Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe

Cliche, almost entirely predictable, cringey dialogue. Easy to read in the way bad rom coms are easy to watch.

A lovely story about family and pain and healing. And the pies and magical realism add so much heart to the story. There are a few twists and turns to add to the book. Natalie and Anna Kate and Seelie and Faylene and so many others make this town come alive and are enjoyable.

Anna Kate has come back to her mother's hometown of Wicklow, Alabama to bury her grandmother and settle the estate. Granny Zee owned the Blackbird Cafe, and her will requires that Anna Kate stay in Wicklow and run it for two months. Anna Kate thinks she'll do what the will calls for, sell the cafe, and return to Boston to pursue her plans for medical school. Wicklow and the blackbirds have other ideas.

This story is positively radiant. It calls to mind the writing of Sarah Addison Allen. I loved it as much as I loved The Night Circus. There are magical elements - the blackbirds being a bridge between the living and the dead, bringing messages to those who eat a slice of Blackbird Pie - but the characters are what make the story sing. I grew up in a small southern town, and these all feel like people I know. The grumpy old gentleman, the talkative town know-it-all, the haughty Southern matriarch, the loner who keeps to himself but has hidden depths. They are real and relatable and make this book one that is hard to put down.

The book has so much to offer. Magic, mystery, romance. But most of all, it's about relationships - what it takes to create them and keep them, and how to heal them when a past kept hidden has broken them. The story sounds so intriguing, my husband wants to read it, and this is usually not his thing at all. Give it a read. You won't be sorry, and if you're like me, you'll hate to see the book end.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of the book from BookishFirst. All opinions here are mine, and I don't say nice things about books I don't like.