Customer Reviews

8 Sandpiper Way (Cedar Cove Series)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Cedar Cove has become a favorite city for thousands of readers like me who enjoy gossipy writing, small towns filled with good-spirited characters, and a little romance and drama to keep things interesting.

Debbie Macomber does not disappoint with this eighth installment set in the soap-opera like town. Emily and Dave Flemming take center stage in this novel as the local pastor keeps important information from his wife. With his much-later-than usual hours and the discovery of some diamond earrings in his jacket, Emily believes Dave is either an adulterer or a thief. Old friends Roy McAfee, the local private investigator, and Sheriff Troy Davis will get involved before this is all put to rest.

In the meantime, Sheriff Davis has some important personal challenges to face as he anguishes over lost love Faith Beckwith and grapples with his daughter Megan's health issues. Old friends like Olivia and Jack Griffin, Grace Harding, Teri Polgar, Christie Levitt, and Rachel Pendergast reappear and let the reader share what is happening in their lives. In addition, new characters like Tanni Bliss and her mom, fabric artist Shirley Bliss, appear and begin what will undoubtedly be the fodder of future sagas.

My only complaints with this installment are: first, my personal favorite, Mary Ellen Bowman, only got a brief mention; second, the mystery surrounding Pastor Flemming was one I figured out very early in the book (maybe I trust him more than his wife does) ; and lastly, I want another Cedar Cove book immediately. They are addictive! Fortunately, in just another month we will have a Cedar Cove Christmas, but must wait a full year to find out more about what will transpire at 92 Pacific Boulevard, the home of Troy Davis.

It's almost Christmas in Cedar Cove and Pastor Dave Flemming has plenty on his mind - the Christmas pageant (with live animals!), sermons to write, sick parishioners to visit and more. He's a busy man, but his wife Emily suspects something else is going on and begins to think her beloved husband is up to no good. Other residents of Cedar Cove have their own issues to deal with. Sheriff Troy Davis is pining after long lost love Faith Beckwith; Christie Levitt is fighting her attraction to limo driver James Wilbur; and Olivia Lockhart Griffin is fighting breast cancer. As each of them and other residents of Cedar Cove deal with their problems, they realize how much family, friends, and neighbors mean to them.

"8 Sandpiper Way" is the eighth book in Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove series - a series that is a lot of fun to read. While the book definitely has a soap opera feel - complete with a large cast of characters - Dave and Emily's problems are very real and very timely in today's world. At times I wanted to yell at Dave for not confiding in Emily, but his keeping his problems to himself is also very real. Besides David and Emily's story line, there are several other story lines going on and the one that I like the most, more so in fact than Emily and Dave's, was the interaction between Christie and James (and Macomber drops a bombshell in this plot line). Chess player Bobby Polgar never seems quite real to me as a character but James his driver does.

If there is a fault in this entertaining series, it is that Macomber has too many characters in it. Because of this, some of the characters that featured prominently in past books in the series - for example Maryellen and Jon Bowman, the Cox family, and Justin and Seth Gunderson are either barely in the book or just mentioned in passing. This can be disappointing, especially since Macomber introduces some new characters - Shirley Bliss, her daughter Tanni, and Shaw Wilson. While I realize Macomber wants to keep the series fresh and Tanni and Shaw's story does end on a cliffhanger that helps set up the next book in the series, neither of them do much for me as characters.

"8 Sandpiper Way" is a nice cozy book to read. It's not terribly deep, but Macomber seems to have had a lot of fun writing it (I suspect her tongue was firmly in cheek more than once) and it is a lot of fun to read, especially during these cool autumn nights.

I absolutely love Ms. Macomber's Cedar Cove series. She is an excellent writer. However, with this book, it didn't contain her usual depth of characters and there were way too many of them! It's like planning on enjoying a family Thanksgiving gathering and having all the extended relatives and neighbors show up!

It felt very rushed and the characters were just not fleshed out like in her other books. I also thought it very light on romance. I really did have to make myself finish it.

If this is your first Macomber book, please give her another try...she really is wonderful. If you are a faithful Cedar Cove wannabe like me...let's hope the next book centers on just a few main characters that we can once again bond with!

Bring back the Cedar Cove we know and love :)

I was anxiously waiting for the next book in the series, but I was disappointed. There was too much reviewing of the past books and too little story. There is still another coming and if it is the same, I am not going any further.

