Growing Season

In Lageschulte’s amiable if predictable coming-of-middle-age tale, the first in a series, Melinda Foster is devastated when she loses her job of 15 years at a Twin Cities advertising firm. After her aunt, Miriam, asks for Melinda’s help at her hardware store in rural Prosper, Iowa, a little community of barely 200 people, Melinda sublets her stylish Minneapolis apartment and rents a charming Iowa farm, complete with chickens, sheep, a huge garden, and a dog named Hobo. The summer that follows is a whirlwind of canning, gardening, chicken chasing, and sheep wrangling—and a tornado. Melinda even brings her marketing expertise to Prosper Hardware. This feel-good tale doesn’t break new ground or plumb much depth, but it’s rich in nostalgia, and it’s hard not to fall for the plucky Melinda and her quirky and kind friends and neighbors. It’s also refreshingly free of the trope of the handsome man who swoops in to save the hapless woman. Melinda’s reinvention of herself isn’t without its bumps, making her a relatable heroine whom readers will want to follow to her next adventure. (BookLife)