Starting over is the central theme of Must Love Flowers, a tender, graceful novel from Debbie Macomber. Joan Sample of Seattle, Wash., is a 54-year-old mother of two adult sons who has been widowed for four years. Since her husband's death, she's become paralyzed by grief. Even her flower garden, once her pride and joy, has become grossly overgrown. When her HOA sends a condemning notice about the state of her property, she is finally propelled out of her emotional malaise. She joins a grief support group and sets out in search of hiring a landscaper who "must love flowers." She enlists Phil Harrison, a quiet, private local. When she later crosses paths with Phil at the support group, she learns that he, too, is burdened by grief and a loss of his own. As Joan's broken heart begins to heal, she decides, on a lark, to take in a border: Maggie Herbert, a hardworking college student who longs to escape her abusive, alcoholic father. Thus begins a journey of second chances for each of these lost, wounded, and struggling souls. As they forge ahead in rebuilding their lives, friendship and romance find each of them along the way.
Examining the gentle nuances of multigenerational neighborhood life is what Macomber (The Best Is Yet to Come; It's Better This Way; A Walk Along the Beach) does best. In Must Love Flowers, Macomber's heartfelt storytelling is on full display, showing how hope can rebloom when cultivated with kindness, caring, and love. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines