On Moonberry Lake By Holly Varni / Revell

We’ve all seen those signs, “Life is Better at the Lake!”. Holly Varni’s novel proves the truth in this statement. Her novel On Moonberry Lake is chock-full of characters to love and plots you fall for hook, line, and sinker. From beginning to end, readers are treated to equal parts of heartwarming sentiment and comedy.

The book opens with a spotlight on broken relationships experienced by the main character Cora Matthews. She attends her mom’s funeral and can only think about how the words, distant and estranged, perfectly describe their relationship. Two weeks before the funeral, she cancels her wedding plans and breaks her engagement. When she makes the trip back to her childhood hometown she feels the weight of being alone and untethered to anyone and any place. She never dreamed she would be back at Moonberry Lake where she spent carefree days living in her grandparents’ lakeside lodge. A lodge she and her mother left decades ago due to a family dispute that remained unanswered all the years they lived away. Cora learns at the funeral that she has inherited the lodge. It’s a structure that suffers from neglect, but can be a temporary home for Cora while she starts to find a new path forward.

Cora indeed finds a full life lakeside made up of quirky but loyal new friends. She and two other characters work hard to repair the lodge and bring it back to life. The characters, Cora meets while carrying out her daily tasks can only be described as one-of-a-kind. Trust me when I say, you’ll be hard pressed to pick a favorite. From the bossy checkout clerk at the local store to the math genius who suffers from agoraphobia, each one is revealed to be a beautiful soul. There’s romance in the story too and what a love story it is. Finally Cora is able to invest in someone and build connections with her new community. She is naturally apprehensive but she listens to the wise counsel of her new neighbor Kitty when she says, “Happiness is yours for the taking. Sometimes you just have to do things scared and see how they work out.”

On Moonberry Lake is pure book joy. Pick up a copy and enjoy this delightful story. I received a complimentary copy from the publisher Revell in exchange for my honest review. #OnMoonberryLake!