like people you’ve known for years… the kind of connection readers hope to feel with characters as they read.
The siblings are in the midst of an emotional time—grieving for what was, and what might have been—when they come together at Christmastime to settle the final details of their parent’s estate after the loss of their mother. Six months have passed since their mother’s passing, and this is the first time they’ve all been together since her funeral, and a difficult task is made even harder by strained relationships within the family.
We’ve all experienced loss in our lives. Grief can (and often does) change the dynamics of a family following the loss of a loved one. Relationships that were once good become fraught with tension, and some families are torn apart in the aftermath of the loss. This book, while fiction, shows how grief can cause family to behave as strangers with one another, and how important it is to work through it and learn how to move forward together.
I thought this story was written beautifully. The House on Honeysuckle Lane handles a delicate subject in a way that is realistic, while honestly portraying the wide range of conflicting emotions felt by those who are left behind. I highly recommend adding this one to your reading list!
I received an advance review copy of this book courtesy of Netgalley and Kensington Books, in exchange for an honest review.
The siblings are in the midst of an emotional time—grieving for what was, and what might have been—when they come together at Christmastime to settle the final details of their parent’s estate after the loss of their mother. Six months have passed since their mother’s passing, and this is the first time they’ve all been together since her funeral, and a difficult task is made even harder by strained relationships within the family.
We’ve all experienced loss in our lives. Grief can (and often does) change the dynamics of a family following the loss of a loved one. Relationships that were once good become fraught with tension, and some families are torn apart in the aftermath of the loss. This book, while fiction, shows how grief can cause family to behave as strangers with one another, and how important it is to work through it and learn how to move forward together.
I thought this story was written beautifully. The House on Honeysuckle Lane handles a delicate subject in a way that is realistic, while honestly portraying the wide range of conflicting emotions felt by those who are left behind. I highly recommend adding this one to your reading list!
I received an advance review copy of this book courtesy of Netgalley and Kensington Books, in exchange for an honest review.
July 29, 2019
Too long and drawn out for the simple story that was being told. Three grieving adult siblings, the differences between them, and the decisions they made could have been told in a more concise manner. I was glad when I finished so I could move on, which is exactly what the characters needed to do.
March 9, 2017
The House on Honeysuckle Lane by Mary McDonough
Have read many other books from the author and have enjoyed them all.
This book starts out with Danny and he's been in charge of his mother prior to her dying and through her death and afterwards. His two sisters, Emma and Andie don't live in the same town but do travel in afterwards to help with the estate.
Things get out of hand and with the pressure some things are said that shouldn't have been and puts them on edge. One sister is thinking of returning and maybe living in the house, others want to sell it and divide the proceeds.
Interesting how they all work together at times getting the job done. Others in town really confuse the reader at times as to who they are and how important to the story line.
Chapters also go back in time and that also confused me. Wish this book was broken up into 3 books-each having their say as to what was going on in their lives at the time.
Love that this occurs during the Christmas holiday season and how they all cherish the traditions. Twists and turns make this a good read.
There are divorces, children and all their problems among the catering business, the publishing business and the financial business.. Never a dull moment and you never know how it will end up.
I received this book from The Kensington Books in exchange for my honest review
Have read many other books from the author and have enjoyed them all.
This book starts out with Danny and he's been in charge of his mother prior to her dying and through her death and afterwards. His two sisters, Emma and Andie don't live in the same town but do travel in afterwards to help with the estate.
Things get out of hand and with the pressure some things are said that shouldn't have been and puts them on edge. One sister is thinking of returning and maybe living in the house, others want to sell it and divide the proceeds.
Interesting how they all work together at times getting the job done. Others in town really confuse the reader at times as to who they are and how important to the story line.
Chapters also go back in time and that also confused me. Wish this book was broken up into 3 books-each having their say as to what was going on in their lives at the time.
Love that this occurs during the Christmas holiday season and how they all cherish the traditions. Twists and turns make this a good read.
There are divorces, children and all their problems among the catering business, the publishing business and the financial business.. Never a dull moment and you never know how it will end up.
I received this book from The Kensington Books in exchange for my honest review
August 6, 2016
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. This was a heartwarming story about three siblings coming together for Christmas after the death of their mother. There is alot of regret, resentment, and love to be dealt with while the siblings decide what to do with the family home and its contents. I enjoyed the story as a whole even when I was annoyed by each sibling and their inability to deal with their feelings and their constant quoting of poems and Buddha teachings.
