Coffee Rings: Three Women, One Tragic Event, Nineteen Years Later, Secrets Surface...

by Yvonne Lehman

They met in college, three young women with unstoppable dreams--until one tragic event pulled them in separate directions. Nineteen years later they each find themselves living back in Laurel Ridge, North Carolina, and covering their deeply held pain with genteel social behavior. Annette is widowed and running a coffee shop. Ruby is married to a minister and raising three children. Lara is divorced and managing a women's boutique. When their long-held secrets surface, how will they hold the fragile pieces of their lives together? Are the stains of the past too deeply imbedded for true forgiveness to occur?

Genres: Christian Fiction, Fiction, Christian

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2004

About the author

Yvonne Lehman founded and directed the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference for twenty-five years. She is author of 59 novels and 16 nonfiction books in the Divine Moments series. Yvonne enjoys mentoring beginning writers.

Her fiftieth novel, Hearts that Survive – A Novel of the TITANIC, (Abingdon), is available in bookstores and at the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge, TN where she periodically holds book signings. The Divine Moments books (Grace Publishing) are a compilation of 45-50 articles written by various authors.

Reviews

[Deborah Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well first off the writing style was really messing with me. I don’t know why it just wasn’t flowing for me. Secondly it was rather a hard story. It had good turns and a good wrap up but it seemed at the same time so complicated and then also so simplistic. Also I’m a little miffed there was nothing really to do with coffee rings other than a few mentions. Like if the title is that distinct there’s got to be something that warrants it more than a few mentions of spilled coffee right? I don’t know if I’ll keep this one around or not.

[Shelley · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was really long and exceedingly boring. It took over 150 pages before it finally gave a hint as to what the big mystery was and about another 100 before it finally revealed the entire thing. I seriously did NOT like it at all and I'm surprised it was even printed. It is not Yvonne's best work. I only finished the book out of sheer morbid curiosity to see what the blasted "mystery" was... and what a let down that was too! I do not recommend this book just because it drags forever. Nothing wrong with the content except for the long drawn out storyline.

[Charelle Shipman-Edmondson · Rating 3 out of 5]

YEAH, this one was a bit underwhelming for me.

Plenty inspirational, filled with enough Christianity for the lay-member and Jesus follower to save anybody, ALL THAT PART I didn't mind....I felt drawn to those parts, and felt at ease reading those moments.

The first half was very suspenseful, and leading up to the big "secret & mystery" was worth reading, however, afterwards, it was a bit of a let down as it was being revealed. The plot gave way like it was going to be BIGGER than was originally thought about, and well, quite frankly IT WASN'T. The surprise about what happened at that beach house on the Outer Banks was really a let down, and the only part that I thought truly surprising was left in the note that Dove left her momma. That was about IT!!!

I felt that is dragged on a bit afterwards also. I get that everything was being tidied up, and finished off, but it kinda didn't take 5 more chapters afterwards to do that. Albeit short chapters(some of them), it still didn't quite need the extra 50 pages or so.....IMHO!

All-in-all, not a total disaster, but it did drag on a little too long.... I did like the questions and scripture at the end also. I can see how this would be very helpful for a book club who chose this book for their club read.

P.S. I too would like to go to Israel one day also!!!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I would have given this book two stars, but I added a star because "Coffee Rings" does share several moving stories of redemption. Otherwise, the writing is boring, I never connected with any of the characters emotionally, and I felt like I was looking in on the story rather than experiencing it with the characters. I found myself wishing it would end and only read to the end because I was curious about the 19-year-old mystery.

[Inisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half of this book really draws you in. You keep wanting to know what happened, it's quite suspenseful. However; I feel after the story is revealed, there are many small stories that are rushed to a close. While I feel all the small stories were connected well in the beginning, it didn't seem as well connected at the end. I did like the book overall and the message is a great one!

[Daniel Hood · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfect example of “just because it was two dollars on clearance doesn’t mean you should buy it”.. this book had its moments but mostly it was boring imo. Got through it in a day just to get it over with fyi lol

[Jeannette Cohea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a page turner because I wanted to know the secret. I enjoyed it but there were a lot of characters to keep up with and although they are tied together it seemed like a lot.

[Debbie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing is very good, especially the middle part (about 100 pages). However, I HATE it when an author jerks me around, thus the loss in stars.

The book is 300 pages long. The first 118 pages are actually the middle of the story and refer melodramatically to some vague but horrible, terrible, life-shattering event that happened 19 years ago. The pastor's wife keeps thinking about a mysterious letter and pressing a 'green item' to her chest when thinking about that past. You expect that 'green item' to be something really astonishing and profound, yet two-thirds of the way into the book, we finally find out it's simply the swimsuit bottom of a two-piece suit.

Hiding the 'big event' does nothing for the story. It only left me frustrated with having vague clues as to what was going on when all the characters knew exactly what was going on. The reader is deliberately left to wonder. If the book had started at the beginning, at the accident as seen by the nineteen year old girls, then worked forward through the confession, the new information learned, and the resolution, I would have given the story more stars.

Another problem I had was with Shelby in the first half of the story. The motivation for her acting like a snotty brat at age 25 is not really established ahead of time, but just sprung on us. She's never seen as a nice person before hand, either, so we have to take the author's word for it that there's some reason we should want to spend our precious time reading about a character you want to shake some sense into (if not just strangle on the spot).

So that others don't have to go through the fustration of the first third of this book, here are some of the details about the big event: Four college girls go to the beach by themselves for a vacation. They grab some forbidden beer, get drunk, and decide to go skinny-dipping. While swimming, one girl drowns and even CPR can't save her. They call 911, hide the beer, and dress the body and themselves in swimming suits, but the wrong swimsuit bottom is put on the body. (Thus, the significance of the green swimsuit bottom to the girl's mother, the pastor's wife.) The girls are Christians, so they hide that they were drunk and skinny-dipping. (In fact, that 'horrible' secret seems to eat at them more than the fact their friend died on them.) The letter the pastor's wife has is a letter from her daughter left right before she went off swimming and died. It holds a clue as to why things played out the way they did, but neither side (the three girls or the mother) has been talking so no one knows the full truth. The rest of the mystery, I'll leave for you to find out.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story about Eunice and Henry, their daughter Dove, and Dove's friends Ruby, Lara, and Annette. It is 19 years later and Dove's death is still affecting everyone in their day-to-day lives. With only 6 months to live, Eunice wants to know the truth about her daughter's death and Ruby, Lara, and Annette relive the nightmare of a time when they were young and carefree. The author wrote this story in such a way that all of these lives are intertwined. The book does have a Christian theme and focuses on guilt and how it can force itself in your life. Forgiveness is a gift each character wants and needs. I am thankful for writer's who get me into the emotions of others in their stories. This was an excellent story.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently had a chance to meet Yvonne who is a charming and generous lady. This is the first of her books I've read. It was fun because it's set in a nearby town that I know pretty well. She did a wonderful job of building tension. What was the mysterious green item? What did Eunice have sealed up in the back of her Bible? My only complaint was that after the tension was release, things were maybe a little too tidy. I've learned to appreciate the untidiness of real life.

I'm looking forward to reading more of Yvonne's 40+ books. Especially her latest set on the Titanic . . .

[Debbie Harlow · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm having trouble finishing this book. Normally I would have read a book of this length in a day or two. I rarely start a book without finishing it so I will probably come back to this one over the summer and give it another try.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

average plot, average writing, average characters--not much to recommend it, especially among the other bazillion Christian fiction books like it

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent book. Pretty predictable, but in a relaxing way. Would probably not read it again.

[Pamela Trawick · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5