Join No.1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber in Cedar Cove!
Come to 5-B Poppy Lane, where you'll meet Helen Shelton, her granddaughter Ruth, and Ruth's husband, Paul. They'll offer you a cup of mulled cider and tell you the story of how Ruth and Paul met. And you'll hear about Helen's breathtaking adventures during the Second World War!
Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove. A special place to live. A special place to visit.!
Debbie Macomber is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and one of today’s most popular writers with more than 200 million copies of her books in print worldwide. In her novels, Macomber brings to life compelling relationships that embrace family and enduring friendships, uplifting her readers with stories of connection and hope. Macomber’s novels have spent over 1,000 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Fifteen of these novels hit the number one spot.
In 2023, Macomber’s all-new hardcover publication includes Must Love Flowers (July). In addition to fiction, Macomber has also published three bestselling cookbooks, three adult coloring books, numerous inspirational and nonfiction works, and two acclaimed children’s books.
Celebrated as “the official storyteller of Christmas”, Macomber’s annual Christmas books are beloved and six have been crafted into original Hallmark Channel movies. Macomber is also the author of the bestselling Cedar Cove Series which the Hallmark Channel chose as the basis for its first dramatic scripted television series. Debuting in 2013, Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove was a ratings favorite for three seasons.
She serves on the Guideposts National Advisory Cabinet, is a YFC National Ambassador, and is World Vision’s international spokesperson for their Knit for Kids charity initiative. A devoted grandmother, Debbie and Wayne live in Port Orchard, Washington, the town which inspired the Cedar Cove series.
I enjoyed a reread of this short novella in the Cedar Cove Series. I liked it better this time around. I enjoyed being back in Cedar Cove and having Charlotte appear in the story a bit. The other main characters in the novella were new, but good ones.
Learning Helen's story was very interesting, and the budding romance between her granddaughter, Ruth Shelton, and Paul Gordon, was sweet. I felt that Ruth was a little too set in her ways part of the time, but she did move past that.
This short story is a nice addition to the Cedar Cove Series.
5-B Poppy Lane by Debbie Macomber Cedar Cove #5.5 originally published in Hearts Divided (2006) with Lois Faye Dyer and Katherine Stone 107-page Kindle Ebook story starts on 15 and ends on 91
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Novella
Featuring: Letter From Author, Bibliography, Cast of Characters, Seattle, Washington; Widower, Granddaughter, Marines, War Stories, WWII, Afghanistan, Multiple POVs, Multiple Timelines, Pen Pal Trope, Deployments, Christmas, Preview of Christmas on Candy Cane Lane by Sheila Roberts Ch. 1
Rating as a movie: PG-13 for adult content
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🏵🌸
My thoughts: 🔖Page 15 of 107 Prologue - I could be wrong as I know both of these books were published in 2006 but reading the character list although it was published in 2011 makes me feel like perhaps I am reading this book too soon. I am going to read the opening of book 6 and then decide which one to read first. 🔖 I had to read 2 different versions but I did find an earlier published version of 6 Rainier Drive and the information on the character list predates the information on this character list so I'm going to pause this book and read that one.
I definitely could have read this book before 6 Rainier Drive. None of the characters mentioned in the characters list appear in this story outside of Charlotte, Helen, Ruth, and Paul so the spoiler character descriptions jumped the gun. They don't even tell you what's going on in Cedar Cove outside Charlotte's marriage to Ben so it could have fit in anywhere, which explains why it was published before 6 Rainier Drive.
Recommend to others: Yes! This was a nice change for the series.
Cedar Cove 1. 16 Lighthouse Road (2001) 2. 204 Rosewood Lane (2002) 3. 311 Pelican Court (2003) 4. 44 Cranberry Point (2004) 5. 50 Harbor Street (2005) 5 5. 5-B Poppy Lane (2006) 6. 6 Rainier Drive (2006) 7. 74 Seaside Avenue (2007) 8. 8 Sandpiper Way (2008) 8.5. A Cedar Cove Christmas (2008) 9. 92 Pacific Boulevard (2009) 10. 1022 Evergreen Place (2010) 11. 1105 Yakima Street (2011) 12. 1225 Christmas Tree Lane (2011) Welcome Back to Cedar Cove (2021) Related series: Rose Harbor 0.5. When First They Met (2012) 1. The Inn at Rose Harbor (2012) 1.5. Lost and Found in Cedar Cove (2013) 2. Rose Harbor in Bloom (2013) 3. Love Letters (2014) 3.5. Falling for Her (2015) 4. Silver Linings (2015) 5. Sweet Tomorrows (2016)
I enjoyed this short story that tied in with the Cedar Cove series. I'm glad I didn't skip it like I thought about doing. I've loved every story in the series I've read to this point.
I read this in a kindle version of omnibus Christmas in Cedar Cove which includes this novella and the novella that slots in between books 8&9 of the cedar cove series. I'm not sure why this slots in at this point in the series as apart from the inclusion of Charlotte from previous books who is friends with Helen a character in this story this is quite easily a stand alone novel in itself (at least you don't need to have read the previous 5 books to follow the story), whether this story contains information that will be relevant to future cedar cove books I can't yet say but moving onto book 6 to find out Meanwhile I enjoyed the story and it made for a lovely evenings reading
This was a great story mixing in military and Christmas. We learn about how Ruth met her husband Paul and the obstacles they overcame to be together and while this was going on intermixed is the story of Helen Shelton and her battles during WWII including a previous marriage conspiring against the German's spending two years in a concentration camp and being rescued by her second husband Sam prior to them knowing what they were going to be two each other.
