When Celia Fairchild’s life falls apart (a relationship ends and she loses her job as advice columnist Dear Calpurnia), she decides to head to her estranged aunt’s house in Charleston that she has recently inherited. Celia wants to adopt a baby, but she needs a stable home and income. Her plan is to quickly sale the house and head back to New York. The problem? Aunt Calpurnia was a hoarder, so Celia has to renovate before she can put it on the market. Celia learns a lot about herself and her family throughout the renovation.

As a Charleston resident, I always love a book set in Charleston! I loved the descriptions of the city and the crazy residents on Celia’s street. I think Celia’s journey is one everyone would enjoy! The audiobook is excellent!

Thanks to @NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House for my ARC!

I really enjoyed this book. Marie Bostwick is a great writer! This book had highs and lows, wittiness and several situations that all need resolution. If you like strong women characters forced to pull themselves up and start over, you'll love this book. It's a great comfy/ beach read. Enjoy!

Fired from her advice column, Celia is left scrambling to figure out her next move in life. Going down to Charleston, Celia decides to renovate the house she inherited from her Aunt Calpurnia. This story demonstrated the importance of surrounding yourself with a supportive group in order to make it through. I have never read any other books by Marie Bostwick, but this will not be my last. I am a fan of feel-good stories with happy endings.

One event that I look forward to each springtime is getting to read a new Marie Bostwick book. As always, I wasn’t disappointed when I finally got to read this one. I felt like “The Restoration of Celia Fairchild” helped to brighten my day. It was certainly more relaxing to read about someone else decluttering and restoring an old house than to have to clean my own house! I also love how Marie Bostwick throws in a little bit of sewing into each of her novels. In a year where I’ve had to interact with family and friends through zoom or by phone, it was uplifting to read how Celia also found friendships and family in the unlikeliest of places. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I discovered Marie Bostwick years ago, even before she wrote the Cobbled Court Quilt series, and she has been a favorite ever since. That I've been able to meet her at two different book signings makes it even more special to read her work, whether in novel form or on her blog. Her stories always feature women facing life challenges and somehow quilting or the needle arts along with friendship enter the story. In this newest novel, Celia Fairchild, who has been writing a successful advice column under her aunt's first name, finds herself suddenly both out of a job and the inheritor of a dilapidated Charleston home. Both events seem certain to derail Celia's desire to adopt a baby, but when restoring the house becomes the only way to move ahead, Celia jumps in wholeheartedly. While this probably would not rank as my most favorite Marie Bostwick title, I am always delighted to spend some time with her writing. As always I found her secondary characters added a special warmth to the story, in this case making her new Charleston neighborhood feel real. I read an ecopy of this book available from Netgalley. All opinions are mine.

Celia Fairchild is an advice columnist known as Dear Sugar, until she's not. Celia Fairchild lives in NYC until she doesn't. Although her world has been turned upside down she makes sense of it through the restoration of her aunt's old house. Along the way she also makes sense of what it means to be a family. This is a great story of perseverance, friendship, and what that all results in in the end.

DNF. The main character was so focused on her weight, "good" and "bad" food, and dieting, that I couldn't get past chapter two.

A sweet story full of humor guaranteed to leave you feeling good. After living in New York for years, flying high as a popular columnist, Celia returns to her childhood home in Charleston. She's lost her job and ended her marriage. But the worst part is she feels she has lost her identify because the paper owns her pen name, Calpurnia, and they are giving the "Dear Calpurnia" column to a writer who will do it for a much smaller salary. A quick and easy read full of quirky characters. Descriptions of Charleston make you feel like you've been there.

I absolutely adored The Restoration of Celia Fairchild by Marie Bostwick!! I'm so grateful to Uplit Reads and William Morrow for the gifted copies! Seriously, everyone should add this one to their TBR if they haven't already! The book is heartwarming, uplifting, and quirky, and it's filled with eccentric characters and southern charm!

Celia Fairchild has recently gone through a divorce in NYC, desperately wants to start a family, and finds out she is losing her famous identity, Dear Calpurnia, where she's written an advice column for years. Now jobless, Celia gets a phone call and finds out her real aunt, also named Calpurnia, has passed away. Calpurnia has left her home in South Carolina to Celia, only it's not the home Celia remembers. It's beat up, filled with junk from years of hoarding, and needs a LOT of work. Celia decides to transform herself into parenting material, hoping to be chosen as the mother for an adoption, and fix up the southern home. She finds family and friendships where she least expects it and I just loved this adorable book. I'm sad it's over!

Celia Fairchild is getting her life back in order after a divorce. She's got a great job writing her advice column Dear Calpurnia in New York City, and she's searching for a larger apartment to help her odds of adopting a child.

