Heather Webber. The queen of magical realism, has done it again! The Lights of Sugarberry Cove was such a delight to read. I was sorry to see it end. It is a coming home, reconnecting with family, healing, and discovering yourself novel with magic sprinkled throughout. The ending was surprising and so sweet.

After 18 year old Sadie Way Scott is brought back to life after drowning in the lake at her mother’s B&B by the lights that surround her in its depths she wonders why her life was saved. She leaves her home in search of her life’s purpose. She develops a large following on her blog about southern hospitality while sharing stories of southern charm through family recipes. Her sister Leala Clare blames herself for what happened to her sister but why? When their mother has a heart attack they must come home and help run the B&B. The quirky guests, Uncle Camp and townspeople add flavor to the story. This is definitely another 5 Star read by the magical Heather Webber.

A warm-hearted, charming Southern magical realism novel about family, forgiveness, and finding your way. The story is told from the point of view of two sisters, Sadie and Leala, who have come home to care for their mother Susannah after she suffers a minor heart attack. The family is all somewhat estranged ever since Sadie drowned and came back to life eight years earlier. Ever since, she's been traveling all over the south, producing a youtube show about Southern cooking and longing for a place to call home, while Leala has tried to build the perfect home for her workaholic husband and adorable little boy. Susannah, meanwhile, is struggling to run her B&B, and she was definitely the least likable character in the book. I was invested in Sadie and Leala's stories, and many of the other supporting characters were really fun, but I really struggled to feel much empathy for Susannah. There are lots of secrets and past betrayals to uncover and move past, and a nice dose of magical realism. If you're looking for a feel-good summer read, pick this up. My thanks to NetGalley, Macmillan-Tor/Forge Publishing, and Heather Webber for the opportunity to read and review this book.

The book is laced with southern charm, and the characters are believable and engaging. The plot moved at a steady pace to keep my interest. Webber’s use of light magical realism will keep you smiling. There are too many great moments and feels to describe. This would be a perfect read on a chilly day, while wrapped up in a blanket with a warm cup of your favorite beverage.

I loved and adored this book with my entire heart and soul. I truly didn't want it to end and I if I could live in Sugarberry Cove I would go pack my bags NOW!!! Sadie and her sister Leala Claire were raised in Sugarberry Cove in their parent's B&B. Their dad died when the girls were little so it has been their mom and them for as long as they remember. The lake that sits right outside the B&B is magical and grants wishes once a year during the light festival. Sadie leaves Sugarberry Cove at 18 when she drowned in the lake and the lady of the lake saved her. Now 8 years later, both Sadie and Leala return home to take care of their mom when she suffers a heart attack. This book is full of family, love, and magic. The scenery in the book makes you feel like you are in Sugarberry Cove with all the incredible characters. This is a book that will stay in my heart forever. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

THE LIGHTS OF SUGARBERRY COVE by HEATHER WEBBER

An enjoyable and enchanting story of healing, love, family and small-town Southern charm.

*Special thanks to #Macmillan-Tor/Forge and #netgalley for providing a free ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.*

ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN

I adore a book with a touch of magic thrown in and this was just the sort of book to chase away the doldrums and make me smile. It had all the elements I look for is a heartwarming, feel-good read. Wishes. Destiny. Love. Support. Joy. Happiness.

My first book by this popular and much heralded author. It sure will NOT be my last!

As the book opens we are introduced to Sadie Way Scott as she interviews a guest for her video blog {vlog}. We find out, through questions posed to her BY this interviewee (and some internal monologue by this MC), that Sadie has a claim to fame – her peculiar hair colour. We find out that she was not born with this colour, but in fact it changed after she died by drowning - and was brought back! Brought back by …… magic!?

The accident – her drowning and subsequent saving by mystical powers – caused Sadie Way to question everything she knew about her life, her destiny – why she was saved? She realizes that she has no clue why and that question has haunted her for the past 8 years since – caused her to run away from her hometown and those who love her. Seeking….. what? Even she isn’t certain.

