The eternal optimist and romantic too, Debbie Macomber luckily decided not to retire her typewriter just yet and created still another soul-searching and enriching tale, MUST LOVE FLOWERS. MUST LOVE FLOWERS takes place in post-pandemic times. Of course, her characters are going to reflect just how their lives, neighborhood, and world changed during that time. Just like recovering from any natural disaster, it takes time and work to regroup. In the case of Joan Sample, it also means learning to face her new life as a widow. Actually, it has been four years, but Joan hasn’t been able to get past fears and loneliness. Her marriage had been great, filled with love and closeness with her husband. Two grown sons round out her family. And now it seems as if life is telling her it is time to return to the world of the living.
A starting point is her beloved garden which has been left in utter disarray. Her HOA let her know it is a real problem. Time to pull herself up by her bootstraps. New beginnings are on the horizon for Joan.
Losing someone important in a family has far-reaching effects. How each member reacts, responds, and recovers is such an individual step. Unique to each party. But as a whole, a family, in MUST LOVE FLOWERS, we see the widow and her two sons making strides toward becoming whole again. A new normal, to be sure. Baby steps. But with hope, grace, and love a happy ending is indeed possible. For the Sample family, Joan, Steve, and Nick, this is the story of their journey to become whole again. With the introduction of some new friends, both two and four-legged the Sample world is growing again. And like Joan’s garden flourishing.
MUST LOVE FLOWERS is another glorious piece of family literature by Debbie Macomber. If you are new to her works, MUST LOVE FLOWERS is an excellent introduction to this very prolific author.
Two women at different stages of life find themselves on a journey of renewal after undergoing hardships in this uplifting novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber.
“Wise, warm, witty, and charmingly full of hope, this story celebrates the surprising and unexpected ways that family, friendship, and love can lift us up.”—Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Four Winds
Joan Sample is not living the life she expected. Now a widow and an empty-nester, she has become by her own admission something of a recluse. But after another birthday spent alone, she is finally inclined to listen to her sister, who has been begging Joan to reengage with the world. With Emmie’s support, Joan gathers the courage to take some long-awaited steps: hiring someone to tame her overgrown garden, joining a grief support group, and even renting out a room to a local college student. Before long Joan is starting to feel a little like herself again.
Across town, Maggie Herbert works mornings as a barista, tending to impatient customers before rushing to afternoon nursing classes. She lives with her alcoholic father, ducking his temperamental outbursts and struggling to pay the household bills. But her circumstances brighten when she finds a room for rent in Joan’s home. In the unexpected warmth of her new situation, Maggie finds a glimmer of hope for a better life. But will Maggie’s budding attraction to one of her favorite customers ruin the harmony she’s only recently found with Joan? Meanwhile, what is Joan to make of the mysterious landscaper who’s been revitalizing her garden—a man who seems to harbor a past loss of his own?
As Maggie and Joan confront difficult life choices, they draw strength from this new friendship in surprising ways—discovering in the process that “found family” is often the very best kind.
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