May 4, 2020
This book is carefully plodded (and no, that's not a typo). It is about 200 pages longer than it needs to be. I sense it is somewhat an autobiographical work for the author, and hopefully it was cathartic for her. I only finished this book because of the times we live in--desperate times call for desperate measures. But, don't waste valuable reading time on this one.
November 20, 2018
Really bad writing. So cliche. Would normally not have even finished it, but the book was recently made into a Hallmark Christmas movie that was filmed in my town. By the looks of the previews, I think the movie didn’t even use much of the book!
July 12, 2021
In historic and picturesque Oliver's Well, you will find the Reynolds' house on Honeysuckle Lane. This is the house where Andie, Emma, and Daniel Reynolds grew up—before they began to grow apart. Their mother died recently and the family is getting together to decide what to do with the house, probably preparing it for sale, and spending Christmas together. Daniel, the one who cared for their mother while she was ill is having a hard time and is resentful towards his sisters. Andie, divorced and left her daughter with her husband to raise. She has to come to grips with what that has done to her daughter and face her own fears and insecurities. Emma, the middle child, struck out on her own instead of accepting her father’s offer to share his business, but is now seeing the possibilities of returning home. For anyone who has had to clear out their family home, you know that everything has a memory attached, either good or bad, and it is hard to let go sometimes. As these siblings deal with their mother's estate, they also deal with many emotions, past hurts and angers and finally healing.
I watched the Hallmark movie made from this story a couple of years ago, but I must say, I liked the book more. There is a bit of a romance in the book, but it was much more in the movie. I liked that the dynamics of the family played the major role in the book. They feel like people you’ve known for years and were very relatable. There were times that I wanted to grab one of them and smack some sense into them when they were thinking or behaving foolishly. Grief can (and often does) change the dynamics of a family following the loss of a loved one. Relationships that were once good become tense, and some families are torn apart. This story shows how important it is to work through it and learn how to move forward together. I know this is fiction, and that doesn't always happen, but I am glad it did in this case. Having this book set at Christmas shows how those family traditions can bring a family together. This was a great addition to my Christmas in July theme. The audiobook was narrated by Marnye Young. She did a good job with the emotions and various voices using tone and inflection. A nice book to listen to.
I watched the Hallmark movie made from this story a couple of years ago, but I must say, I liked the book more. There is a bit of a romance in the book, but it was much more in the movie. I liked that the dynamics of the family played the major role in the book. They feel like people you’ve known for years and were very relatable. There were times that I wanted to grab one of them and smack some sense into them when they were thinking or behaving foolishly. Grief can (and often does) change the dynamics of a family following the loss of a loved one. Relationships that were once good become tense, and some families are torn apart. This story shows how important it is to work through it and learn how to move forward together. I know this is fiction, and that doesn't always happen, but I am glad it did in this case. Having this book set at Christmas shows how those family traditions can bring a family together. This was a great addition to my Christmas in July theme. The audiobook was narrated by Marnye Young. She did a good job with the emotions and various voices using tone and inflection. A nice book to listen to.
October 2, 2025
I wanted to read this book by Mary McDonough, who played Erin on "The Waltons" television show.
I felt a lot of Mary's detailed description of things probably resulted from her years on a television program. I thought the author did a very good job describing the relationship between the three siblings: Daniel, Emma, & Andie. As their parents aged, Daniel cared for them. While Daniel wanted to take care of his parents during their later years, he was resentful that his sisters had not helped. But he did not ever ask for help. His sister Emma lived in Annapolis and his sister Andie was a free spirit who traveled the world. Now that both parents have died, he wants to settle the estate. He summons his sisters home for Christmas, telling them that the family needed to be together for the holiday. But he is angry with his sisters and the reader wonders if it will be a very happy Christmas. All Daniel did was bring up the past and question his sisters' decisions. He really did not understand his sister Andie and the reason that she left her daughter Rumi behind to live with her ex-husband Bob while she went off to become a self-help guru who wrote books and traveled the world talking about finding inner peace. He also did not understand his sister Emma, and why she refused to work with her father at his accounting firm and moved away. With the help of his wife, Anna Maria, Daniel finally sees that he needs to let go of trying to be the caretaker of his parents' memories and keeping the family intact the way it always had been. As the siblings find their way back to one another, healing also takes place between mother Andie and daughter Rumi. A new relationship sparks for Emma and she makes the decision to buy out her siblings' shares of their parents' home and move back home to Oliver's Well for good. Daniel and Anna Maria have a third child and ask Daniel's sisters to be the godparents.
