The inn has always fascinated writers as a setting in which strangers cross paths and guests shuffle rooms. Rose Harbor in Bloom, the second installment in Debbie Macomber's Rose Harbor Inn series, follows innkeeper Jo Marie as she welcomes a host of new guests who are all, in some capacity, at crossroads in their lives. The young, idealistic Annie is planning a party for her grandparents' anniversary while privately coping with her own failing engagement; a disgruntled gardener lurks about the inn while refusing to reveal any personal details. Jo Marie herself struggles to accept the loss of her husband, whose body is somewhere in Afghanistan.
The most painful story is that of Mary Smith, a successful businesswoman returning to the Pacific Northwest for the first time in 20 years. Mary has built her career by sacrificing all else, including a devoted man in Seattle who proposed to her when they were young. Her heartbreaks lie deeply buried until she is diagnosed with cancer and compelled to reevaluate her choices. Returning to the only place she felt in love, she must decide how far to reopen old wounds.
With more than 150 novels to her credit, Macomber is an institution in women's fiction. Her principal talent lies in creating characters with a humble, familiar charm. They possess complex personalities, but it is their kinder qualities that are emphasized in the warm world of her novels--a world much like Rose Harbor Inn, in which one wants to curl up and stay. --Annie Atherton, intern at Shelf Awareness