JULIA'S CHOCOLATES

TITLE: JULIA'S CHOCOLATES
AUTHOR: CATHY LAMB
Pages: 383
Date: 10/11/2007
Grade: 5++
Library

"Grab the love. Hold on tight. Treasure it. Put that love you have for your husband first, arrange everything else around it, and all else will work out. Love must be cradled, and nurtured, and enjoyed, and danced with. Never, ever forget the love. It's why we want to live."

A wonderful quote from an equally wonderful, life enhancing, book. I'm so glad I read this book. The story had me smiling a lot, and on several occassions I had tears in my eyes or running down my cheeks.
A story filled with fear and terror, stress and illness, but more then any of those filled with love and friendship, courage and determination and how they will carry you through.

On her wedding day, Julia runs away from her abusive and very dangerous fiance, Robert, leaving her wedding dress hanging in a tree in the middle of nowhere.
The place she flees to is her aunt Lydia's farm near Golden, Oregon, the only place she's ever felt loved and safe in her whole life.
There she meets Lara, Katie, and Caroline, all three with their own issues to overcome.
The five women create strong bonds of friendship between them. Bonds that they'll need as each of them struggles with life changing problems and decisions.
In Golden, Julia learns to love and trust, and life would be perfect if it wasn't for the constant threat from Robert and the fear she's constantly living with.