An almost tender look at the pitfalls of life, The Bitter and Sweet if Cherry Season explores addiction, family, and regret.
Hope returns to a place she isn’t sure she has actually been. The Orchard House has been in her family for some time and it’s the only link to family she has left. With her mother dead and her boyfriend abusive, Hope is praying that her estranged aunt will take her and her daughter in. It is at the Orchard House Hope learns what family truly is and that you can’t run away from the past.
This is an easy read. Molly Fader doesn’t use overly fancy language or sentence 
structure and this keeps the story moving. But the flow is blocked when the author halts aspect of the plot unnecessarily drawing the twist until the end. It becomes frustrating to almost get the story and then changed lanes again. It does give the reader time to guess what might be happening ad lets the reader’s mind wander. In the end, the mystery is heartfelt and unique but the ideas are wrapped up in a couple of chapters without much true emotional exploration.
And that’s what disappoints me most. The book’s tone is too light for the material included. The book never gets really explored the ideas. The author tells us that the characters feel guilt and shame but we really don’t see how it has affected them. The only exception is the daughter Tink. Fader does a wonderful job showing how violence can affect children and how love can be the answer to many an issue.
Overall, the story is interesting but written without a true depth of emotion. I didn’t really feel the characters; I was just told how they feel. The Bitter and Sweet of Cheery Season is sweet in tone without truly examining the bitter.
Publication date: June 9
I received an ARC for review; all opinions are my own.
Stars in Her Eye 