Dear Libby, It occurs to me that you and your two children have been living with your mother for—Dear Lord!—two whole years, and I’m writing to see if you’d like to be rescued.

The letter comes out of the blue, and just in time for Libby Moran, who—after the sudden death of her husband, Danny—went to stay with her hypercritical mother. Now her crazy Aunt Jean has offered Libby an escape: a job and a place to live on her farm in the Texas Hill Country. Before she can talk herself out of it, Libby is packing the minivan, grabbing the kids, and hitting the road.

Life on Aunt Jean’s goat farm is both more wonderful and more mysterious than Libby could have imagined. Beyond the animals and the strenuous work, there is quiet—deep, country quiet. But there is also a shaggy, gruff (though purportedly handsome, under all that hair) farm manager with a tragic home life, a formerly famous feed-store clerk who claims she can contact Danny “on the other side,” and the eccentric aunt Libby never really knew but who turns out to be exactly what she’s been looking for. And despite everything she’s lost, Libby soon realizes how much more she’s found. She hasn’t just traded one kind of crazy for another: She may actually have found the place to bring her little family—and herself—back to life.

This was a really good book and to be honest while I was eager to read it I did not think that I would like it and connect with it as well as I did. But you could not help but feel sucked in by the cast of characters. You had the annoying and selfish Mom Marsha, Libby the paranoid but learning to live again, her kids who were just some great kids but had some issues too. Crazy but fantastic and fun Aunt Jean and of course the “Hot Farmer” the handsome O’Connor. I have to say perhaps my favorite character was indeed O’connor. He is so loyal, interesting and just how he really does not only help Libby but help himself.

The read was emotional. It takes you up and down and then up again and really is a story about finding oneself after tragedy. How do you come around when you have lost someone so very important in your life? I would recommend this one to read it is a good book.

My Gemstone Rating: