This book was a sweet story. Likeable characters. Nice grandmother/mother/daughter story. There wasn’t anything remarkable about the book but it was a decent read.

The Charm Bracelet (An Heirloom Novel) by Viola Shipman

9781250071323

305 Pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, Thomas Dunne Books
Release Date: March 22, 2016

Fiction, General Fiction, Women’s Relationships, Mothers & Daughters, Generational

This is a beautifully written book about three women and their relationships. Lolly just turned seventy and is beginning to forget things. One day, her daughter, Arden, receives an urgent call. She and her daughter, Lauren, go to Lolly. During their time together, they discover that being together is more important than being busy. Lolly feels she is coming to the end and wants to share her stories and knowledge with her family. Arden begins to open to happiness and Lauren finds courage to say what she wants to do with her life.

The book has a steady pace, the characters are developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. At first, I thought Arden was hard and critical but the longer she spends with her mother and daughter, she seems to soften. My favorite character was Lolly. Her personality was over the top and enthusiastic for life. If you like generational stories, or strong women characters, you will enjoy this book.

Slight but sweet story of a grandmother, mother, and daughter spending a week together and sharing family history stories via the charms on the grandmother's charm bracelet.

This sentimental story of a grandmother, mother, and daughter is about finding new paths to happiness. It seemed unrealistic to me....as if they were trying too hard to be philosophical or understanding. About halfway through I started skimming.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was an utterly charming, heartwarming and enjoyable book that kept me interested from start to finish. This book tells the story of three generations of women in a family who are bonded together through a charm bracelet and the stories that come with each charm.
Family matriarch Lolly hasn't always had an easy loss, she's dealt with a lot of loss, but always has managed to find to have fun and live life to the fullest. Her daughter Arden and granddaughter Lauren each find themselves at a crossroad in their lives and aren't as happy as they should be. Arden is estranged from her mother, as he has sought to put the past behind her. Lauren is facing the reality that she really wants to be an artist and not continue on the path she has chosen for herself in college.
When they find out that Lolly is starting to suffer from the effects of memory loss, they pack up and go back to the small town where Arden grew up and left as soon as she possibly could. Each will have to face the secrets they are keeping from one another and face up to the choices that will make them happy rather than doing what they think is the right thing to do.
Told through the memories of each charm on Lolly's bracelet and how each charm relates to their present situations, Arden and Lauren are able to rediscover the joys of love, family, faith, friendships and living every day to the fullest.