a pleasant enough read, it reminded me of the semi-romances I read in the 90's - Maeve Binchy comes to mind but I might be confusing her with another author.

I did scoff aloud a few times: a young man telling a 15 yo girl about her period! the black community having the spare wealth to provide sun and sundry for her! and her unable to fathom what comes after 29 even though she has a paged bible right in front of her! Then there were ridiculous conveniences like getting $5000 for a book about shells, being called a biologist without receiving any schooling, and suddenly a lawyer straight out of To Kill A Mockingbird comes out of retirement. BUT - but I'm pretty sure Danielle Steel had also characters show up just in time to deliver a plot point and coincidental events to allow the story to progress. In fact, I'm betting alot of the love that this book got is from readers who miss those old books that just spun a yarn without trying to deliver an overt social justice message.