Review: A Year on Ladybug Farm by Donna Ball.

Grade: 4 out of 5

Their husbands were gone, their families were grown, and the future stretched out before them like an unfulfilled promise . . . Tired of always dreaming and never doing, Cici, Lindsay, and Bridget make a life-altering decision. Uprooting themselves from their comfortable lives in the suburbs, the three friends buy a run-down mansion, nestled in the picturesque Shenandoah Valley. They christen their new home “Ladybug Farm,” hoping that the name will bring them luck. As the friends take on a home improvement challenge of epic proportions, they encounter disaster after disaster, from renegade sheep and garden thieves to a seemingly ghostly inhabitant. Over the course of a year, overwhelming obstacles make the three women question their decision, but they ultimately learn that sometimes the best things can happen when everything goes wrong . . .

At my reading core, I’m a romance reader but every now and again I like to read chick lit books. This isn’t a chick lit but a women’s fiction that surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. This book is so different from anything that I would have thought I’d like and there really isn’t much to this story but I really did enjoy the story.

This story is about three women who have carved their lives in the suburbs and are now trying to make a go of it in the country. They bought a big sprawling estate that is falling down on its ear and they’re trying to restore it to its former glory. Along with rebuilding this estate, they’re each dealing with their own set of issues and trying to adjust to moving from suburbs to this the nearest town is an hour away country and it’s hard. It’s hard to move from the suburbs where everything you’ve ever wanted or needed is minutes from your house to a country estate where there is nothing but space for miles and miles.

I enjoyed reading the struggles that each of these women went through to try to adapt to being in a new place at their age. They had all these plans and it was funny to see that what they thought they were getting into wasn’t at all what they got. It was like the house had a mind of its own and was trying to tell the girls something and then someone was stealing their vegetables and then the sheep, lots of things were going down and yet this book had a lazy feel to it. It’s funny that I enjoyed this book because there was not one romantic storyline in this entire book. It was straight up about these three women.

Of the three women, I connected the most with Bridget. She was the cook of the bunch and she was always making something in that kitchen and of the three women, I had the most in common with her. I liked her character and it was a joy getting to know her. Cici reminded me of my friend Mulu, she’s the go getter, the one that is always fixing things and then there’s the artist Lindsay and that was totally my friend Theresa. Watching these three women go through their new life made me realize that I want to be like these guys when I grow up. When I’m older and have lived my life, I would definitely want to do something like this. Move in with my best friends and spend my days rebuilding a garden and house like them.

This book made me want to take a road trip with my best friends and find our own adventure. This book made me want a lot of things, to still be friends with my best friends when I’m their age and still be going strong. I enjoyed this story and I enjoyed the way that this writer wove their story. It was a delight to read and it did spark some tears toward the end but I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is willing to read a great story. Be warned though, this is women’s fiction not romance.

This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here.

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