The Hope Chest
Carolyn Brown
4 stars
Three cousins come together to fulfill the rules of a will to receive what was left to them by their bipolar grandma.I figured this would be the average “run of the mill sappy story” but I was so wrong. This book is so much more as it is a wonderful story full of forgiveness, growth and learning to live a purposeful life regardless of past mistakes. I would love to have a sequel following Flynn, Matthew and Isaac.
I was instantly sucked into the story from page one and I barely put the book done until I finished! 

I highly recommend this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley.

The Hope Chest is a story of love, forgiveness and finding oneself. Carolyn Brown always tells a story that warms the heart!

Following Nanny Lucy O'Reilly's death and a court battle over the contested will, the O'Reilly cousins, April, Nessa and Flynn arrive in Blossom, Texas to receive their inheritance from their grandmother. According to the will the cousins inherited their grandmother's house. One condition mentioned in the will stated that all three had to finish the quilt their Nanny had started and have it approved by the local quilting group before they could open up Nanny Lucy's hope chest. Also the hope chest would go to the first cousin to get married. All three were willing to move into their grandmother's house and abide by the will's stipulations.

Turns out the three thirty-two-year-old cousins needed the time in Blossom to get their lives together. Nessa is the daughter of Lucy's son Issac who is a preacher but Nessa sees him as less a man of god and more an overbearing parent. He tried to get her to marry a man of his choice just after Nessa graduated from high school. Nessa put her foot down on that idea and remained a rebel in the eyes of her parents. When Flynn was fifteen his mother, who was divorced from his father, was killed in an auto accident on her way to pick up Flynn in Blossom. Lucy sent Flynn to live with her son Matthew even though Flynn didn't want to go. Flynn knew his father really didn't want him. April's mother Rachel died four days after April's birth and was raised by her grandmother. The three cousins got to spend a couple weeks together at their grandmother's house each summer and here they are back again.

The Hope Chest is a testament to the power of love and healing. The three cousins all came from different backgrounds and had differing perceptions of their grandmother. Their childhoods had greatly affected how they lived their lives up until the point of returning to Blossom and living together and working on the quilt together. The quilt ends up being a memory quilt. Spending time together working on the quilt and talking things over brought them close to each other. The things they learned about their grandmother, especially her having to deal with her bipolar disorder, brought them forgiveness for and acknowledged their love for their grandmother. I love this author's writing style. As I read I get so invested in the lives of the characters I can't put the book down. When I finish one of Carolyn Brown's stories I always feel like I've walked a mile in her characters' shoes and appreciate the love they discover.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

Fun fast read. But deep and moving too.

Her books are always so good and this was no exception. Sweet and romantic. Her writing style is great. She has a gift for keeping you reading long after you should.

I love Brown!!!!
Three cousins separated by family dynamics. Once Granny Lucy passes her only request is for the 3 cousins to finish a quilt together and place it in her dear Hope Chest!
While doing so they will discover Granny may have had some secrets herself!
Will they finally get some answers? Read to find out!

I love this author she can draw you in and not let go! This story was hopeful, loving, sweet, heart breaking!

With thanks to netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest opinion.
First time reading this author and I enjoyed it.
A tale full of love hurt and always on the lookout, three cousins brought together to fulfil the wishes of a grandmother lots of tales to be told lots of old ghosts to be got rid of can highly recommend.

A quilt really is a timeless treasure, isn’t it? Kind of like family.

Pour yourself a sweet tea and allow Carolyn Brown to transport you to Blossom, Texas. This town is “the best-kept secret in all the world and it’s right next door to Heaven.”

A grandmother’s loving bequest forces three estranged cousins to reunite for two weeks. The girls’ lives change forever as they bond over the quilt their grandmother wanted them to finish together.

This book needs to be read as if you were working on a quilt, slow and with a vision of the future. Each square represents a memory and as it is stitched together with the square beside it, it contributes to the larger vision. Each seemingly unique piece is needed, just as each memory and member contributes to the family as a whole. Brown uses country music lyrics to reinforce her prose. She highlights bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and the effect it has on family if it goes undiagnosed and untreated.

