Summer in a Small Town: Welcome to Icicle Falls/Treasure Beach by Sheila Roberts & Emilie Richards
MIRA books
2012
Format: Kindle e-book
Source: Personal copy
First line of Welcome to Icicle Falls: Hello, and welcome to Icicle Falls.
First line of Treasure Beach: “There she goes wandering down the road again.”
About the book: Two unforgettable towns, two touching stories…
Welcome to Icicle Falls by Sheila Roberts
It’s
the 1960s and Muriel loves the beautiful town of Icicle Falls,
Washington. Life is good, except that her father expects her to run
Sweet Dreams, the family chocolate company, when he retires. But she has
sweet dreams of her own, dreams about a handsome stranger who comes to
town….
Decades later, Cass Wilkes lands in Icicle Falls as a
single mom with little money. But this small town has a way of giving
people second chances they don’t expect!
Treasure Beach by Emilie Richards
Life
on Happiness Key is lonely for eleven-year-old Olivia Symington, so
when she finds a message in a bottle on Treasure Beach, her interest is
piqued. Someone needs help, and she knows what that’s like. Maybe by
helping she can even find a friend.
The women of Happiness Key
are worried about Olivia and her fascination with the message. But they
know how isolated she feels, so they set out to help her find the
mystery correspondent–and maybe a little happiness of her own along the
way.
My thoughts: I got this book because I’ve already read a few of Sheila Roberts’ Icicle Falls books and I wanted to see how it all began.
Welcome to Icicle Falls is a novella that gives us the background on how the little town of Icicle Falls came to be. Muriel Sterling and Dot Morrison, two characters that we’ve come to love in the subsequent Icicle Falls books, tell us the story of the town and some of the characters. It’s a short and sweet book, laying the background on how the town reinvented itself to the prosperous Bavarian village it is now. It also tells us how some of the other main characters winded up in Icicle Falls, such as Cass Wilkes and her family.
Treasure Beach is a novella that is part of Emilie Richards’ Happiness Key series. I tried to figure out where is falls within the series, but can’t seem to find out. I do think though, that it might take place either within the series or at the end. The story itself is short and sweet, involving a young girl who is lost with the move of her best friend – a move that seems to have happened under mysterious circumstances. The women of Happiness Key all seem to watch out for young Olivia and take her under their wing.
Both stories were quite delightful reads. I’ve already read two of the Icicle Falls books, and am looking forward to reading the next one, which I have on my iPad via the Kindle app just waiting to be read. I haven’t read any of Emilie Richards’ Happiness Key series and now I’m intrigued enough by the women of the story that I want to go back and read the three books in the series. Just what I need – even more books to add to my never-ending tbr list!
If you read books that contain two or more novellas – do you read them all, or do you just read the one that caused you to pick up the book in the first place?
Books in the Icicle Falls series:
- Welcome to Icicle Falls – novella
- Better Than Chocolate
- Merry Ex-Mas
- What She Wants
Books in the Happiness Key series:
- Happiness Key
- Fortunate Harbor
- Sunset Bridge
- Treasure Beach – ***not sure where this falls in the series
Sounds like a great read. I have read one of the Icicle Books and will have to see if this is in print or nook.
I got it via Amazon for the kindle but I do think it's also available for the nook and I think it's only $1.99.
I didn't know there was an Icicle Falls prequel novella! I'll put it on my list.
To answer your question, I usually buy an anthology for one author so I read that story and if the other(s) look good I'll read them.
It's really cute – and a fast read!
I tend to do the same, Mary.