All of a sudden, Celia's life is in upheaval. Her newspaper is picked up by a large company that fires her and keeps her column's persona. She receives a call that her aunt died and left her a house in Charleston, and she travels to the South to handle the sale of the house.

Celia finds the house in disrepair and decides to use her severance to renovate the home and live there for the home visit with the adoption agency. During the day, Celia is surrounded by construction and the neighbors that are helping with removing the colossal amount of possessions left in the house. At night, she struggles with loneliness in her new city and missing her friends in New York.

Celia goes through a journey with the renovations and discovers that family is closer than she thinks. Her life didn't end up how she expected, but she's no less happy for the surprises the world has given her.

I chose to read this book because it takes place in my hometown of Charleston, South Carolina. This is sometimes a blessing and sometimes a curse, as authors who aren't from the area tend to get things wrong.

In the case of this novel, it was a bit of a curse. The author describes many Charleston restaurants, which makes some portions of the novel read like a travel guide to me as locals are familiar with all of these spots. The descriptions go a little in-depth rather than being a casual name drop. Also, I've never heard a local call a porch a "piazza" as we all use the word porch (or maybe balcony if it's on an upper floor). Piazza sounds like a real estate agent's term more than a local's.

Recommended for fans of women's fiction who enjoy stories about middle-aged women, especially those working on themselves after big life changes.

4.5 stars - I loved it! Would re-read.

This was a lovely starting-over story! It took me awhile to get into this one, but once Celia has settled into dealing with her aunt's house, I was hooked. I loved Celia and the community around her and the family she creates for herself over time. The adoption pieces are great and handled well. The romance didn't really click for me, but the real focus of the story is Celia's personal growth, so that wasn't a big deal. I would absolutely read this again in order to spend more time with these characters. (TW: Adoption/Infertility)

"Love is complicated. Restoration takes time." Happy Pub Day, Marie Bostwick! ⁣
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Book Fam, if ever there was a title suited for a book, it would be this one. The theme of restoration is woven into the fabric of this story and I have to stan. I love a good pun, but what I love the most is overarching themes that are carried throughout a story and sprinkled in when you least expect it. When I finished the book, I had to applaud because Bostwick shows there are levels to writing a book and she absolutely gets it. ⁣
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The Restoration of Celia Farchild is a delightful, heart-warming story about family, community, and resilience in the face of life's disappointments. Celia Fairchild finds herself in the perfect storm of change (ending a marriage that she believes is her last chance at motherhood, losing her job (reminder: read your contracts, people), and the death of her beloved aunt. However, when she discovers she has inherited her aunt's house in her hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, she returns home to see if she can put together the broken pieces of her life.

This book puts me in the mind of Hart of Dixie (I'm still upset that we didn't get more episodes. Like really?!) meets Where'd You Go, Bernadette? Big city girl finds herself in a small town that completely restores (you know I couldn't resist) her idea of love, family, motherhood, and self. ⁣
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A huge thank you to William Morrow Books and HarperCollins for the opportunity to review an advance copy of this book!

I wished I could give this book more than 5 stars because it is so worthy of many more! The family dynamics and the constant struggles and joys makes this book such a great read. Celia is a great character and you just have to fall in love with her. That saying "one mans trash is one mans treasure" might come into play at times in this book! It is a must read for sure!

This is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. I can’t believe I’ve never read a Marie Bostwick novel until now. I really enjoyed her writing. This story is heartwarming—I laughed and I cried. I even took notes! I haven’t done that in forever. There were so many nuggets of wisdom in this book like "trading hostages" and "Just-in-Time Inventory."

Celia is up against a lot, right up until the end, but isn’t real life like that at times? I love books with main characters who are writers. Celia is an advice columnist who gives the best advice but doesn’t apply it to herself. Most of the time Celia doesn’t get what she wants but is able to roll with the punches and there are quite a bit of jabs, so to speak. A sense of community is at the forefront of this novel and is so beautifully written. The majority of the book takes place in Charleston. It's the perfect setting for a book about family, friendship and belonging. There were even a few twists I didn’t see coming. If you’re looking for a book with all the feels—I highly recommend reading this. You won't be disappointed.

Thank you to Net Galley and William Morris for my #gifted copy.

I received an electronic ARC from William Morrow and Custom House through NetGalley.
Bostwick again creates a delightful family of characters who struggle to figure out who they are and where they belong. Celia has been let go from her NYC newspaper advice column role at the same time she receives news that her aunt has died and she now owns Calpurnia's home in Charleston. She and her best friend, Calvin, head to Charleston to see the home and make decisions. Past family drama has kept the Celia from seeing her aunt in over a decade. To their horror, the house is a wreck. Calpurnia had obviously become a hoarder and both the inside and outside showed this. In addition, Celia is also trying to adopt a baby in a private adoption.
So, after setting up all of this, Bostwick then brings in the old and new friends from Charleston. Each character carries a past that needs healing. Readers see that Celia's true gift is her supportive presence and ability to see people for who they are and who they can become. The only one she doesn't offer that grace to is herself. By the end of the book, she comes to realize that family is who you make it and it takes a lot of effort to live and love together.
Bostwick's writing style invites the reader to sit down with the characters and live in their environments as one more member of the family.

