If you’re a big fan of the Cedar Cove series of books by Debbie Macomber, you’ll undoubtedly like the latest installment in the series, but to be brutually honest, you may not love it.
The major storyline in 1022 Evergreen Place centers on the relationship between Mary Jo Wyse and Mack MacAfee, which begun at Christmas when Mack delivered Mary Jo’s child. Now living side by side in a duplex, Mary Jo finds letters and a diary from a World War II couple, and how Mack and Mary Jo attempt to track the couple down.
There are also a couple of minor plotlines going with other characters that will obviously develop into other installments in the series, and Ms. Macomber catches the reader up on the original characters, as well.
Unfortunately, as an avid Cedar Cove series fan, this book was a bit of a disappointment for me. The characterization of Mack and Mary Jo was shallower than in previous books, and the story itself was somewhat weak, and poorly detailed, in my opinion.
However, if you are a Cedar Cove series reader, you will not want to miss this installment, even though you may have to struggle, at times, to get through it. While I love the Cedar Cove series, and Debbie Macomber’s books, the mass production of this series (and the next two books have already been announced) appears to be reducing the overall quality of the individual books themselves. I personally would much rather wait a full year to read a can’t put it down installment in the series than to read two mediocre installments per year. (And that doesn’t include the annual Christmas in Cedar Cove book!)
