Lemon Drop Falls by Heather Clark REVIEW

 Lemon Drop Falls

Heather Clark

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Synopsis

Brave the sour to taste the sweet.

Morgan is devastated by her mother’s sudden death. Before, Mom’s amazing organizational skills kept the family on track, and her bowl of lemon drops was always on hand to make difficult conversations easy, turning life’s sour into sweet. After, there’s no one to help Morgan navigate her new role caring for her younger siblings, her worries about starting junior high, and her increasingly confusing friendships. All she can do is try to fulfill her mother’s final request: Keep them safe, Morgan. Be brave for them. Help them be happy.

When Dad insists on taking the family on their regular summer camping trip, and Morgan’s efforts to keep her promise to Mom seem doomed to fail, Morgan’s anxiety spirals into a panic attack, and Dad treats her like she’s impossibly broken. Unable to share her fears and needs with Dad, and desperate to prove she’s got the strength to hold the family together, Morgan sets off alone to hike a flooding canyon trail. But somewhere on that lonely and dangerous journey, Morgan will encounter the truth about the final words her mother left her, the power in finding her own voice, and the possibility of new beginnings.

Expected Publication: February 15, 2022

Review

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Lemon Drop Falls is such a wonderful read. With dual timelines we flash back and forth between before and after the death of Morgan's mom. We experience the days leading up to her death which really give us a sense of who Mama Bell, as she is called in the story, was. We get to know her just enough to love her. Then simultaneously she is gone and we are watching Morgan deal with her grief and pain which is another heartache all on its own. Morgan really struggles with her mom's death as her and her family learn to cope without Mama Bell.

Ya'll this book had me up sobbing at 1 AM. My heart was broke, I just wanted some healing for the main character. Clark did an awesome job at making you feel the characters pain. My heart was totally shattered for her.

There are a few messages in here about grief and healing from grief.

If you have a middle grade or even a bit older child who is dealing with grief I feel like this could be something they could connect with. I feel like this book addresses loss and grief in a way that could really help a child who has lost a loved one.