I felt a lot of Mary's detailed description of things probably resulted from her years on a television program. I thought the author did a very good job describing the relationship between the three siblings: Daniel, Emma, & Andie. As their parents aged, Daniel cared for them. While Daniel wanted to take care of his parents during their later years, he was resentful that his sisters had not helped. But he did not ever ask for help. His sister Emma lived in Annapolis and his sister Andie was a free spirit who traveled the world. Now that both parents have died, he wants to settle the estate. He summons his sisters home for Christmas, telling them that the family needed to be together for the holiday. But he is angry with his sisters and the reader wonders if it will be a very happy Christmas. All Daniel did was bring up the past and question his sisters' decisions. He really did not understand his sister Andie and the reason that she left her daughter Rumi behind to live with her ex-husband Bob while she went off to become a self-help guru who wrote books and traveled the world talking about finding inner peace. He also did not understand his sister Emma, and why she refused to work with her father at his accounting firm and moved away. With the help of his wife, Anna Maria, Daniel finally sees that he needs to let go of trying to be the caretaker of his parents' memories and keeping the family intact the way it always had been. As the siblings find their way back to one another, healing also takes place between mother Andie and daughter Rumi. A new relationship sparks for Emma and she makes the decision to buy out her siblings' shares of their parents' home and move back home to Oliver's Well for good. Daniel and Anna Maria have a third child and ask Daniel's sisters to be the godparents.
December 3, 2019
I wanted to read this after watching Hallmark's movie Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane. Nice movie, good actors, and all, and I found on IMDB that the author, Mary McDonough, was the actress who played Erin Walton on The Waltons tv show. Well, WOW, what a difference! Same general setup as the movie, but 100% better. A year plus after the death of their mother, Danny Reynolds gets his sisters Andie and Emma back to Oliver's Well to work on cleaning out their parents' house and putting it up for sale. Andie, divorced from her husband, Bob, has become a recognized self help/spiritual advisor with a Buddhist background, and is in conflict with her daughter, Rumi, supposedly about not making it back to town for Rumi's 20th birthday. Emma left town years before to strike out on her own as a financial advisor, rather than joining their father's company. Tensions are present with Danny and his sisters since he resents them for leaving to live their own lives, rather than staying in town, and in the recent past, helping with their mother as she was dying. Emma is also coming off a break up with her long time beau. The tension in the book is palpable. Really good. As I said, 100% better than the tv movie
April 24, 2019
Another fun read by Mary McDonough (aka Erin Walton).
The Reynolds children (all adults now) finally come together after the death of both of their parents. Some of them feel like orphans now and Andie, Emma and Daniel Reynolds don't all get along or agree with the way each sibling is living their lives. Daniel (Danny) asks both his sisters to come home for Christmas shortly after their mom has died...in the hopes of them being able to reach some agreement in the division of the family property and belongings.
As they each struggle with trying to find a middle ground they all can agree on, they all share, sometimes accidentally, memories they have of their mom and/or dad which the others didn't know about. This of course leads to quite a headache for them all as anger tends to rise between them above all other feelings.
They eventually do come back together as a happy family once more once they have shared their disappointments in each other's life choices, the things they may have known about their parents and the feelings they have harbored regarding each other's life choices.
The Reynolds children (all adults now) finally come together after the death of both of their parents. Some of them feel like orphans now and Andie, Emma and Daniel Reynolds don't all get along or agree with the way each sibling is living their lives. Daniel (Danny) asks both his sisters to come home for Christmas shortly after their mom has died...in the hopes of them being able to reach some agreement in the division of the family property and belongings.
As they each struggle with trying to find a middle ground they all can agree on, they all share, sometimes accidentally, memories they have of their mom and/or dad which the others didn't know about. This of course leads to quite a headache for them all as anger tends to rise between them above all other feelings.