"Old friends remind us who we were and what we've become. New friends hint at who we could be and inspire us to move forward. We need both, the new and old, the grounding of the past and hope for the future, because life is terrible and wonderful all at once, and too hard to face alone." This lovely quote perfectly sums of "The Restoration of Celia Fairchild" by Marie Bostwick. Certain to be considered one of the most beautifully written books of 2021, this book was delightful from start to finish. It is the perfect book to read on a day when you are feeling a bit low. It is stuffed full of southern charm and cozy feelings.

After Celia's stint as advice columnist "Dear Calpernia" comes to an end, she begins a new life in Charleston, South Carolina in the home of the real Calpernia, her recently deceased aunt who she hadn't seen since she was a child. She soon discovers that restoring the old house is a bit more than she bargained for; enter her endearing and quirky neighbors. With the help of both old friends and new, Celia creates a new life in Charleston, though it is not always easy and definitely does not end up the way that she dreamed.

Celia is a likable and thoroughly relatable character. You can't help but be in her corner. I laughed and cried along with her.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the privilege of reading an advanced digital copy of this heartwarming book in exchange for my honest review. Please Ms. Bostwck, I need a sequel!

A Perfect Blend of Characters, Setting and Story

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SUMMARY
When Celia Fairchild, a NYC advice columnist of the Dear Capurnia column receives a late night phone call, her life changes forever. Celia is one of three “couples” being considered by a young birth mother to adopt her baby. She throws herself into proving that despite her recent divorce she’s still perfect adoptive mother material. But when she loses her big city job, her only option might be to sell old family Charleston home left to her by her recently departed, Aunt Calpurnia. But Celia soon learns the house is a wreck and needs a fast makeover. Is it even possible to have a renovation done in time for a meeting with the birth mother and her parents?


REVIEW
The Restoration of Celia Fairchild is a delightful uplifting novel of friendship, family and resilience. It is both hilarious and poignant. Author Marie Bostwick’s writing is delightfully fresh and she has woven a perfect blend of characters, setting and story. It is a light, fast and enjoyable read, ideal for the reading during the pandemic and beyond.

Celia Fairchild’s character, the new bonds she forms, and her fortitude in the face of adversity were just a few of the story elements that made this book captivating. Ceila Fairchild comes to life on the pages of this soulful story of courage and hopefulness.

Marie Bostwick is a NYT and USA Today best-selling author of eighteen uplifting works of historical and contemporary fiction. Most recently, Hope on the Inside was published in March 2019 and chosen as a Reder’s Digest “Select Editions” book.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the literary agent for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.


Publisher William Morrow and Custom House
Published March 2, 2021
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

My goodness! This is a lovely, heart touching novel. The Southern feeling flows from every page. The characters are so excellently written that you feel a part f every chapter as if you were in their presence and not just an observer. It is a truly creative and a stay up late to finish novel.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Through joy and heartbreak, Celia rebuilds her life as she restores an inherited, hoarded house to a livable condition. It is not just about renovating a house, it is about renovating one’s life, soul, and purpose. What we at first see as Celia’s desperation to create a habitable environment so that she can successfully adopt a baby, morphs into a quest to find who she truly is, what she truly wants out of life, into her finding a place that she can truly fit in and call home, with a family of her own. I loved the plot, the pacing, and I loved the end. It is just perfect, and I would not change a thing.

Celia Fairchild, 37, has been writing a successful advice column, “Dear Calpurnia,” for twelve years. She also has been hoping to adopt a baby even after the failure of her 3-year marriage. As the book begins, however, Celia lost her job in New York after her online publication sold out to a larger media company, and even lost the rights to offer advice as ‘Calpurnia.” She needs a job and money, making her not exactly the best prospect for being selected by a mother wanting a home for her baby. She finds unexpected redemption, however, when she hears that she inherited a house in Charleston, South Carolina. It is a historic building, although it is a wreck and needs extensive cleaning and renovation.

She soon discovers that the people you need most show up at the moment they’re most needed, as she finds help through friends and community in Charleston. She even gets a “family,” albeit it is quite different than the one she envisioned starting out.

Evaluation: This sweet story is someone reminiscent of a Hallmark Channel movie, but with more depth and sophistication. It is also quite the love letter to Charleston. The ending is unexpected, but nuanced and satisfying.