I received the ARC of Beverly Jenkins' A Second Helping through Library Thing. I had read one of Jenkins' historicals so had a sense of her writing.
A Second Helping is the story of Henry Adams, Kansas a town recently purchased on ebay where a number of the residents have agreed to be foster parents. It is the follow up to Bring on the Blessings although there is plenty of information to allow you to just dive in (as I did). One thing that might help reading in order is that there are a lot of characters. Reading the first might get you a good start so that the twenty some point of view characters are a little more familiar to you.
The story follows the many interlocking relationships in the town, with the addition of a new teacher and his son, Bernadine - town owner's ex-husband showing up in town, and some other people returning to town and setting various things in motion.
Once you get used to the cast of characters (for example, the teacher and his son appear in the first scene, but don't show up again for another hundred pages), it's an interesting town to visit. People are all up in everybody's business and yet things always seem to work out well, even for the various kids and teens, who were my favorite characters.
Rants About New (and old) Things
