Title: Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe
Author: Heather Webber
Publication: July 16, 2019
Publisher: Forge Books
Genre: Magical Realism, Women’s Fiction, Fantasy
Pages: 329
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Goodreads
Author Website
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café.
It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother’s estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father’s side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can’t stop talking about.
As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly.
REVIEW:
This book was selected by one of my book clubs and I thought it sounded good. I hadn’t even realized it was categorized as magic realism, which is not something I usually enjoy or like, but this book was so realistic and just a hint of fantasy that it was okay with me. I really enjoyed this book more than I was expecting.
First I love, love, love the characters. Anna Kate is such a good soul that you can’t help but love her right from the start. Natalie reminded me a lot of myself and her independent nature and wanting to be able to do things on her own. I really enjoyed watching her grow through this. Then I loved all the supporting characters as well. Doc and Seelie, even though Seelie had me gritting my teeth a few times, Jena and Bow were amazing and all the customers at the Blackbird Cafe. All of these characters grew in this book, which I found to be a bit surprising because a lot of books don’t show much development in supporting characters. It is usually all about he main characters. But Webber did an amazing job really digging in to issues and areas of growth opportunity with every character and we got to see how they developed along the way and how their journey really connected with the rest of the people in the story. Very impressed with Webber’s writing in this way. Not easy to do with so many important people in one story.
I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this story. The ending was a bit of a shock and I never would have guessed it and I loved the little things that we didn’t get answers to, but you kind of already knew. It was fun being able to discover the little magical elements myself. Fantastic characters, intricate and unique storylines, and just an incredible story of life, loss, friendship, and love. Everyone should read Heather Webber. I’ve already looked up all her other books. I can’t wait to start reading!