Once she hears her mother is on the mend from a heartattack, she (reluctantly) heads for home – back to Sugarberry Cove and the B&B her mother will now need help running. Along with her older sister, Leala Clare, a contentedly married mother of a beautiful boy -- yet why is she so unhappy? – we are granted insight into the complexities behind how our decisions, pasts, relationships, missed chances – can have an effect on our destiny.

By the first 5 pages I was HOOKED and could not put the book down. What followed was a joy ride of a sweet read. Told from the alternating perspectives of our MC, Sadie Way and her older sister Leala Clare in alternating chapters. The writing is fluid and so descriptive it captured my imagination and pulled me in to their world. So much so that if I put the book down to take care of other matters, I had to remind myself I was going back to read not watch a movie I had paused – the exquisitely described setting came to life for me! I wanted to pick up and MOVE to Sugarberry Cove!

The characters are very well developed – they took up residence in my heart and I am better for having gotten to know them – they were THAT real! The setting superbly described. This book shone with its mystical lantern festival and cryptic mentions of a lake guardian, and super-surprise ending – times two!
It truly was a magical experience from start to finish – with a believable story of healing and growth and love woven in between.

The perfect lakeside (beach) read! Just be prepared to forget everything around you as you get pulled into this amazingly enchanted world and these wonderful characters.

Rating: 5/5
Theme: Fiction, Magical realism
# Pages: 272 pgs
Read alike authors: Juliet Blackwell, Bailey Cates, Julia Chapman
Read alike books: Like Water for Chocolate and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café.

I have no words for this book. It was absolutely amazing. I couldn't put it down and at the same time I didn't want it to end. Such an amazing story with such a great cast of characters. I absolutely loved and recommend this for EVERYONE to read.

In the vein of Sarah Addison Allen and the Waverly sisters, we meet the Scott family. Mama Susannah and daughters Sadie Way and Leaks Clare grew up in Sugarberry Cove. Their father had a dream of running a B&B, but died soon after the opening. Because of this, Susannah has ran the B&B since his passing. Like mother and daughters for generations, Susannah and her daughter's have mother daughter hurts from the past and present that keep them at arms length from each other.

Sadie runs A Southern Hankerin on YouTube where she tells the stories of different southern people while cooking a recipe that is meaningful to them. After almost dying in the Cove at 18, she's stayed away as much as possible telling others stories but completely running from her own. Leala has a wonderful husband and a beautiful boy, but is struggling with giving up her career to be a stay at home mother. After Susannah has a heart attack, the girls meet her at the B&B to help her recuperate.

Known to be magical, every year the town holds a water lantern festival. History says the Lady of the Lake will answer a few wishes on that night. Told with vivid imagery and a host of quirky family and guests, this year the girls just may finally be able to put the past behind them and finally become the family each of them has been needing.

I'll admit this started out a bit slow. I was a little disappointed because I had read such amazing things about it. It definitely picked up speed around 20% in and after that I couldn't put it down! Told from each sisters perspective, we really get to see just how the past has shaped each sister. The story of The Lady of the Lake is woven in perfectly as well. Magical realism can be a hard genre to make believable, but this was executed perfectly here. Written like a Hallmark movie and with imagery so vivid, you'll find yourself googling A Southern Hankerin hoping youll get to watch Sadie tell her stories and be disappointed to find this was in fact just fiction. But a beautiful work of art nonetheless. Magic, romance, and women's fiction come together to create a five star read!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley, Heather Webber, and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Like Midnight At The Blackbird Cafe was for me the summer of 2019, The Lights Of Sugarberry Cove is just the book I needed to read right now!

I absolutely love stories about women reclaiming / finding their way, and small town (Southern) charm, where the town / setting is a character unto itself, all with a little magic thrown in.

Can't recommend Heather Webber's books enough!

4.25/5⭐️

Sadie Way Scott almost drowned at 18 during the annual water lantern festival in her small Alabama hometown, supposedly saved by the Lady of the Lake. Feeling restless and adrift (no pun intended), she dropped out of college and left town where she began her own social media show A Southern Hankerin’.

Her sister, Leala Clare, has a husband who is a workaholic and a toddler from a very difficult birth. She worries that her marriage may be in trouble, and she feels the need for the social aspect of a job. Not to mention she and her mom are constantly at odds.

