Monday, April 29, 2013

Book Review: Gardenias For Breakfast by Robin Jones Gunn





Mother and daughter bonding story.

Abby has the great opportunity to drive her brother's expensive SUV across the US from Washington to Georgia (his family's going on a business trip to Europe and when they get back to the States they want to drive up the east coast).  She's excited for living in Hawaii has given her a bout of homesickness for the mainland and her Grand Lady.  She brings along her 12 year old daughter, Hannah, so she can meet Grand Lady and have the experience Abby had when she was young.  The mother-daughter journey turns into discovery, finding forgiveness, and family.

You can't go home again.  Abby learns this when she travels back to Louisiana and her favorite relative, her grandmother, Grand Lady.  You can go home and it can still be great, but it's not going to be the same.  That's something we have to learn from experience.  What Abby holds dear to herself isn't always going to work for someone else.  Her daughter is her daughter but she's not Abby.  What Abby needs is not always what Hannah needs and what Hannah needs is not always what Abby needs.

Lessons learned in this story are valuable.   Memories are memories and family is family.  We may feel what we feel about our family members, but they are family and we should not forget them.

I read this book for pure pleasure.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.

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