I love Debbie Macomber's books and always look forward to her next one being released. I am not sure if this one was rushed or what..but twice I put it down to start another book. That usually does not happen. The one word I thought about while reading it was "corny". I hated that I thought that.

In this delightful book, 8 Sandpiper Way (Cedar Cove, Book 8), we are introduced to a cast of characters so charming and homey that they could be your friends and/or neighbors. This one begins with a letter addressed to "Dear Reader," from a distraught woman named Emily Flemming. She suspects that her husband--the minister, no less!--is having an affair.

We are then launched into the day-to-day lives of this town's residents, and with each snippet of their lives, we become more and more invested in them. From their romances to their illnesses, from their wishes and dreams to their worries and troubles, we come to care about them.

This Cedar Cove tale is not the newest one of Debbie Macomber's, since it's been on my TBR stack for awhile. But I enjoyed it tremendously, and at the conclusion, there were some loose ends and an announcement of the next book, which will pick up these loose threads and weave them into another cozy tale. The next one will surely go on my wish list.

Like all of her books, this one of Macomber's earns five stars from me!

I love Debbie's Cedar Cove series (as well as her Blossom Street series) and this book did not fail to deliver. It was like returning home to visit old friends, and making some new ones as well.

I like how Debbie's cedar Cove books involve more than one storyline. I realize for some readers this can be confusing, but for me it breaks up the monotony of a book. I think spending an entire book reading about Olivia's cancer, or Emily's distrust of her husband would get tiresome; but by interspersing other stories in the book the author keeps it interesting. And she sets up more storylines for the books to follow.

Some readers have complained about being confused with so many different characters, but I don't find it that hard to follow at all. She gives us enough background in each book to jog our memories and if you really find yourself struggling you can always refer to the list of characters she has in the front of the book. I don't mind that she's bringing in new characters because I think it keeps the series fresh. After all, the main families (Grace and her girls, and Olivia and her kids) are married and married couples with kids don't always make for the most interesting storylines. Once you've done the usual...pregnancy problems, infidelity problems, health crises...there isn't much left to talk about. And you can't throw too much at the characters or it starts to become unbelievable so I think introducing new ones to keep the series fresh was a smart move.

I will admit that Debbie tends to spoon feed her audience. For example, when two characters are sitting down to have tea Debbie will go into more detail than other authors might about the selection of the tea, and the significance of the tea cups they use. And instead of having the conversation just jump right to the point she will have her characters talk about more mundane things first, and recap events from past stories, before she gets to the heart of the matter. But this is Ms. Macomber's writing style. Anyone who has read more than two books by her knows that this is the way she writes...whether it is Cedar Cove or Blossom Street. If this is not the kind of writing style you like then you should probably stay away from her books.

Another complaint I frequently see is that she tends to "recap" a lot about past books and this can get irritating. From an author's standpoint, I understand why she does it. She is very successful but, like any author, she would always like to broaden her audience. If someone picks up the series in book 8 and has no idea what the characters are talking about then they are likely to lose interest. But if Debbie gives them just enough information to get them interested in the characters then they may just go ahead and read books 1-7. It makes sense from a marketing standpoint. I will admit that sometimes these recaps seem to come out of left field...like when a character is talking to someone and then they will think of how "that reminded me of...." (when the situation has nothing to do with what they are remembering). So sometimes she can be a little smoother in her transitons between what is going on in the story and her recaps. But the repetition doesn't bother me that much and she usually manages to do it in a way that is different than how the story was previously told. Usually, not always, but nobody is perfect.

I have read this whole series twice now, and will probably read the whole thing again at a later point. I look forward to her new Cedar Cove book every year and I hope she keeps it going for as long as she can. With the introduction of some new characters, as well as periodic visits with the old ones, I think this series could be kept alive for a long time.

I discovered this series a year ago, and was fortunate enough to read the first seven in rapid succession.

Unfortunately, 8 Sandpiper Way was a somewhat disappointing read for me. Although it is billed as Dave and Emily Fleming's story, they share center stage with three other storylines.

I enjoy catching up on characters from previous stories, but I feel Dave and Emily really got shortchanged in this one.

Too many characters, Too many storylines, Too confusing. Ultimately just boring. I'm a fan of audiobooks and with this one I felt as if I were listening to a few different books at the same time. Why this has 4 stars is a mystery.

another fantastic book by debbie. she never fails to provide wonderful material to read and let your imagination take you away. ships quickly, great buy.