Butternut summer

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I actually liked this book better than the first entry in the trilogy, Up at Butternut Lake. The male characters, Will and Jack, make this book special, as McNear tells two different but equally powerful stories about second chances and the potential we all have to change and grow. There may be a little too much emphasis on “the love of a good woman” as Daisy and Caroline inspire Will and Jack to become better men, but it's fascinating to watch Will, especially, realize that there may be something more to life than a dead-end job and a meaningless affair with a married woman.

Warning: one of the subplots ends on an open-ended up but hopeful note. The third book in the trilogy deals with a different couple, so I'm not sure if McNear plans to go beyond the trilogy and go back to this story. Frankly, it's refreshing to read women's fiction that doesn't tie everything up neatly in a big red bow.