Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe

Loved this book. Just enough magical realism to be a nice escape but somehow the author also layered in really deeply emotional events and characters dealing with very difficult things. Loved how the author struck that balance here. Amazing story. Well done.

I loved the little mysteries of Wicklow Alabama and the history of its citizens. Anna Kate arrives following the death of her Grandma Zee who owned the local cafe and has willed it to her. As the story unravels you learn of the connections with in this small community and the unusual behaviors of the blackbirds that come to the yard of the cafe nightly.This quote sums up the outcome for many in Wicklow the summer following Anna Kate's arrival:I couldn’t go back to the way I’d been, because I wasn’t the same person who’d left.

Loved this book right from the beginning! I had to slow down my reading because I didn’t want it to end. Beautiful characters!

After seeing multiple positive reviews over and over again, I took the bait and read this and I am SO GLAD THAT I DID!!!"All of you will always be in my heart, and part of me will always be in yours. That's a damn good legacy, if you ask me."This book is a mixture of grief, love, friendship, magic, and forgiveness. "Grief can change a person to the point where they become someone they don't know, or even like very much."Anna Kate Callow has come to the town of Wicklow, Alabama since her Granny Zee died. Part of Zee's will stated that Anna Kate could inherit the Blackbird Cafe, if she came to Wicklow and ran it for at least 60 days. And Granny Zee knew EXACTLY what she was doing!!!Anna Kate is planning on becoming a doctor. However, when Zee dies, she has to go run the Blackbird Cafe. Not knowing what to expect since her mother ran off with her (she was pregnant with her) right after her father died, Anna comes to the town of Wicklow. Her father's family, the Lindens', blamed her mother Eden for her father's death. Even though the car accident was ruled an "accident", the Linden's, specifically Seelie, insists that it was no accident, and Eden murdered her son AJ.Anna dives head first into running the Cafe and figuring out what what Granny Zee put in the "Blackbird pie" to make it taste so good. Ewwwwww....blackbird pie? But the pies aren't made with actual blackbirds, but rather various fruits such as blueberries and blackberries and a "secret" ingredient Anna must figure out. After eating the pie, you have dreams that night from loved ones that have passed on that provide messages. On top of that, the rare birds come at midnight and put on a show that soon begins attracting bird watchers from all over.This was a beautiful, magical realism southern book. I loved all of the characters from Mr. Lazenby banging on the cafe's door every morning wanting his pie in hopes of receiving messages from his late wife (completely oblivious that Pebbles is in love with him wanting him to get over her), to Faylene who knows everyone and everything about everyone and is always playing matchmaker, to the mysterious gray cat that keeps appearing out of nowhere leading Anna on various escapades.Then, of course there is love!!! Lots and lots of love. If you are looking for a heartfelt book about overcoming hardships and grief, dealing with family drama, love, some good cooking and a little bit of magic, this book is for you.

I wanted to love this book. It started off slow, I kept waiting for me to get hooked with the story development, the hint of magic, or the characters themselves but about two thirds through it, I realized it wasn’t going to happen. How do I know when a book is just so so? When I have to make myself finish it. It’s not a bad book, it’s just that it is vanilla when I wanted vanilla with dark chocolate chips and brandied cherries.

This is an easy read. The drama is not too dramatic and the characters are loveable. The character growth for Seelie is a whiplash turnaround which is incongruent with her archetype. The dad's drama seems to go nowhere after it causes what seems to be the climactic conflict. Probably won't read this one again but it was cute. It needed to be at least 75 pages shorter than it is. Way too wordy and not always in the best way.

This book is everything I want my writing to be. Immersively descriptive. Emotional. I even teared up over the death of some zucchini plants.The protagonist is Anna Kate Callow who came to Wicklow when her grandmother Zee passed away and left her the Blackbird Cafe. Anna Kate inherits only if she spends two months running the cafe. She has help in Len and Bow, two mysterious people who showed up over 20 years before and never left.Despite being Zee's granddaughter, Anna Kate has never stepped foot in Wicklow. Her pregnant mother left after Anna Kate's father died in a car crash and she was accused of murder. Her mother wouldn't talk about Anna Kate's father, what happened, or anything to do with Wicklow and its denizens. But Anna Kate learned about the town and the cafe through her grandmother's fantastic stories about blackbirds and magical pies that enable people to get messages from loved ones who have passed on.Anna Kate's father was the son of the town doctor. His wife Seelie believes Anna Kate's mother murdered her son. Fearing they would try to get custody of Anna Kate, no one ever told them that Anna Kate's mother was pregnant when she left town.Now Anna Kate is taking over the cafe, and the whole town is talking. Long-buried secrets are unearthed, families and friendships are forged, and Anna Kate gradually uncovers the mystery behind the pies and the blackbirds, discovers a new family, and makes peace with her life.I unabashedly loved this novel. It's set in a fictional Alabama town, and every page oozes with the sights, sounds, smells, and even the textures of the south. I grew up in small town west Tennesse, and this book evoked the best of those years.My own novels are set in the South, but I have a lot to learn to make them as immersive and evocative as this amazing novel.The novel isn't perfect. I struggled with the multiple First Person POV, a POV I, personally, do not like. I understood why she made the POV choices she made, and at one level I could appreciate her technique. I simply don't like First Person Multiple. I honestly didn't see anything here that would have been lost if the novel had been in close Third Limited.That was, overall, just a personal preference and not really a weakness of the book, so I gave it a solid 5 stars. Beautiful-but-still-accessible writing, deeply drawn characters, and a seamless injection of magic. I definitely recommend the novel and hope someday I can write something equally amazing.