They eventually do come back together as a happy family once more once they have shared their disappointments in each other's life choices, the things they may have known about their parents and the feelings they have harbored regarding each other's life choices.
May 9, 2017
Adult siblings Daniel, Andie and Emma Reynolds are celebrating Christmas together as they have so many times before. But this year they must also make decisions on settling their parents' estate. What to do with the house, Mom's jewelry, photo albums and furniture - all the things that hold memories of their happy childhoods must be divided up or let go. Daniel is having an especially difficult time. He can't even throw away an envelope full of expired coupons. The two sisters are going through challenges of their own. Andie's daughter is rude when she does speak to her. Emma left Ian, her boyfriend for the past ten years because she realized she never loved him. This is a book about new beginnings and making peace with our past. It also touches on how our parents can affect our lives even after they are no longer around.
April 5, 2018
I was excited to read this book until I started it. Three siblings with issues of course gather for Christmas at the family home a year after their mom
passed away. Daniel the baby brother still lives in town with his wife and two children. He has been taking care of the home but it is time to go through the house and divide everything. Emma is in the same business as her father was only she struck out on her own to “prove” herself. Now she thinks she might want to come home. Andie the oldest is a self help guru who has her own set of problems. Basic layout of story and for the next 399 pages we listen to them whine, argue and kiss/makeup. All characters felt flat to me.
passed away. Daniel the baby brother still lives in town with his wife and two children. He has been taking care of the home but it is time to go through the house and divide everything. Emma is in the same business as her father was only she struck out on her own to “prove” herself. Now she thinks she might want to come home. Andie the oldest is a self help guru who has her own set of problems. Basic layout of story and for the next 399 pages we listen to them whine, argue and kiss/makeup. All characters felt flat to me.
September 22, 2019
I really connected with the Reynolds Family Siblings Andie, Emma and Daniel come together after the loss of their parents. Of course you have all the family dynamics associated with what to do after the loss of your remaining parent. The hurts from the past culminate with reality in this well written family story. I look forward to this Hallmark movie.
December 28, 2021
I’m not sure what I thought of this book. It certainly isn’t a feel good Christmas story, more like a family drama. It took a long time for me to get through and I honestly finished it more because I’d made it so far in the book than because I really cared how it ended. Perhaps reading with different expectations would have increased my enjoyment.
August 20, 2024
I wanted to like this book, but from the beginning I had problems with it, mostly because of my own beliefs. Fortunately, the author didn't knock you over the head with the Universal Unitarian and Buddhist beliefs of some of the characters. Overall, the story was okay and somehow got trimmed down for a Hallmark movie. Of the siblings, Emma was the only one I really liked.
July 27, 2017
Family issues, sibling rivalry and the death of parents with the disposal of the estate plus a theme of expectations of parents and the children who are still looking for approval from parents. It did hold my interest but with too much bickering and clutter.
November 17, 2017
Must say I liked the second Oliver's Well quite a bit. The first, One Year, with its choppy chapters put me off a tad. Though both novels shared the overriding Matriarch, this one had much more depth in its characterization. It's definitely a good read!
December 30, 2025
As a huge fan of The Walton's TV series, I could not resist this book. I had no idea Mary McDonough was an author now. The family dynamics reminded me of my own family. Oliver's Well seems like a lovely place to be at Christmas time.
August 9, 2017
interesting how the sibling worked things out -- after death of parnets
December 30, 2017
good story of a family coming to terms with the loss of their parents; struggling with each other as they grieve differently. likable characters.
May 7, 2018
Fairly boring about a boring family
November 28, 2018
Typical “Hallmark type” Christmas tale with a good ending. Sappy, certainly. But, if you like corny family stories, you’ll enjoy this one. I did!!
December 23, 2018
The perfect pre Christmas novel. A happy family story.
December 23, 2019
A good read about grief, change, and growth set in a small town.
November 23, 2020
Great holiday read
I loved the characters and the realistic adult sibling relationships. This is such a fun read, you won’t want to put it down.
I loved the characters and the realistic adult sibling relationships. This is such a fun read, you won’t want to put it down.
May 27, 2021
When I started this one, I was not sure I was going to be able to make a connection with any of the characters, but I did. I’m happy to say I did and enjoyed the story.
December 12, 2023
Don't waste your time!!
