Another fun book from Sarah Addison Allen.

Great, easy book to read! Perfect for a weekend beach trip.

Easy read. Serious topics combined with magical realism. The author did a good job of making you care about the characters.

Overall the members of Carpe Librum liked this book. It has mystery, romance and a bit of fantasy. It's a quick read and very satisfying.

Another winner by Sarah Addison Allen. Can Hummingbird Cake really mend a broken heart? This is my favorite book of 2012.

Easy to read book that reads like a fairy tale.

What a beautiful and courageous story - a bit magical - a bit whimsical, but beautiful just the same.

Emily is a teenager standing on the threshold of adulthood when she loses her Mom, a mother who has spent all of her adult life serving and helping other people, constantly giving and constantly caring. Alone and afraid she can never live up to her mother's image, Emily is told she has a grandfather she never knew existed and her only option is to return to the small town birthplace of her mother and live with her grandfather. Emily's mother never talked about her own childhood or her family and Emily soon discovers the mother she knew is not the person the town remembers.

Julia grew up in the same town as Emily's mother - in fact they were schoolmates. She couldn't get out of the small town fast enough and moved to Baltimore with dreams of opening up her own café. Baking cakes and pastries is her saving grace. It warms and soothes her like a steaming hot bath in the cold of winter. Her father has passed away and she has returned home briefly to tidy up his affairs and hopefully sell off his BBQ business he owned in town. She soon discovers his debts add up to more than a business sale will cover. She resigns herself to a 2-year plan to build the business up and pay off debt in order to make a profitable sale. She runs a small bakery business in the morning before the BBQ crowd arrives and her concoctions are the talk of the town. I loved how when she baked she would leave the windows open, no matter the weather, in hopes that the rich aroma of her baked goods would find their way to those she has loved and lost.

My favorite character was Grandpa Vance. He was a giant of a man - literally - standing 8 foot tall. I so enjoyed that the author made him a giant because his character was tall enough to see past the petty thoughts and past indiscretions of others. His true character towered over the shallow minds of the townspeople like his own shadow on a sunny day. I laughed at his eccentric habit of checking the clothes dryer (you'll have to read to understand) and found it rather touching and comforting.

Secrets abound in this tiny little town, secrets that one family hoped had nearly run its course and was on its way to be forgotten. But some secrets are just dying to be told.

I've heard it said that "you can never go back", but what if you never really left? What if you left a piece of you behind and merely need to reclaim it, let the truth speak for itself and let the chips fall where they may? If you are lucky enough to go back home, you just might find that you are finally AT home -- for the first time.

I would have loved to have given this story 5 stars but there were some actions by characters that were just too unbelievable or unexplainable and I won't mention for fear of spoiling the story. In spite of a few oversights (that this reader had trouble overlooking), this was just a wonderful, feel good story and a joy to read.