Christian novel “Coffee Rings” by Yvonne Lehman incorporated many of the elements I like in a good story. We have three main characters who were brought together by a tragedy years ago, and they each moved away to try to put the past behind them. However, they all eventually came back, knowing they couldn’t escape it forever.
Annette is an attractive redhead who owns a sandwich shop situated in a charming Victorian home. She was widowed young and has been making a life for herself, but now she has a chance to love again, with handsome and distinguished Curt, who owns the local floral shop. He’s a widower and has a lot to share with Annette as they contemplate their future. But her past is holding her back, and when Curt’s daughter refuses to accept Annette into the family, Annette uses it as her reason for calling the wedding off.
Ruby is the perfect wife and mother, having thrown herself into service to others to forget what happened so many years ago. She attends church faithfully with her husband, who is the choir master. But lately, he’s been spending a little too much time rehearsing with a certain woman in the soprano section, and Ruby is convinced he’s having an affair.
Lara has thrown herself into her career, her appearance, anything to keep herself busy. That took her down a dangerous road but she’s pulled herself back from the brink. Now working in a clothing store, she meets up with Annette and Ruby frequently, but they never talk about what happened.
Until the day Eunice calls them on the phone. Dying from cancer, she wants to know.
Eunice’s daughter Dove was killed while the girls were in high school, and only they know what really happened.
This story takes the reader on an emotional journey as we root for these women to move on with their lives and yet to reveal all they know for Eunice’s peace of mind before she passes.
(This book was published in 2004 by Barbour Publishing.)
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