September 27, 2016
Daniel’s mother Caro had passed away and his older sisters Andi and Emma had come home for the funeral even though the girls hadn’t been home much during their mother’s illness. Emma was a personal financial advisor and Andi was an self help author, spiritual advisor,and life coach. Daniel was the youngest and had been the apple of his mothers eye. He had married Ann-Marie and they had settled in Olivers Well the siblings home town while the girls had moved farther away. At first Andi had tried to be like her parents had wanted had married Bob fairly young and had Rumi but she wasn’t happy so Andi divorced Bob and stayed with her parents at first but then she left Rumi with Bob and her parents to raise. Andi went out to find herself and was now happy. Bob and Andi were now best friends and talked/texted often. Emma had been with Ale a long time more of a convenience than any kind of grand passion or love. After Emma’s moms funeral she had a longing for a change in her life. She wanted the kind of love like her parents Cliff and Caro had. Emma was also thinking about moving back to Olivers Well. Fourteen months later Andi and Emma returned to Olivers Well to settle selling the house and what to do with the items inside at Daniels insistence as this is what his mother wanted all three of her children making the decisions together. Daniel was determined that was how it was going to be. But Daniel had been taking little potshots at his sisters since shortly after they arrived.
I didn’t love this story but I didn’t hate it. It just didn’t hold my interest. First off the way Daniel acted toward his sisters ruined the story for me as far as I am concerned he was acting like a spoiled brat even though he was a man. He had been spoiled by his mother and sisters when he was younger and now acting like a spoiled teen having a temper tantrum. Anyway that ruined the story for me. I understand this is about the interaction of siblings but I just didn’t enjoy it. I was about a little over a quarter in when just got bored with the story or at least that part and didn’t continue.
I received an ARC of this story for an honest review.
I didn’t love this story but I didn’t hate it. It just didn’t hold my interest. First off the way Daniel acted toward his sisters ruined the story for me as far as I am concerned he was acting like a spoiled brat even though he was a man. He had been spoiled by his mother and sisters when he was younger and now acting like a spoiled teen having a temper tantrum. Anyway that ruined the story for me. I understand this is about the interaction of siblings but I just didn’t enjoy it. I was about a little over a quarter in when just got bored with the story or at least that part and didn’t continue.
I received an ARC of this story for an honest review.
February 2, 2024
The copy I read was released under the title Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane which is not nearly as appropriate a title. While this takes place during the holiday season, the book itself is about the family drama that unfolds after three adult siblings lose their parents. The idea itself is very compelling, and something that many people will have to go through as adults, but I wish the subject had been tackled by a stronger writer, or at least by one who had a tougher editor.
The number of typos and poor typesetting (such as using the wrong quotation mark) made me initially assume this was self-published. The book runs about 400 pages, but could easily lose 50-100 and not lose a step. Interestingly enough, I think the details that are dragging the book down are the type of details would've been perfect in a script. I wonder if the author was pulling from her experience as an actor when developing the scenes. Things like details about the room, or the unfinished breakfast, or the hum of the refrigerator can give an actor the tools needed to get into character and understand their perspective at that moment of a performance. Those details, however, are for the actor to do their work and aren't ever spoken. A stronger editor could've persuaded the author to drop some of these details that only served to bog down the story. Here, those details needed to have more reason for existing. It wasn't painting enough of a picture for the reader to feel immersed in the image, nor was it playing off of any sort of internal dialogue by the characters.
The dialogue, and there is a lot of it, is completely unbelievable, and not in a good way. Sometimes when I read a book and I come across particularly witty but unlikely dialogue I think to myself "People don't speak like this, but they should." In this book, everyone speaks like they are a completely enlightened self-help guru. And being as one character is an enlightened guru, this informs the reader who the "hero" of this story is supposed to be. The oldest sibling, Andie, is a quasi-Buddhist self-help star. It took me a third of the book to realize she's supposed to be for real and not full of shit. And amazingly, everyone in this tiny backwater town that is somehow near Washington, D.C. and Winchester, VA yet nowhere near Richmond is completely up on her "work" and "grateful for all she's done." They all love it. And everyone in the family can solve complicated emotional problems with a single conversation. That's all it takes. One conversation and all your family issues from grief to abandonment are solved. And you'll stop feeling feelings apparently, too.
So I guess the quasi-Buddhist self-help bullshit really does work. Next time I need to hammer out some sort of painful emotional issue, I'll just quote a centuries dead poet and everyone will immediately understand how to live their best life.
Perhaps the most aggravating scene in the book is when guru-Andie loses her mind and impulsively makes a move guaranteed to piss off everyone. Her meltdown is triggered by an online troll emailing her to call her fraud when all she did was "write the best book [she] could in that moment." If that's not an author realizing they are not good at this but finding a way to blame the readers I don't know what is. If I'm not good at my job, despite "doing the best I can in that moment" guess what? I don't get to do that job any more.
Also! All of the dialogue! Features an increasingly! annoying! number of exclamation points! Everyone is so excited when they say banal things!
All that said, I can absolutely see why Hallmark jumped on this for a Christmas movie. If you focus only on the family gathering at the holidays to settle the estate and the side story romance, then this could be a cute movie. (And admittedly, one I will watch now that I read the book.) Also, if you focus on the side story romance, the only relatable sibling, Emma, becomes the main character.
Overall, the concept for the story is good, but the execution is lacking. On the bright side, I came away grateful that I'm an only child.
The number of typos and poor typesetting (such as using the wrong quotation mark) made me initially assume this was self-published. The book runs about 400 pages, but could easily lose 50-100 and not lose a step. Interestingly enough, I think the details that are dragging the book down are the type of details would've been perfect in a script. I wonder if the author was pulling from her experience as an actor when developing the scenes. Things like details about the room, or the unfinished breakfast, or the hum of the refrigerator can give an actor the tools needed to get into character and understand their perspective at that moment of a performance. Those details, however, are for the actor to do their work and aren't ever spoken. A stronger editor could've persuaded the author to drop some of these details that only served to bog down the story. Here, those details needed to have more reason for existing. It wasn't painting enough of a picture for the reader to feel immersed in the image, nor was it playing off of any sort of internal dialogue by the characters.
The dialogue, and there is a lot of it, is completely unbelievable, and not in a good way. Sometimes when I read a book and I come across particularly witty but unlikely dialogue I think to myself "People don't speak like this, but they should." In this book, everyone speaks like they are a completely enlightened self-help guru. And being as one character is an enlightened guru, this informs the reader who the "hero" of this story is supposed to be. The oldest sibling, Andie, is a quasi-Buddhist self-help star. It took me a third of the book to realize she's supposed to be for real and not full of shit. And amazingly, everyone in this tiny backwater town that is somehow near Washington, D.C. and Winchester, VA yet nowhere near Richmond is completely up on her "work" and "grateful for all she's done." They all love it. And everyone in the family can solve complicated emotional problems with a single conversation. That's all it takes. One conversation and all your family issues from grief to abandonment are solved. And you'll stop feeling feelings apparently, too.
So I guess the quasi-Buddhist self-help bullshit really does work. Next time I need to hammer out some sort of painful emotional issue, I'll just quote a centuries dead poet and everyone will immediately understand how to live their best life.
Perhaps the most aggravating scene in the book is when guru-Andie loses her mind and impulsively makes a move guaranteed to piss off everyone. Her meltdown is triggered by an online troll emailing her to call her fraud when all she did was "write the best book [she] could in that moment." If that's not an author realizing they are not good at this but finding a way to blame the readers I don't know what is. If I'm not good at my job, despite "doing the best I can in that moment" guess what? I don't get to do that job any more.
Also! All of the dialogue! Features an increasingly! annoying! number of exclamation points! Everyone is so excited when they say banal things!
All that said, I can absolutely see why Hallmark jumped on this for a Christmas movie. If you focus only on the family gathering at the holidays to settle the estate and the side story romance, then this could be a cute movie. (And admittedly, one I will watch now that I read the book.) Also, if you focus on the side story romance, the only relatable sibling, Emma, becomes the main character.
Overall, the concept for the story is good, but the execution is lacking. On the bright side, I came away grateful that I'm an only child.
February 21, 2017
I had difficulty identifying with the characters and story line of The House on Honeysuckle Lane. The characters were flat, never really coming to life. The storyline was drab and fairly unbelievable. And, Oliver's Well, where the series (?) takes place was hardly developed, so did not come across as charming, welcoming or inviting. For me, it was a "miss".
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