APART AT THE SEAMS is the newest book by Marie Bostwick. It's part of her long running Cobbled Court Quilts series. (If you're new to Ms. Bostwick's books don't worry you can read this and not feel lost at all). If you're like me you're married and facing an empty nest, and wondering what this new phase in your marriage will hold. Gayla Oliver, the main character in APART AT THE SEAMS is in this phase of her life. Her twins are gone and establishing careers and lives without Gayla and her husband Brian.

Gayla thinks things are going along quite smoothly until one day while attempting to multitask she accidentally opens a file on the computer she shares with Brian, and finds a note he wrote to her, but never sent. The note she finds tells her that Brian is not only unhappy in the marriage but he had an affair that is over, but he wants out.

Gayla of course is stunned and angry, and automatically reacts. She's not sure what the next step is, but know she needs to distance herself from Brian while she figures it out. She runs to their cottage in New Bern. A place Brian suggested they buy for weekend get aways, but as life has intruded and work pressures have built for both the place has been neglected, and Gayla turns her destructive anger into constructive anger in sprucing up the house and becoming a part of the New Bern community.

Those of us who have followed the series for a while know that the ladies of the Cobbled Court Quilt Shop have nothing but the best interests of their neighbors and community in mind. With this knowledge we know that when they welcome Gayle into their inner circle she is bound to come to conclusions that will be hard won and regardless of what the outcome of her marriage might be they will make Gayla a better stronger person.

I believe that it takes a special insight to take a group of women and continue to make them loving, caring, adaptable characters that readers will love forward to revisiting time and time again. Ms. Bostwick has this insight, and makes the characters she writes about into people you can only hope to run into, and are disappointed when you don't! As I said at the beginning of this review this is a series you can truly jump into in the middle and not feel lost at all. APART AT THE SEAMS is a book that will have you reflecting on your life and being grateful for the bumps and bruises you've surely suffered along the way, because as Gayla finds out what doesn't break you makes you stronger, and we all know that those who read romance are strong people be they women or men.

Book Summary

New York Times bestselling author Marie Bostwick welcomes readers back to picturesque New Bern, Connecticut--a perfect place for a woman whose marriage is in turmoil to discover a new pattern for living. . .

Twice in her life, college counselor Gayla Oliver fell in love at first sight. The first time was with Brian--a lean, longhaired, British bass player. Marriage followed quickly, then twins, and gradually their bohemian lifestyle gave way to busy careers in New York. Gayla's second love affair is with New Bern, Connecticut. Like Brian, the laid back town is charming without trying too hard. It's the ideal place to buy a second home and reignite the spark in their twenty-six year marriage. Not that Gayla is worried. At least, not until she finds a discarded memo in which Brian admits to a past affair and suggests an amicable divorce.

Devastated, Gayla flees to New Bern. Though Brian insists he's since recommitted to his family, Gayla's feelings of betrayal may go too deep for forgiveness. Besides, her solo sabbatical is a chance to explore the creative impulses she sidelined long ago--quilting, gardening, and striking up new friendships with the women of the Cobbled Court circle--particularly Ivy, a single mother confronting fresh starts and past hurts of her own. With all of their support, Gayla just might find the courage to look ahead, decide which fragments of her old life she wants to keep, which are beyond repair--and how to knot the fraying ends until a bold new design reveals itself. . .