A Cup of Silver Linings

Ava Dove, our protagonist, is panicking when right before the opening of her tearoom, her herbal teas have started to go wonky, causing unintended side effects on their users. Kristin Foster, a 16-year-old employee of Ava's, is struggling with the grief of losing her mother, while her grandmother Ellen wants her to leave Dove Pond. Desperate to stay, Kristen concocts a plan to try to find her father. Meanwhile, Ava has her own secret that haunts her.

This is the second book in the Dove Pond series. While I haven't read the first book, this book works well as a stand-alone. I found myself unable to put the book down, staying up well into the night to finish reading it.

I found Dove Pond to be incredibly charming. All the characters were well fleshed out, giving that small community where everyone knows each other and each other's business feel. I absolutely loved the Dove sisters and their magic. A sister who had a special relationship with plants, allowing her to create magical teas that could help people? A sister who had a special relationship with books, giving her the ability to recommend the books that people need, even if they don't know why? I absolutely love that concept.

However, as I went back to read the synopsis of this ARC after reading it, it did ring that what the book was advertising didn't quite match up to what the story itself ended up being. The mystery of Ava's magical teas that have gone wonky was solved by the 20%-ish mark, and Ava isn't really involved in Kristen's search for her father, to the point where Ava wasn't even aware that Kristen was looking for her father until near the end of the book.

In addition to that, it did feel more like it was a Kristen Foster book, rather than an Ava Dove book. I found myself much more interested in Kristen and her grandma Ellen's journey and their relationship development than the struggles that Ava was facing. I kept being incredibly frustrated at why Ava was avoiding confronting the secret that she was hiding, and when I found out what the secret was, the character the secret involved in question had essentially the same qualms I did about not telling them. I also found that the secret that Ava was keeping had a bit of a plot hole in relation to the person the secret she was keeping involved, and the book itself does mention this plot hole later, but doesn't actually explain how Ava managed to do it, so it felt a bit unbelievable when I was thinking about it. The situation involving the secret felt like it mirrored one of the wonky tea situations almost exactly, so it felt weird to me as well that there was no further investigation into the secret when the explanations for the wonky teas were so well fleshed out and thought out.

All in all, I recommend this book if you enjoy magical realism, a look at how relationships can both build and break down, especially when grief is involved, and a look at friendships and family.

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the ARC!