Willa’s Grove

By: Laura Munson

Narrated by: Xe Sands

You are invited to the rest of your life.

Three women, from coast to coast and in between, open their mailboxes to the same intriguing invitation. Although leading entirely different lives, each has found herself at a similar, jarring crossroads. Right when these women thought they’d be comfortably settling into middle age, their carefully curated futures have turned out to be dead ends.

The sender of the invitation is Willa Silvester, who is reeling from the untimely death of her beloved husband and the reality that she must say goodbye to the small mountain town they founded together. Yet as Willa mourns her losses, an impossible question keeps staring her in the face: So now what?

Struggling to find the answer alone, fiercely independent Willa eventually calls a childhood friend who happens to be in her own world of hurt - and that’s where the idea sparks. They decide to host a weeklong interlude from life, and invite two other friends facing their own quandaries. Soon the four women converge at Willa’s Montana homestead, a place where they can learn from nature and one another as they contemplate their second acts together in the rugged wilderness of big sky country.

©2020 Laura Munson (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Heartwarming

This story made me ponder my own life and wants for it. It made me so very grateful for the people in my life and ways to inspire and incorporate how I want to live❤️ Very insightful❤️

Tedious book. Great narrator, but...

...even Xe Sands can't make this ponderous bag of literary rocks achieve animation. Wayyyy too much focus on religion (for me, personally). I'm an introvert. I sometimes devote *days* to introspection. This book made me want to throw a loud street party. The parts (not nearly enough, descriptive enough or informative enough) out in nature were what interested me. Otherwise? Boring. Predictable.

Will never forget this book!

I picked the book originally for the narrator, love Xe Sands, but was handed a gift I won’t forget. This book touched something in me that was very personal. Many years ago I lost my husband and faced what now. The author led me on a journey that I didn’t want to end. Highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever had or is having a what now.

Somewhat familiar,

Part of the story seemed to copy bridges of Madison county. The narrators tone was irritating, sounding as though the characters were whiny and constantly on the verge of tears. Not a favorite

What a fabulous book

I adored this book. It was an excellent exploration of the question of “what next” for each of the characters who were all at a midlife crossroads but who truly faced different futures from their last and from each other. Her writing was captivating and gripping, and I was swept up in the emotional journey. It was both cathartic and healing. I highly recommend it, and the narrator was outstanding.