Sister's Choice

Sister's Choice is the latest story in the Shenendoah Album Quilt series by Emilie Richards. I love this series, which features women of different ages and backgrounds who come together with the common interest of quilting. Each book is a stand-alone story, and they do not need to be read in order, but the setting is always the little town of Toms Brook in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and many characters pop up in each other' s stories. Sister's Choice is about Jamie and Kendra, sisters who basically raised themselves because their financially comfortable parents were too busy playing through life. After a long estrangement, Kendra and Jamie have begun to re-weave their relationship, but still have difficulty trusting each other.

For a variety of reasons, Jamie is now offering Kendra the thing she most wants: a child. Unable to carry her own child to term, Kenra and her husband Isaac decide to have their own embryo implanted in Jamie's uterus. While waiting for the birth of the child, Jamie and her daughters will live in Isaac's cabin in Toms Brook, close to the soon-to-be parents. Jamie will also be able to oversee construction of Kendra and Isaac's new home, of which she is the architect.
Cash Rosslyn, a man with his own tragic past, is the contractor for the construction. Through Cash Jamie meets his Granny Grace, a lively, fun-loving woman living alone on the family orchard. Grace and Jamie have more in common than meets the eye, both with strained sisterly relationships. Through Grace's nighttime stories over tea, and Jamie's experiences with Kendra, the reader comes to see that Sister's Choice is more than a quilt pattern, it is a series of decisions in the complicated relationship of siblings.Sister's Choice is one of my favorite Shenandoah Album novels. I like all of the characters, and understand their actions, fears, and decisions. I respect the way Jamie is raising her daughters Hannah and Alison and like the way their characters are defined and age-appropriate, which doesn't always happen in books. I got this book in hardcover from my library, but it will be available in paperback in June. It's a great summer read, because it's interesting and a little light, without any trashiness or strong language.
If you are interested in quilting, I found a site with a great tutorial for the Sister's Choice blocks. Quiltville is the blog of Bonnie Hunter, a fabulous quilter and author of a quilting book. She is the artist of the above Sister's Choice quilt.