It all starts with a late-night phone call: ten-year-old Melody overhears her father calling someone "Honey," and she couldn't be more thrilled. After all, Melody's mother died when Melody was born, and she longs for a loving stepmother -- maybe someone who will make cookies, like her friend Nick's stepmother Jenny. Melody is determined to figure out who in their small town could be her father's love interest . . . but what if it's someone terrible? Suddenly, Melody is not as excited about the possibility of her father dating, but she's still determined to get to the bottom of things. And what better place to track down a rumor than the town's new beauty salon?
Remember how, a few reviews back, I was commenting on how many folksy small-town stories there are, and how few of them are done well? Well, honey, this is one of the few! Weeks does an excellent job of portraying Melody's complicated emotions surrounding the mother she never got a chance to know, the father she adores, the stepmother she hopes for, and the one she fears she might get. The secondary characters are quirky but not unbelievable, and the story is sweet but not saccharine. This is a book to savor!
(Reviewed from a finished copy, courtesy of the publisher.)
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