Coffee at Little Angels – Nadine Rose Larter

Publisher:  The Katalina Playroom

Pages:  171

Source:  free Kindle copy form author for review

Genre: Adult Contemporary

From Goodreads:

What do you do when you lose a childhood friend? What do you do when you know everyone is expecting you to come home? What do you do if you don't want to?

Phillip, Sarah, Kaitlyn, Caleb, Maxine, Grant, Melanie and Josh grew up in a small town where they spent their high school years together as an inseparable clique. But high school has ended, and they are all living their own “grown up” lives, each under the impression that their group has basically come to an end. When Phillip dies in a hit and run accident, Kaitlyn summons the others to all come back home, forcing a reunion that no one is particularly interested in partaking in.

Coffee at Little Angels follows how each character deals with the death of a childhood friend while at the same time dealing with their own ignored demons after years of separation. Events unfold as the group tries to rekindle the friendship they once shared to honor the memory of a friend they will never see again.”

 My Thoughts:

This was an interesting book. I first thought about the movie “Sweet Home Alabama”  where the main character has to go back to her home town to get her divorce papers signed so she can get remarried.  At the beginning we see her behaving like she doesn’t belong there at all.  As the movie progresses we see her becoming comfortable with who she is inside.  In the book we hear from each character, beginning with the deceased.  We learn what has happened to each of them as they have moved on with their lives, leaving their small town behind.  For most of them, reuniting is painful.  We learn that many of them feel duty bound to attend the funeral even though they don’t like each other very much.  The author truly has a gift of creating characters that are flawed.

In the beginning I really disliked Maxine.  She seemed so cold.  When she returned and we learned the reason for her hard shell, we got to see the real Maxine inside.  We realized she was soft and loving inside.  You could see the growth and change that came forth through deep painful, snips at each other to get to the person that had existed when they were young. 

I loved the way the book ended.  I didn’t expect it and that twist made it all come together.  Phil was the one constant throughout the entire book.  The one who thought he was never enough but we find out was more than enough.  Don’t know what I’m talking about?  Then you must read this book.