Anna Larson returns to her childhood home on the Siuslaw River following the death of her mother and, in taking stock of her life, decides that maybe she should stay. She was raised by her Native American mother to be ashamed of her heritage, although we learn that that was mostly due to the racism of the times, before and during the great depression. In fact, the casual racism Anna experienced at the hands of her mother-in-law made me quite uncomfortable, which it should. She was truly a monster, and Anna made a good choice in getting away from her. To that end, Anna decided to transform her childhood home (which was a local grocery store when she was growing up) into an inn, thus transforming herself as well.

My favorite thing about this book was the setting. The descriptions were beautiful and made me want to visit the river myself as soon as possible. The characters were well-written, but I didn't feel particularly invested in them. I felt more like the setting and Anna's grandmother's history were more of a draw than the main characters. And don't get me started on Anna's daughter, who was a spoiled brat and not likeable at all. I didn't feel like she added anything at all to the story,

Overall, I enjoyed this book but didn't feel invested in it. It was well-written, it just didn't connect with me.

3.5/5 stars.