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Reviewed by Brenda Casto for Readers' Favorite
Elderberry Croft by Becky Doughty is the story of Willow Goodhope and the way her presence brought together many of the residents of The Coach House Trailer Park, changing their lives in ways that they never even knew needed changing. Willow Goodhope moves into a tiny cottage at the trailer park that she immediately names Elderberry Croft. Many of the residents speculate about her exuberance, but she soon becomes their ray of sunshine where things had previously been stagnant. The change that she brings affects each person she meets differently, but the one thing they learn is that perhaps their lives aren't finished yet and they decide to step outside their comfort zones and take a chance at life. Willow is struggling with something that hurts so bad she isn't sure she can ever overcome it. Can Willow find the strength and courage to forgive herself so that she can embrace the future that waits for her?
Elderberry Croft is filled with unique and interesting characters with compelling stories that touched my heart. The book was originally released as a serial novel where each chapter is about a different character in The Coach House Trailer Park. The stories flowed so smoothly that I found myself absorbed, wondering who I might meet next, and the neat thing was that the characters would overlap into other stories, allowing us to keep tabs on them so to speak. Ms. Doughty made the characters so real that it was easy to feel their struggles and their blossoming hope as change began to take place at the trailer park.
Elderberry Croft is such a well crafted book that really took me on an emotional journey with each character. The story wraps up very well, but left me sad to leave my "friends" behind. Becky Doughty has hooked me with her richly descriptive writing style that has the ability to elicit emotion as I stepped into the lives of her characters. She deals with real life situations that aren't always neat and tidy, but the spiritual influence that she infuses into the telling provides hope, healing and inspiration.