Angel Lane

by Sheila Roberts

Book Overview

With irresistible humor, warmth, and affection, author Sheila Roberts serves up a generous, open-hearted story about the friendships we make, the chances we take, and the lives we touch every day.

Keep the heart in Heart Lake. That's exactly what three small-town shop owners hope to do when they launch their "Have a Heart" campaign-asking neighbors to commit one random act of kindness every day. Emma, Sarah, and Jamie...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312384823
• ISBN13: 9780312384821
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Feel-Good story for any time of year.

Searching for a feel-good story about three businesswomen in a small town trying to help it regain its heart? "Angel Lane" is just the ticket. Sarah, a baker, is a grandmother sorely missing her grandchildren who have just moved away. Emma is struggling to keep her new quilt shop open. She dreams of a life out of the movies, but reality has her living alone with a stray cat who doesn't like her. Jamie, who runs a very successful chocolate business, is divorced from an abusive cop. She is working hard at starting over, but is extremely reluctant to open her heart to an attractive cop and his two young daughters. These three women decide to start a "good-deed" campaign encouraging other in their community to perform random acts of kindness. The story tells of many of these deeds and their outcomes (which are not always positive!). It also tells of their relationships with each other and others in their world and how they develop. This story features three of my favorite things - baked goods, chocolate, and quilting. Even if it lacked all three, it still would have been a great read. It is light reading with a positive message. It pulled on my heart and made me both cry and laugh. I recommend it highly!

fun Pacific Northwest small town tale

In Heart Lake, Washington, quilt store owner Emma Swanson, bakery shopkeeper Sarah Goodwin and her niece Chocolate Bar owner Jamie Moore decide to do something nice for their small town. They organize the "keep the heart in Heart Lake" campaign asking residents to do something nice for someone else every day. The three women plan to be role models, but not one expected the consequences of kindness. Emma's Quilt Corner store may close; Sarah is lonely even as she gives free baking lessons and has met Sam; and Jamie has to face her fears of commitment since she met a widower single father of two, Josh the cop. This is a fun Pacific Northwest small town tale that looks profoundly into a community and as deeply into friendship. The three amigas may have issues that make it difficult to be angels, but they each try anyway. With a warm fuzzy holiday feel, fans who appreciate an inspiring tale will know it does take a committed caring community to bring the heart to everyone. Harriet Klausner

Inspiring and Endearing Tale of Small Town Life

Heart Lake is a small, quiet lake-side town. It seems to be experiencing a bit of growing-pains, however. Citizens are no longer courteous to one another and it's beginning to loose its Mayberry feeling. The three main characters (Jaime, Sarah, and Emma) are local shop owners and close friends. They decide to come up with a way to bring the "heart" back into Heart Lake. Each of them decides to do one good deed a day in the hopes that their actions influence those of others, a sort of pay-it-forward campaign. In the midst of this campaign, each of the main characters are experiencing their own personal drama. Jaime, Sarah's niece, works at the town's chocolate store. She moved to Heart Lake to get away from an abusive marriage. She's in no rush to get into another relationship. However, when she crosses the path of Jake Armstrong, a widower raising two young girls, her world is upended. She's proud of her independence and doesn't want to get hurt again. But Jake is hard to resist. Sarah is experiencing serious grandchild withdrawl after her daughter's family moves away. She's been a part of their lives since they were born and their absence is noticable. Her good deed is to provide cooking classes to a handful of the young girls in town. Her efforts seem to be in vain when one of her students takes advantage of her kindness. Emma feels like a failure when her beloved quilt shop fails to take off. She has a handful of customers, including one who always seems to forget her checkbook, and Emma has allowed her to create a pretty hefty tab. Will hard work ever pay off? Have you ever picked up a book, start reading it, instantly falling in love with the characters? That's what happened when I started reading Angel Lane. I became wrapped up in the characters lives within the first few pages. Roberts writes a very inspiring tale of how the actions of three individuals can influence an entire town. My life has been very hectic for the past few weeks, but the citizens of Heart Lake provided me with a bit of peace. And I'd be remiss not to mention the delicous recipes listed at the end of the book. I will definitely be trying out a number of them, specifically the one for pumpkin cookies! I don't like to compare one author's writing to another's, but I can't help but notice a similarity between Roberts' writing with that of Debbie Macomber. Both women write inspiring tales revolving around a small-town community. Each have endearing characters that you can't help but fall in love with. If you are looking for a relaxing, easy read, then Angel Lane is the book for you. Now that I've finished reading it, I miss the characters. They really became part of my life. They've inspired me to pay-it-forward as well. I do hope the author has a sequel or a follow-up planned in the near future!

Angel Lane by Sheila Roberts

Sheila Roberts takes us back to Heart Lake, the small town we got to know in Love In Bloom, and introduces us to three interesting women: Sarah, Jamie, and Emma. Sarah is in her 50s and married. Her grown children live out of town and she needs to feel needed. She's the owner of a bakery and decides to use her skills to do a good deed. Sarah's niece Jamie is a chocolatier and business is good. She's glad to be busy and doesn't need to have a social life unless it involves the "Have a Heart" campaign. Emma, owner of a quilt shop, is Jamie's friend. She has mostly given up on her own "happily ever after" so in her free time she watches old movies and lives vicariously. She has a good heart and can't quite figure out why things don't work out in real life the way they do in movies. I enjoyed all three characters but found Sarah to be a bit of a kindred spirit - we're in the same age demographic. She has a good sense of humor and I related to her feelings about her kids living too far away. The "acts of kindness" program is a lovely theme that brings people together at the perfect time of year - the holidays. No matter how small, an act of kindness can have a huge effect on people. Each of the women find out that it can have a positive effect or it can produce a totally unexpected result. There are serious as well as funny moments as the plan is put into action. Angel Lane is an entertaining and heart-warming novel - perfect for the holidays or any time of year. I feel inspired by this novel and more aware of my own ability to do random acts of kindness. I recommend Angel Lane.

The perfect book to relax the day away...

Angel Lane is a delightfully, wonderful and inspiring story, that I had to literally pull myself away from. Every once in a while, you come across a book that you can delve right into and feel as though you, yourself, are a part of the story. Angel Lane is one of those precious books. I absolutely loved Sheila Roberts's style of writing and her characters are so real and true to life. They are, quite simply, everyday women that most anyone can relate to in some way. Jamie, Sarah and Emma are each very different in their own ways, however, they are the best of friends and have a single goal in mind - to put the 'Heart' back in Heart Lake, their beloved and Mayberry-esque town. To do this, the women decide to put forth a campaign of doing one good deed a day, a kind of "pay it forward". If they could get everyone in town to do this simple act, imagine how much friendlier and closer life would be. Meanwhile, each of the woman have their own troubles they are dealing with. Sarah is suffering from severe grandchildren withdrawals when her daughter, husband and two granddaughters move away. Emma is feeling defeated when her beloved quilt shop continues to unravel and business continues on the snail pace side. Jamie has moved to Heart Lake to take back her life, after divorcing her abusive policeman husband. She seems to be doing just fine until a handsome widowed cop with two young daughters continues to pop up into her life, creating a bit of havoc within her heart. I truly loved every aspect of Angel Lane. The story is entertaining, heartwarming, fun and brings the holiday season to life with the true meaning of giving. For fans of such authors as Debbie Macomber, I think that Sheila Roberts and her delicious novel Angel Lane will be a huge hit. This is the perfect book to relax with and gives a delightful reminder that even the smallest of good deeds brings about huge results! So, do yourself a favor and run out and grab Angel Lane and enjoy a lovely time in Heart Lake!