First Frost (Waverley Family, #2) in The Sarah Addison Allen Fan Group

Sep 17, 2014 Meredith rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Sarah Addison Allen has answered all our prayers and given us another story about the Waverley Family. Allen evokes all the wonderful things about close-knit families and small Southern towns. From the first paragraph, readers are transported back to Bascom, North Carolina, to read more about the beloved quirky Waverelys. I really appreciated that the story doesn't pick-up where we left them, but rather, Allen picks the story up nine years later.

Some readers may find the story a bit repetitive ...more

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Sep 12, 2014 Erin rated it it was amazing

I was waiting this year, for a book I really wanted to read to be my first read of the year. My patience paid off because NetGalley approved me for First Frost, which is probably the book I most wanted to read of them all! I was a little book starved by the time I read it, and I devoured it. I probably would have anyway, as this book was amazing!!

The time before the first frost is a time of wild restlessness for the Waverley family, a time where anything can happen. The apple tree is dormant, an ...more

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Nov 13, 2014 Claire rated it really liked it

Shelves: grownup-books

Garden Spells has stuck with me all these years and the chance to revisit the Waverly Women is a treat.

Claire is overwhelmed with a candy business that has overtaken her more laid back catering biz. She is starting to wonder if the Waverly magic is over hyped perhaps? Or maybe she doesn't have it? She is worrying. Tyler notices but lets Claire work it out. They have a daughter Mariah who hasn't shown her magic yet- all are wondering.

Sydney has a great life with Henry who adores her. Bay is a te ...more

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Sep 15, 2014 Lyss rated it it was amazing

This was a wonderful visit back to the Waverly Sisters. I enjoyed seeing how their lives have grown since the first book.

As always, Sarah Addison Allen wrote magic here. It pulled me in, and the end made me cry happy tears.

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Sep 22, 2014 Angie rated it really liked it

Sarah Addison Allen is one of my favorite authors, her books are such a delight to read. I enjoyed reading this book (not as much as Garden Spells) and hope that she will continue writing about the Waverly sisters.

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Sep 10, 2014 Stephanie Graves rated it really liked it

Shelves: first-reads, southern-lit

Yay! I won a copy through the First Reads!
Of course, it arrived after my preordered hardback copy, but who cares, because it's Sarah Addison Allen!

Seriously. If I had to pick only one writer's books to have with me if marooned on a desert island, Allen's would be my pick.

I LOVE them. The way she crafts a sense of place, the way she weaves magic into the fabric of the story in a way that feels naturalistic and honest. She writes amazing, complex female characters who have fascinating stories in t Yay! I won a copy through the First Reads!
Of course, it arrived after my preordered hardback copy, but who cares, because it's Sarah Addison Allen!

Seriously. If I had to pick only one writer's books to have with me if marooned on a desert island, Allen's would be my pick.

I LOVE them. The way she crafts a sense of place, the way she weaves magic into the fabric of the story in a way that feels naturalistic and honest. She writes amazing, complex female characters who have fascinating stories in their past, even if they don't want anybody to know them.

And above all, Allen *gets* the South. She gets it, and she preserves it, and she distills it, and she presses it into the pages of her books, and for that I am eternally grateful.

As for First Frost, I, of course, enjoyed it. It's a revisit to the characters from Garden Spells, which vies with The Peach Keeper for being my favorite of Allen's work. So it's wonderful to see all these characters again, to see what Claire and Tyler are like as parents, how Bay grew up, how Sydney fared with Henry. It's great to revisit Bascom, NC, to see how the generation has changed but nothing much else has. Because that, too, is part of the south.

As much as I enjoyed it--and enjoyed it I did--I am only giving it 4 stars, if only because the end of the novel felt just a bit rushed, convoluted, and tied up in a slightly-too-convenient bow. The pacing seems a bit off throughout, and the characters perhaps a tiny bit weaker than usual. Perhaps because it is a sequel, and it's expected you would have read Garden Spells first, that Allen uses that as a kind of shorthand. But I felt like had it been drawn out, fleshed out just a tiny bit more this novel too would have been as excellent as her others.

Yet all in all, this is small criticism. It's a wonderful novel about the power of family, the strength to be drawn from knowing yourself, and the inexorable march of time and age.

And when I reread it--because let's face it, I will, probably even this calendar year--I will in all possibility knock it up to a 5 star rating. Because Allen's work, much like the South, is charming that way--always even better upon subsequent visits.
...more

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Sep 11, 2014 Jamie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: permanent-collection

I tried to read this slowly and savor every phrase, but like all of Sarah Addison Allen's books I get so caught up, I CAN'T PUT THEM DOWN! This felt like a visit with a close friend from out of town... Just enough catching up and reminiscing- when it's time to go you feel like you have never been apart. I love the Waverley sisters and I hope their story will continue- we can all use a little magic in our lives! ...more

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Sep 11, 2014 Ruth rated it really liked it

Shelves: southern

A continuation of the characters from Garden Spells. Wonderful to visit them again. Each character dealing with identity and expectations. A really good read.

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