The connecting threads of love, hope and family stitch together fractured lives and leave them with fresh hope and new beginnings in this sweet, wholesome, small-town read.

“If you want to change, you have to work for it.” Grandma knew best.

I was gifted this advance copy by Carolyn Brown, Montlake Publishing and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

Publishes June 22, 2021

Special thanks to Netgalley, the author Carolyn Brown, and the publishers for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Hope Chest is the story of three estranged cousins brought together after the death of their grandmother Lucy. Nessa, Flynn, and April are all left with some money and their grandmother's house in Texas to live in for the summer. Lucy's will also states that they inherited a chest which cannot be opened until they complete one task - finish stitching an incomplete quilt together. Once they are done, Lucy's friends from her quilting business will inspect the quick to ensure it was completed properly before they are allowed access to their 'hope chest'. The first grandchild to be married will own the chest.

The Hope Chest is a heartwarming novel about family, love, and forgiveness. Each of the grandchildren have different memories of Miz Lucy and their times in Blossom, TX so it was nice to see how they become closer as a family and overcome their own problems. It's very well-written but I did feel like there were moments where I was skimming the pages. It's a beautiful story but honestly it didn't work for me so I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. I felt like the character development was rushed. Nonetheless, it was still a nice light read.

After their grandmas death, cousins Nessa, Flynn and April inherit her home and a hope chest in Blossom, Texas. The hope chest can only be unlocked after the cousins finished her last quilt. Each cousin is struggling in their life and believe that this is a new beginning for each of them. They begin to bond over the quilt and relive their relationship with their grandma and each other during their childhood. They find a diary that uncover things that they didn’t know about her and their parents and they begin to realize how all of this has impacted their adult lives and hope that knowing these things can help then rebuild their lives. Opportunities open up for each of them and they begin to enjoy living in Blossom. They finish the quilt and am surprised at what the hope chest contains! I enjoyed reading this book.

Thanks to Carolyn Brown and Montlake for the book!

I've never read anything by the author before but liked the description and decided to give it a try. Glad I did. Very well done and would definitely recommend.

Nothing is more thrilling to me than being able to read a new Carolyn Brown book. I love her settings and the characters are one of a kind. Three cousins converge on Blossom, TX to fulfill the last wishes of their Nanny Lucy. She meant something different to each one. As the cousins complete,their tasks they become closer and also work out their own issues. I loved that quilting was a focus point of the story. I loved all the animals mentioned, especially Tex. I liked all the characters. I read read more slowly as I drew closer to the end to male or last longer.

An inheritance brings 3 cousins back to the house they visited every summer. They all have different memories of the place. In her will their Aunt has put a stipulation that they must work together to finish a quilt. All 3 are at a turning point in their lives and the house is a place for them to live while they figure out what to do with their lives. I liked the characters and their relationships. This was a story about family coming together and healing. It is a perfect book for the beach. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

Nessa, April, and Flynn arrive in Blossom, Texas after their grandmother Lucy passes away. They used to come to stay there for a couple of weeks in the summer when they were kids but hadn't been back for a long time. When the cousins met there, they were basically strangers, each with their own lives, problems, and reasons for coming.
The will told them what the stipulations were in order for them to inherit the house, quilting shed, and her quilting business. One of the things they must do is work together and finish the quilt that is in the quilting shed in one month.
They decide to take on the challenge and work together. As they stitched, they started thinking about memories, parts of their lives they wanted to change, and really getting to know each other. I am not a quilter but the way I read this book was so much different than I normally read a book. I read it like I think a quilter would quilt. Slowly, painstakingly, and slowly watching it unfold. As each square was stitched, more is revealed, in how the past has affected them, how as the quilt grows bigger, so does their thinking about their lives, and they start to grow closer. As they finish the quilt, they not only see the whole quilt, but they can see the changes in themselves, their understanding of their grandmother, and they each started to feel whole again.
There are many things to this story but when all is revealed it changed the way they thought of their family because they learned things they had never known before. This story is like a quilt, a timeless treasure that enriched my life.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC. Another good book by Carolyn Brown. Enjoyed all the characters. Loved the story. Highly recommend.

