A day in my life looks different depending on the day. Most days I’m on the road, driving from one Southern town to the next. Some days I’m in a hotel on the phone with a potential guest for my YouTube channel, A Southern Hankerin’, or editing videos for that same channel. Other days I’m in the house of a stranger, who’s kindly sharing a family recipe and helping to teach me the meaning of life.

“You need to catch me up on A Southern Hankerin’, Sadie. You know I’m a big fan.
That video you did on the young woman from Atlanta and Aunt Mama’s
scrambled egg recipe? Oh my heart! I cried for hours.”

But lately? Lately I’ve been back in Sugarberry Cove, Alabama, in the bed and breakfast cottage on the shore of Lake Laurel, where I grew up. My mama recently had a minor heart attack and my sister and I have come back home to take care of her and run the cottage while she recuperates.

Home isn’t an easy place for me to be, because of what happened eight years ago. . .

I’d drowned that summer night nearly eight years ago in Lake Laurel,
at just eighteen years old. But I’d been saved. Brought back to life. Brought back
to a new life. To a new normal. All these years later, I hadn’t quite figured out
who this new Sadie Way Scott was exactly.

Some people say Lake Laurel is magical. I know it is. While I’m home, I’m hoping its magic will heal old hurts and mend my fractured family.

I stepped onto the patio and took a deep breath of the fresh, albeit humid,
air, of the lake magic, scented with pine and possibilities.

And, maybe, just maybe, I’ll also find the answer to the question that has haunted me since the long ago night I fell in the lake: Why had I been saved?

The Lights of Sugarberry Cove
Genre: Magical Realism
Release: July 2021
Purchase Link

The Lights of Sugarberry Cove is a charming, delightful story of family, healing, love, and small town Southern charm by USA Today bestselling author Heather Webber.

Sadie Way Scott has been avoiding her family and hometown of Sugarberry Cove, Alabama, since she nearly drowned in the lake just outside her mother’s B&B. Eight years later, Sadie is the host of a much-loved show about southern cooking and family, but despite her success, she wonders why she was saved. What is she supposed to do?

Sadie’s sister, Leala Clare, is still haunted by the guilt she feels over the night her sister almost died. Now, at a crossroads in her marriage, Leala has everything she ever thought she wanted—so why is she so unhappy?

When their mother suffers a minor heart attack just before Sugarberry Cove’s famous water lantern festival, the two sisters come home to run the inn while she recovers. It’s the last place either of them wants to be, but with a little help from the inn’s quirky guests, the sisters may come to terms with their strained relationships, accept the past, and rediscover a little lake magic.

About the author
USA Today bestselling author Heather Webber is the author of more than thirty novels and has been twice nominated for the Agatha Award. She loves to read, drink too much coffee and tea, birdwatch, crochet, and bake. She currently lives near Cincinnati, Ohio, and is hard at work on her next book. *Heather also writes under the pen name Heather Blake. You can find her online at heatherwebber.com or heatherblakebooks.com.

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