This story, told in alternating chapters by Sadie and Leala is all about healing rifts (their mom is quite the character), appreciating life, finding one’s purpose and second chances. While a bit too convenient how everything works out, I didn’t mind it as the story had a lot of wisdom, laughs and feel-goodness along the way.

Recommended, especially if you like a little fantasy thrown in with your southern fiction.

My thanks to #NetGalley and #ForgeBooks for providing me the free early arc for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

This book absolutely melted my heart. The Lights of Sugarberry Cove follows two sisters on their path to healing relationships and growing in love after their mother has an unexpected heart attack.

This is such an amazing story packed with family, magic, and love and I feel like even though it is not my personal story I am a better person for reading it. It has been a while since a book has made me sob but this one did it for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advance copy of this books in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Lights of Sugarberry Cove by Heather Webber is another magical story by her. She writes such a beautiful story of two sisters, Leala and Sadie, who head back to the B&B their mother owns in Sugarberry Cove, Alabama after she suffers a heart attack. Together, the two sisters must find ways to heal from their individual and collective hardships while at the cove. I loved this story as much as I loved Webber’s other novels and look forward to more.

If you love stories that evoke emotions and mirror real relationships, as always, with a touch of magic… you will love this book!
5 stars!

This was my first book by Heather Webber so I wasn't 100% certain what I was going into but this cover was gorgeous and I see "family coming back together" and "lake magic" and I immediately wanted to read this one.

Right away I loved Sadie, trying to find herself and her meaning away from the small town she grew up in, and felt she disappointed when after a near-death experience she dropped out of college, and her sister Leala, the overly anxious mother and rule-follower. I'm glad we were able to see this book through both of their perspectives and how they dealt with their circumstances changing, their relationships with each other and their mother, and looking for their purpose in the future. A major tone of this book was about personal fulfillment and Sadie is often wondering "why the lake magic saved her?" and how others may shape that purpose for better or for worse I think that will resonate with readers.

Besides Sadie and Leala, the cast of characters here just warmed my heart. I am a sucker for found families and The Lights of Sugarberry Cove had family-family and found-family and surprise-found-family. I wanted to hug each and every one of them. Teddy and Bree and Iona and Buzzy and Camp and Will. My heart was full for each and every one of them and I loved how they're stories were intertwined.

This book felt like summer. Sitting around a campfire, when you're surrounded by people you love, a little sugar- and sun-drunk and the smallest thing sets everyone off into fits of giggles.

When Sadie Way's mother has a hart attack, she can no longer avoid returning to her hometown of Sugarberry Cove and the B&B where she grew up. This heartwarming book, set in a charming lakeside town, alternates between the perspectives of Sadie and her sister Leala Clare. Can these very different sisters heal their strained relationship? Maybe, with some help from the B&B's guests, and a little lake magic.

Many books these days fall flat with a poor ending. Heather Webber got this book just right, perfectly balanced. If you enjoy a cozy story set in a small town community, this book should be your next read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Forge Books with an ARC in exchange for my review.

When she gets the news her mother has had a heart attack Sadie Way Scott returns to the run-down cottage B&B where she and her sister grew up on the shore of an Alabama lake. Sadie, who left eight years earlier and had never returned, is a has YouTube personality with shows featuring folks making family favorite foods while telling the stories surrounding them. Her sister Leala Clare ,a helicopter mom, has left her toddler with her workaholic husband to respond to the crisis. The shabby cottage has a dearth of guests but they, along with the Scott family, the handyman uncle, and the contractor doing renovations on the cottage combine to build a tiny caring community. This is the kind of women's fiction that finds true and lasting love for the characters involved while making the reader laugh and cry. The legend of the Lady of the Lake who is reputed to have saved Sadie when she drowned and fulfilled many wishes over the years imparts a tiny bit of charming fantasy along with a mythic story of a lonely loon. It is a delightful read full of small town Southern charm.

