Customer Reviews

A Year on Ladybug Farm

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I loved this book. I couldn't put it down and I read it in one sitting. It was very different than Donna's other books.

Three middle aged women pool their resources and buy an old farm house in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

I loved reading about their lives and struggles. The descriptions of the house and land made me feel like I was there. This author knows her craft and you won't be disappointed.

War and Peace, it ain't. Heck, I don't think it would favorably compare to bubblegum works like Briget Jones or The Jane Austen book club, but there is something cute about this novel. Perhaps it's just a fondness for ladybugs, but I was able to overlook some serious problems in the characterization and storytelling. My main pet peeve, apart from the way the book is wrapped up, is that the author spends a great deal of time telling us how smart, wonderful, funny and special these three women are but not a whole lot of time showing us that by their actions. Would exceptionally smart and saavy women have gotten themselves into the situation in the first place? Better if the characters had been shown to be more flawed, more gullible, more moved by a desire to run away and take a last big fling - then their decisions would have made sense in the universe the author created.

Again, if you are looking for a book that is heavy on the "Sisters are doing it for themselves" vibe and you want something quick and mindless for your days in the hammock, then give it a try.

Nobody creates a sense of place like Donna Ball. Even though Ladybug isn't one of Donna's cozy mysteries or suspenseful science fantasies, she has drawn me in with that rambling old house in Blue Valley. I love how Cici, Bridget and Lindsay rediscover themselves and strengthen their friendship as they restore the house and reinvent the farm.

This is the type of book that makes you kick back, relax, smile and remember (or perhaps discover) the joy and value of nature, community and friendship. And these days, any time spent at Ladybug Farm is time well spent.

This is a great book about friendship, starting over and getting back to basics. Anyone who's had a best friend or several close friends can relate to this story. You will yearn for a simpler life. Snuggle up, get comfy and enjoy.

It isn't often that life gives you a second chance to start over again. A chance to try something different, a chance to get out of your comfort zone and be daring. But if and when those chances come along, you'd better grab them by the brass ring and don't let go.

This is the premise of the fascinating novel, "A Year on Ladybug Farm" by Donna Ball.

Three close friends and neighbors, Cici, Bridget and Lindsey, find themselves at a crossroads in life and long to do something different, something unique. Bridget has recently become widowed, Cici divorced, and Lindsey retired from her teaching position. So when the opportunity to purchase a dilapidated old house in the Shenandoah Valley comes up, the ladies decide to make the leap from their comfortable suburban lives and become lady farmers.

They soon find out that they truly have their work cut out for them, as the house is in worse shape than they thought, and inhabited by hundreds of thousands of ladybugs. As they work together to restore the house (and to shoo the thousands and thousands of ladybugs out), the gals find strengths inside themselves they never imagined. Even though the day to day activities are strenuous, a calmness and appreciation for beauty of the simplest things becomes important to the three friends.

As the trio work to bring the house to a livable condition, it soon appears that a mysterious guest might be living among the numerous rooms, a helpful if not ghostly guest who keeps leaving clues and solutions to the myriad of problems the ladies encounter. There is also the problem of a gang of renegade sheep and a certain garden thief who keeps the girls stepping lively as they adapt to country life.

Author Donna Ball weaves a delightful story of friendship, resilience, and confidence in her latest book. Readers will find themselves chuckling on one page, then tearing up a few pages over. No stranger to the world of fiction, Ball has published over eighty works of fiction under a variety of pseudonyms as well as her own name. With "A Year on Ladybug Farm," Ball promises future stories about the gals down on the farm, and I for one am looking forward to the tales.

This is the best series ever. You will want to move to a farm with your best friends and start business endeavers in the areas of life you really love.

Just loved this book! What can I say? The characters are just great. I can't wait to read more of what happens at Ladybug Farm. I want to know what will happpen to Noah, the creatures, and the ladies of Ladybug farm. This book has much warmth and richness of characters, that I felt like I was there beside the characters. Just give this book a try and you will see what I mean.

As someone else said, this is not "War and Peace" but it sure was enjoyable to read. I had never heard of this book or author until a friend who knows how I like to read about home renovation and cooking told me about it. I was hooked on the first page.

I loved the characters and their development and the descriptions of all that these women did on the farm. I love how they met the challenges, many of which they had not expected to encounter. It is a story of resilience and most importantly, the value of friendship, especially the friendships that these women had nurtured for so many years.

And for the naysayers, these women HAD a fund to pay for repairs. They had just under-estimated. Anyone who has ever built a home or done extensive renovation would know that under-estimation is often an issue.

The author has a gift for describing "place" and putting the reader there. I think it was obvious from the details that Ball was intimately acquainted with the trials and tribulations of renovating an old place.

I am now going to read the sequel, "At Home on Ladybug Farm" and look forward to the third book in this series, to be published in October.

Though widows Cici Burke, Lindsay Wright, and Bridget Tyndale have each other while living a gentle middle class suburban lifestyle, each feels their lives are unfilled now that their kids have moved out and their husbands are gone. The trio decides they need something different so they buy a rundown mansion in rustic Shenandoah Valley with plans to renovate and grandiose dreams centered on an art school and a winery with lush gardens. They are greeted on their dilapidated newly purchased estate by a zillion lady bugs, liberated livestock and hints of a comedic ghost

The amigas move to their new home dubbed the Ladybug Farm shocking their adult offspring with the decision. However, fixing up the house and estate proves daunting as nothing goes right. Over time each begins to have doubts about their decision to uproot their lives from comfort to disaster, but the trio sticks it out through thick and thin as they begin to learn how to live life again as empty nesters.

This is an engaging tale of three best buddies who elected seven presidents and got involved in numerous causes coming together after the last spouse dies to find a new personalized mission now that the adult children are spread around the country. Their efforts make Murphy comparatively speaking into an optimist as nothing goes right yet everything goes right as long as friends are there for one another. Readers will enjoy the three musketeer-ettes as they provide humor, pathos, and logic to one calamity after another.

Harriet Klausner

Very well written, engrossing book. The characters are great! You will laugh. You will cry. But mostly laugh. About 85% through on my Kindle and can't wait to read the next two. PS: I live in the Shenandoah Valley, but not as far south as this book takes place. Read it. You will love it!