Title:  When Cardinals Appear (The Love Birds – Book One)

Author: Katie Eagan Schenck    

Genre: Romance / Women’s Fiction

 

Lanie McAllister intends a whirlwind visit to her east coast hometown, Cedar Haven, to sort out her late mother’s effects and then straight back west to forge a new life in California, exactly as she promised her mum.

But her intentions are thrown into turmoil as she repeatedly runs into her first love, Nate, who broke her heart, and concern over her current boyfriend, James, grows louder. And what is the little, red bird that keeps appearing trying to tell her?

When Cardinals Appear begins as Lanie walks back into her childhood home, six months after her mum, Melody, has passed away. Immediately, there are hints of conflict in most areas of her life as she wanders through the house reflecting, texting James, and meeting with her brother, Steven.

Schenck sets up several narrative strands and scenarios in this opening chapter as she introduces the main players in the novel and their links to Lanie. There are varying levels of curious discord and some horribly bittersweet and painful memories for her to navigate.

The novel is written in first person from Lanie’s perspective and she is a well-developed, rounded, and likable central character who capably carries the novel. She is a little prone to over-analyzing, which occasionally becomes repetitive, but this minor gripe does highlight her emotional vulnerability.

However, through her chatty introspection, the reader quickly senses Lanie’s dilemmas and their possible resolutions, despite her attempts to convince everyone that her future belongs with James on the West Coast.

Her internal conflicts, unresolved issues, and subconscious desires drive the narrative as they bubble to the surface despite her frantic efforts to bury them. Indeed, Schenck provides a masterclass in dramatic irony without it becoming frustrating or obvious for the reader.

Nevertheless, although the plot certainly warmly embraces and fulfills reader expectations by delivering exactly what fans of the genre want, contrastingly it also toys nicely with predicted assumptions, serving several unexpected, credible little twists.

An interestingly toxic dynamic exists between Lanie, Steven, and their father, Max. Both men impress as bullish and unlikable, seeming not to recognize, as the reader does, that Lanie is struggling with suppressed grief and chaotic emotions.

Further, persistent reference is made to burdensome secrets involving Melody, Lanie, and Nate. Although Melody is never a physical presence, she casts an intriguing shadow over the story, and the reader’s understanding of her personality evolves significantly as the novel progresses.

Through her light, articulate, and immensely readable prose, Schenck provides a poignant examination of their complex mother/daughter relationship and the repercussions of the often subjective, reactive decisions parents make but later regret.

Notwithstanding, the simmering unresolved heartbreak between Lanie and Nate yields some of the strongest writing. Schenck is skilled at pacing their exchanges for maximum discomfort as they miss opportunities to connect and misunderstand intentions.

It could be leveled that Schenck plays the back-and-forth game too long in this respect but she offers some gripping set-piece scenes while she keeps the reader guessing. Nate is pitched perfectly, with his beautifully intense, yet transparent, expressions giving clues to his hurt and longing.

A couple of the main players are slightly under-developed, but this is balanced by Lanie’s wonderfully earthy and folkloric neighbor, Cassandra. Although she appears briefly, her bewitching aspect chimes perfectly with the enchanting and ever-so-slightly supernatural titular motif of the red Cardinal.

With this first installment in The Love Birds series, Schenck proves she is naturally adept at the sweet romance genre. When Cardinals Appear is a captivating, absorbing, and addictive novel that explores some weighty issues through a heartwarming and sweetly satisfying story.

 

 

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