A story of two sisters coming back together to help out when their mom has a heart attack. It is a story of dealing with the past and finding healing. It could easily be made into a Hallmark
Movie.
Thanks for the advanced copy from netgalley and the publisher.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and its characters.
Sadie Way Scott is the host of a TV show about Southern cooking. She finds herself unexpectedly back at her mother’s inn, along with her sister, Leala Clare, when their mother suffers a heart attack.
Sadie has had trouble dealing with being at the inn ever since she almost drowned in the lake several years before. Leala is filled with guilt about that night, whether she should be or not.
But, sisters have to pull together, and these two, along with the inn’s residents, keep things moving for the water lantern festival.
They hope that the “lake magic” will heal their relationship with each other and others.

The Lights of Sugarberry Cove by Heather Webber is a sweet read. Well it is set in Sugarberry Cove after all!

It's about a mother and her two daughters told from the two daughters point of view. Sadie and Leala. All three are in hard places of various kinds and it takes coming together to sort out all the grief and events that have walled them off from each other and love. 

There is a variety of characters who all play there part in making this story a heart warming one with moments of grief. I especially loved the wisdom of Uncle Camp and the child joy of Tucker. 

And is has a smidgeon or more of magical realism, something I am a little partial to. I didn't see how the final twist of this aspect was going to turn out but I loved it.

Family, found family, guilt, grief and love all mingle to make this a book I was sorry to see the ending arrive.

You know that feeling you get when you watch a cooking or home improvement show, or a Hallmark movie--where you can just let your guard down and find comfort in the story? That's the feeling I know I'm going to have when I read a Heather Webber novel. Plus, she adds a dash of magic realism that always makes me smile. The Lights of Sugarberry Cove is just as perfect as Webber's two previous novels I've loved Midnight at the Blackbird Café and South of the Buttonwood Tree but with a summertime spin. Dive into this one if you want a little lake magic in your life this summer.

Thank you Netgalley and Forge Books for the chance to read an advance copy of The lights of Sugarberry Cove by Heather Webber. I had recently finished both Midnight at The Blackbird Cafe and South of the Buttonwood tree and loved both of these books and looked forward to reading this upcoming book. I will admit at first I will admit I felt a little underwhelmed, the magic wasn't there...at first...I was so wrong,,.

Sadie has been avoiding her family since she nearly drowned in the lake just outside her mother's B&B in Sugarberry Cove. Eight years later, she the host of a much-loved show about southern cooking and family, but despite her success, she wonders why she was saved. Sadie's sister, Leala Clare, is still haunted by the guilt she feels over the night her sister almost died. Now, at a crossroads in her marriage, Leala has everything she ever thought she wanted--so why is she so unhappy? The sisters are reunited when their mother suffers a minor heart attack just before Sugarberry Cove's famous water lantern festival, and the two sisters come home to run the B&B while she recovers. It's the last place either of them wants to be, but with a little help from friends and quirky guests, the sisters may come to terms with their strained relationships, accept the past, and rediscover a little lake magic.
As I said I earlier I was enjoying the book but was a bit underwhelmed at first, but all of sudden the magic hit me! There were a few scenes midway through that started to get to me, but the scene when Moo comes back, was the game changer! (Read it, you'll see!!!) The ending was also huge for me!!! I totally recommend this!!!

This is the story of a family with Susannah Scott and her daughters, Sadie and Leala Clare.
When they were children the Scott sisters lost their father and Susannah took over the bed and breakfast that had been his dream. However, in the process of moving her family forward, she buried her own dreams and became distanced from her daughters.
Years later, a new incident changed the lives of all three women. Sadie fell into a lake and almost drowned, but some sort of mythological being saved her. But this tragedy instead of bringing them together only drove them apart.
Eight years later the Scott sisters return home because Susannah suffered a heart attack.
Yes, death and tragedy always lurk in this story.
I don't remember why I picked up this book from Netgalley, Women's Fiction genre is not something I usually read, but I must say it was an excellent choice.
I loved the author's style, I found it refreshing that the narrators were the two sisters.
I was very touched by the family drama between the girls and their mom.
The magical realism theme was very well handled and the plot twists are spectacular.
If you want to immerse yourself in a magical world full of emotions, don't hesitate to book a ticket to Sugarberry Cove.