The Secret to Happiness by Suzanne Woods Fisher

 Cover Art

The Secret to Happiness by Suzanne Woods Fisher is the second book in the Cape Cod Creamery series. I was anxious to continue the series after reading the first book as I like the characters and the setting.

Callie Dixon is Dawn Dixon's high achieving cousin. Only she made a mistake. A big mistake in her field as an executive chef of a large hotel. After she is fired from her job, she sees Aunt Marnie Dixon at Ice Cream school when she is working there and she begs Marnie to let her come visit awhile--so Dawn and Marnie make room for her to stay at The Creamery. Callie is beyond sad at the state of her life--and she has some other concerns she hasn't shared with anyone yet. Cousin Dawn suggests she go to a community class about the secret of happiness. The instructor, Bruno Bianco, does help Callie in more ways than she could have imagined. In the meantime, Dawn and Kevin are back to planning their wedding. Little Cowboy Leo also visits the Creamery and cheers Callie up. 

I just enjoyed most all the characters in The Secret to Happiness. Again, Fisher deals with some heavy topics but I think she does it quite well. While I appreciate the lighter parts of the book, the heavier parts are often part of all of our lives so this felt realistic. I read most of The Secret to Happiness in one day. I liked seeing the changes in Callie. I also like the developing friendship between Marnie and Lincoln Hayes. I didn't really care for Dawn's actions and attitudes but there are people like that in the real world that we need to learn to deal with. There is some romance in this book, but it deals with a lot of relationship and life issues in a beautiful way. There is a Christian faith element to some of the characters. I could really relate to some of what was going on in this book as well as some of the characters, although the situations were different than my life. However, there are some themes I well understood in the book. I think other readers would feel similarly. Already I am looking forward to the 3rd book in the series to read Brynn's story and see how the other character's lives have progressed.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions within this review are my own.

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