So much homeyness in this book and hints of romance it was such a refereshing change from reading mysteries lately!
As with all of Debbie Macomber's books, I loved this one. Very quick read. Nice storyline, fun characters. I am addicted to the Cedar Cove books and didn't even know this one existed until my husband gave it to me for Christmas!! :)
⏱ Sixty second, no spoiler summary Short novella in the middle of the Cedar Cove series. The only original character is Charlotte and that’s just in small parts. Helen’s granddaughter Ruth comes to visit and brings her new “friend”, Paul. Paul is a soldier, stationed overseas, and had been writing to Ruth for a few months. They’ve come to have feeling for each other, but Ruth is turned off by the military life. She starts to push Paul away until she hears her grandmother’s story. Helen used to be part of the French resistance during WW2 and was married once before. Once Ruth hears the entire story, she has a change of heart. Happy ending.
👍🏻Turn Ons I love the WW2 story! There is a story inside of a story and that’s pretty awesome to do in a 100 page book.
👎🏻 Turn Offs Ruth bothered me. She doesn’t approve of war, but decided to send a Christmas card to a soldier? That seemed really odd to me. I did like the conclusion, but she felt selfish to me.
👵🏻 Safe to talk about with Grandma? Yup! No language, sex or violence. Grandma would have loved this one.
⭐Rating ⭐ I gave this four stars and while it’s not critical to the rest of the Cedar Cove stories, it’s still a fun read.
Title & Author: 5-B Poppy Lane by Debbie Macomber Format: Kindle Read: 2/26/21-2/26/21 Rating: Four stars
In spite of the book cover, this is not a Christmas story at all. It ends at Christmas, but other than that, the holidays play no part in it. This short novella is also not about any of the normal characters from the Cedar Cove series. It is about one of Charlotte’s elderly friends, Helen, and Helen’s granddaughter. As Helen approaches the end of her life, she decides to tell her granddaughter about her time in France during WWII as a resistance fighter. Meanwhile, her granddaughter is struggling to choose between her politics and the man she loves.
The story had its interesting moments, but it’s difficult to be invested in characters that we meet for such a short time. It’s more like a brief acquaintance. I rarely rate novellas higher than 3 stars because of that. It’s just not enough depth for me.
Dari semua cucunya, Ruth/cucu perempuan satu-satunya adalah kesayangannya. Tidak disangka, ketika Ruth membawa teman laki-lakinya ketika mengunjunginya malah membawa kenangan masa lalu Helen. Dimana Paul mirip sekali dengan Jean-Claude, suami pertamanya yang tewas saat Perang Dunia 2. Ruth itu aktif di kegiatan protes perang, dilalah Paul adalah tentara marinir aktif. Apalagi Ruth sebagai guru tidak bisa berpindah-pindah mengikuti lokasi tugas Paul. Lalu masuklah Helen dengan kisah cintanya dengan kakek Ruth yang tentu saja tentara juga. Dari situ Ruth bisa menerima Paul dengan pekerjaannya.
I read A Cedar Cove Christmas and thought Christmas in Cedar Cove was a sequel but its the same story in paperback!!!! Anyway, in the paperback I have 5-B Poppy Lane is written so I read it and it was wonderful! The storyline is so interesting to me and it part of history! These stories written about past history are very enlightening to me. Putting what I've read in history books into novel form makes it more real and unfortunately it wasn't pleasant experiences, but IS part of history! Good writing on her part and great story!
It’s a short but lovely book! The characters are interesting and I especially loved the bond Ruth has with her grandma. Helen, Ruth’s grandma is no ordinary grandma, the stories she tells from her life are fascinating. I would have liked to hear more of them. Ruth has to make the choice between following love or her political ideas.
Of all the Macomber books I've read this has been my least favorite. There are two story lines, grandmother & granddaughter, & I could only get behind the grandmother's story. I essentially skipped Chapters 2 & 3 & then it was hit or miss after that. All total, I probably had less than 2 hours invested in this. A read I could have done without.
Even though I usually like this author's books , this one was very boring and predictable. She could have done better. The only redeeming feature was the grandmother's story.
I loved this story, intro vs you back to the WWII erea, and the story of Helen Selton,! She tell the story of her in the French Resistant. It was a on of two book type i love, romance and wwII history.
a very quick read for a feel good Christmas story. Ruth sends a random Christmas card to a soldier and Paul receives it and which starts a correspondence between the two. As the romance starts, Ruth has conflicting feelings regarding Paul's career and meshing it with her life.
It was incredibly refreshing to read a book where none of the narrators die. I kept expecting Grandma to die. And she didn’t. And I was floored by that. I need to start reading more books where the main characters don’t die. 5 stars just for that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Debbie Macomber never disappoints and this story was so lovely. I was surprised though with grandma Helen’s story, but what a story it was. She surprised her own family. Pure happiness.
I want to just live inside these books! Christmas wouldn’t be the same without Macomber books to read!!!! If only we could all be as loving to each other as the characters in her books!