First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen

Series: Waverley Family #2
304 p.
Publisher: St. Martin Press
Published: 1/20/15
Source: NetGalley and publisher for review

It's October in Bascom, North Carolina, and autumn will not go quietly. As temperatures drop and leaves begin to turn, the Waverley women are made restless by the whims of their mischievous apple tree... and all the magic that swirls around it. But this year, first frost has much more in store. 

Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverley’s Candies. Though her handcrafted confections—rose to recall lost love, lavender to promote happiness and lemon verbena to soothe throats and minds—are singularly effective, the business of selling them is costing her the everyday joys of her family, and her belief in her own precious gifts. 

Sydney Waverley, too, is losing her balance. With each passing day she longs more for a baby— a namesake for her wonderful Henry. Yet the longer she tries, the more her desire becomes an unquenchable thirst, stealing the pleasure out of the life she already has. 

Sydney’s daughter, Bay, has lost her heart to the boy she knows it belongs to…if only he could see it, too. But how can he, when he is so far outside her grasp that he appears to her as little more than a puff of smoke? 

When a mysterious stranger shows up and challenges the very heart of their family, each of them must make choices they have never confronted before. And through it all, the Waverley sisters must search for a way to hold their family together through their troublesome season of change, waiting for that extraordinary event that is First Frost.

My thoughts:
It has been quite a while since I read Garden Spells. You do not have to have read that book to read this one, but I recommend it because it was such a good book. However, if you only have a chance to read this one, do not worry you will not be lost.

To me, Sarah Addison Allen is the author I go to for magical realism. I was curious to read more of the Waverley magic. I was not disappointed with this book. I enjoy magical realism as it seems to bring the extraordinary out of being "different" and entertains me more than most chick lit out there. In this book there is also an added theme running through the Waverley women and girls. The theme of finding oneself and accepting who you are despite your fears. It was a theme I quite enjoyed.

I give this book 4 1/2 stars. While it didn't have quite the impact that Garden Spells had on me it still wove it's magic about me and I enjoyed myself with the Waverleys. I recommend it to those that enjoy magical realism.