The Secret of Snow by The Secret of Snow by Viola Shipman

Disclaimer: I was sent a free book and am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

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The holidays are coming quick and I am finishing up my shopping. I still have a few stocking stuffers to get but I am just about done. How is your shipping going? 

Book Description

When Sonny Dunes, a SoCal meteorologist whose job is all sunshine and seventy-two-degree days, is replaced by a virtual meteorologist that will never age, gain weight or renegotiate its contract, the only station willing to give the fifty-year-old another shot is the very place Sonny’s been avoiding since the day she left for college—her northern Michigan hometown.

Sonny grudgingly returns to the long, cold, snowy winters of her childhood…with the added humiliation of moving back in with her mother. Not quite an outsider but no longer a local, Sonny finds her past blindsiding her everywhere: from the high school friends she ghosted, to the former journalism classmate and mortal frenemy who’s now her boss, to, most keenly, the death years ago of her younger sister, who loved the snow.

To distract herself from the memories she’s spent her life trying to outrun, Sonny throws herself headfirst into covering every small-town winter event to woo a new audience, made more bearable by a handsome widower with optimism to spare. But with someone trying to undermine her efforts to rebuild her career, Sonny must make peace with who she used to be and allow her heart to thaw if she’s ever going to find a place she can truly call home.

About Viola Shipman

VIOLA SHIPMAN is a pen name for Wade Rouse, a popular, award-winning memoirist. Wade chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, as a pen name to honor the woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire his fiction.

WADE ROUSE (Viola Shipman) is the internationally bestselling author of ten books, which have been translated into nearly 20 languages. The collection of Heirloom Novels have now sold over 1 million copies! 

Wade’s novels include The Charm Bracelet, a 2017 Michigan Notable Book of the Year; The Hope Chest; The Recipe Box; and the bestseller The Summer Cottage. NYT bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank says of Wade and his latest novel, The Heirloom Garden (April 28, 2020): “Every now and then a new voice in fiction arrives to completely charm, entertain and remind us what matters. Viola Shipman is that voice.” 

Library Journal writes that Wade has “hit upon the perfect formula to tell heartwarming, intergenerational family stories by weaving together the lives, loves, and history of family through cherished heirlooms.” He recently signed a multi-book book deal with HarperCollins, which will continue the “Heirloom Series” of novels and also launch a series of Christmas novels. 

Wade's books have been selected multiple times as Must-Reads by NBC’s Today Show, featured in the Washington Post, USA Today and on Chelsea Lately, and have also been chosen three times as Indie Next Picks by the nation’s independent booksellers. His novels have hit the bestseller lists in Germany (where he was #1 on the Spiegel Bestseller List), Italy, and Spain. 

His writing has appeared in a diverse range of publications and media, including Coastal Living, Time, All Things Considered, People, Good Housekeeping, Salon, Forbes, Taste of Home, Country Woman, Writer’s Digest, and Publisher’s Weekly.

My Thoughts

This was my second book by Viola (AKA Wade). My first was The Clover Girls. I am beginning to really enjoy Viola's books. 

This book is about a woman who has to start over again when she loses her job. 

Not only does she need to start over she needs to do it in a town where she grew up and experience a tragedy.

As we follow Sonny we get to go on an emotional journey with her of loss, rebirth, healing and finding oneself when you need it the most. As will Viola's previous book this one took me on a wonderful journey and led me through so many emotions. The author has a gift for storytelling. 

I was completely captivated by this story and could not put the book down.

It is the perfect way to spend a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon.