Summary:
Thirty-year-old Elise Andrews couldn’t bring herself to marry Griffin, her childhood friend-turned-sweetheart, so she let him walk away. Eight months after their break-up, she arrives in her hometown of Chicago on Christmas Eve and hears a voice from the past calling her name in the grocery store. It’s Griffin’s mother Janice, who invites Elise over for a neighborhood gathering of eggnog and carols.
Walking into Janice’s house sends Elise tumbling headlong into memories of her relationship with Griffin — and with Janice, who exudes the kind of warmth Elise ached for after her own mom passed away when she was six. But Griffin has moved on, and suddenly Elise doubts her decision to give him up, and lose her chance at being folded into his wonderful family. Confused and reeling, she goes in search of an answer to a universal question: How do we say good-bye to people we’ve loved without losing everything they’ve meant to us?
Heartwarming and witty, All is Bright is a charming story about coming home for the holidays — and finding gifts in the most unexpected of places.
What a perfect treat for the holiday season! Sarah Pekkanen’s ALL IS BRIGHT is the story of a woman just beyond one of the biggest crossroads in her life, the moment when she chose to end a relationship instead of taking the marriage plunge. A few years have passed and Elise is back in her hometown, visiting with her ex-boyfriend’s parents and revisiting the choices she made. Pekkanen’s writing flows beautifully and her characters ring true. The story is filled with honesty and authenticity and even though it is a short story, it packs a punch. Pekkanen is quickly making a name for herself among the women’s fiction community. She writes smart books for smart women with real dilemmas and real lessons. Pekkanen has a new book coming out in February, SKIPPING A BEAT, that looks promising. The success of her debut novel, THE OPPOSITE OF ME, has set Pekkanen up for being one of the most watched women’s fiction writers in recent history. We look forward to following her career and devouring her books!
