LILY IN BLOOM

Author: Margaret P. Cunningham ISBN: 9781934912027 5/2008 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: BLACK LYON PUBLISHING

Stunning older woman. Mysterious younger man. A garden of infinite possibilities … The terms of fifty-year-old Lily McVay’s divorce settlement are quirky at best: live in her ex-husband’s ancestral mausoleum of a house, restore her dead ex-mother-in-law’s renowned garden, and host the small Gulf Coast town’s overblown annual soiree. Lily needs help in the worst way. Aided and abetted by her “I’ll help bury the body, no questions asked” friends, an octogenarian neighbor with a sixth sense, and a gardening genius named Will, Lily sets out to lay old ghosts to rest and grow a new life. Not only is handsome thirty-something Will determined to save Lily from horticultural disaster, but the bond between them may prove that more is starting to bloom than just the garden.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Margaret Cunningham sets her contemporary romance, LILY IN BLOOM, in a small Gulf Coast town (apparently near Mobile, Alabama?) once known for its abundance of azaleas and where Lily McVay has just celebrated the trifecta of middle age: she turned 50, her divorce was finalized on the same day, and the clock started ticking on the stipulation in her divorce—she'd get to keep the ancestral McVay home if she restored the gardens and hosted the annual garden club gala where her mother-in-law would be honored posthumously. Thankfully, Lily has two best friends, Helen and Marilee, to keep her from sinking too low. In fact, Helen uses her garden club connections to find Lily a studly young landscaper to help with the restoration project for free since he's working on his Master Gardener designation. Will Will be able to make Lily's lilies bloom in time for the soiree?

Cunningham delves into several great topics—safe weight loss, older women in relationships with younger men, jealous ex-wives out to get the women who've dated their ex, among them—while incorporating a lot of humor, a little suspense and the briefest tidbits of intimacy between said virile landscaper and a cougar named Lily. I laughed out loud at several of the female musketeers' antics, cried over relationships lost and panicked when Lily seemed to be haunted by both the living and the dead. I was amused that all of the women in Howard McVay's life are named for flora-mother Rosemary, ex-wife Lily and new fiancé Heather. And of course, there are always bonus points when food, menus, eating, and cooking are included.

Each of the characters are well rounded with both positive attributes as well as their own little flaws that make them human. It was fun to read about regular people worried about normal things like bills and kids and getting that musty smell of a dead mother-in-law out of the parlor.

LILY IN BLOOM is a wonderful romance and a joy to read with well drawn characters who each speak in their own distinctive southern voice, lots of great description, and some interesting complications and revelations. The southern heat was apparent! Any reader who believes in the power of love to make everything be all right will enjoy the easy pace of this beautiful story.

Susan Barton