I normally like books by Carolyn Brown but this one not so much. I had a hard with the characters and the storyline

The Hope Chest by Carolyn Brown provides the perfect balance of a dedicated family, quirky characters, family drama, unexpected romance, and personal growth. Three estranged by circumstances cousins are forced to reunite and work together to earn their inheritance from their Nanny Lucy. These cousins grew up spending two treasured weeks together each summer, but have not seen in other in many years.

Nessa is the one they thought of as the favorite, she seems to have much of her life figured out and is a Kindergarten teacher. However, Nessa’s strict upbringing by her preacher father has left her with invisible scars. April is the one who was reluctantly raised by her Nanny Lucy and that has left her with her own complexities. She has bounced around between jobs and dead end relationships. Flynn lost his mother at 15 and was forced to live with a father more interested in finding his next wife than his son. Flynn followed in that example with way too many short term girlfriends but is interested in choosing a new life path.

These three cousins all have scars from their upbringing and emotions that have been hidden for much too long. What they do not lack is family support from each other. This will that requires them to live and work on a quilting project is unconventional. However, we quickly fall in love with all three and they find their way into your heart as we watch them grow. While Nanny Lucy definitely had her own mental health challenges, she also had an understanding of what these three needed. This book is a wonderful story of renewal.

I would also be remiss if I did not mention the fantastic and well thought out weaving of country music lyrics throughout. They truly enrich this story and especially resonate with a former Texas native stuck living in Pennsylvania. I retained my love of country music and Brown uses lyrics to tell her story in a deeper way.

The Hope Chest hit all my must haves by engaging the reader, tugging at my heartstrings, and encouraging me to take a deeper look at some lingering demons long suppressed. It truly was a delight of all my senses! Brown transported me to Blossom, Texas where you can break out of your past and make your own future.

I was provided a free advance reader copy from Montlake in exchange for my honest review on Net Galley. The opinions shared in this review are my own.

A prolific writer, Carolyn Brown 's books never fail to satisfy. Three cousins are the beneficiaries of their grandmother's will, but with certain stipulations that must be met before they can actually see the entire inheritance. Quilting figures large in this story, as does wood working and bi-polar disorders. All in all, an extremely satisfying story.

Cousins Nessa, April, and Flynn all have different childhood memories of Nanny Lucy. In her will, Nanny Lucy has left her house and a hope chest to the three of them. They can never sell the house and the first one of them to get married wins the hope chest. This is a story about a dysfunctional family and about solving life issues and family secrets with humor, sass, and a little romance - and a found diary. This is a light and fun read. Thanks to the author Carolyn Brown, publisher Montlake, and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book for a honest review.

The Hope Chest by Carolyn Brown is a book about accepting the hand one has been given, setting goals to be a better person, and learning to forgive. Nanny Lucy left her house and land to her three grandchildren along with the instruction that they must finish the quilt in her shed in order to open her hope chest. The three have different opinions of their grandmother and the time they spent with her...good, bad, and very ugly. The characters presented in this novel will draw readers into the story as Lucy’s secrets are uncovered and each begins to reveal their individual experiences with their grandmother’s erratic personality. Supporting characters give each cousin the opportunity to act on their collective desire to learn from their mistakes and become a better person. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley. Most highly recommend.

This book is a familiar formula for Ms. Brown. Three relatives inherit grandma's house and must perform a task to unlock a secret. The unique flavor of this book is in dealing with mental illness and the impact on families. I found it interesting that it explores this issue from a young adult's point of view in trying to understand why their families turned out the way they did. Very different experiences of the three grand kids depending on who raised them. Would recommend the book just to get a look at how untreated mental illness can have a multi-generational impact on families.