Lost Lake

Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen

Ok, this was the last of the Sarah Addison Allen books at my local library, so after this, I will go back to my regularly scheduled to-read list (- maybe, no promises). But hopefully some of you have been intrigued enough by how quickly I binged her books this summer to give one a try.

Anyways, Lost Lake takes place in Louisiana, and follows Kate, a mom and recent widow who has just awoken from her grief to realize that her mother-in-law has been making a lot of decisions on her behalf while she was numb in her grief. She also realizes that these decisions may not be what she wants for her and her daughter Devin going forward. So when Devin finds an old postcard from Kate's Aunt Eby, the proprieter of a cabin campground called Lost Lake, she decides on a whim to take Devin there for a visit. Kate has fond memories of Lost Lake as the place she spent the happiest summer of her childhood, and hopes it will offer that to her daughter too.

Upon arriving, Devin becomes obsessed with alligators (which there aren't supposed to be any at Lost Lake) and Kate learns that Eby is about to sell the property as it is not bringing in as many visitors any more, and Eby would like to go on a return visit to Paris - the city where she and her late husband George spent some very happy time traveling together.

While not my absolute favorite of Allen's books, I still found this one very charming. Devin is a terrific kid character and the concept of family is explored as a collection of people who understand & take care of you rather than the ones you're necessarily related to.