Emotions run high when the Sweet Magnolias try to reunite a couple who was meant to be together in this classic from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods
When an eating disorder threatens the life of chef Dana Sue Sullivan’s teenage daughter, she has no choice but to bring Annie’s cheating dad back to Serenity, South Carolina. She tells herself and her friends it’s all about Annie, but the sad truth is she has a boatload of unresolved feelings of her own for Ronnie Sullivan.
From the moment Ronnie hits town, there’s no question about his intentions. He’s there for his daughter, to be sure, but he wants Dana Sue back, and every move he makes is designed to prove he’s a changed man. The one thing that’s never changed, though, are the sparks that fly whenever the two of them are in the same room.
Dana Sue can deny all she wants that Ronnie’s the only man for her, but not a single person in town is buying it. No matter the circumstances, Ronnie’s return is a sweet recipe for a new beginning.
Praise for the novels of Sherryl Woods
“Sherryl Woods writes emotionally satisfying novels about family, friendship and home. Truly feel-great reads!”
—#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber
“Woods is a master heartstring puller.”
—Publishers Weekly on Seaview Inn
“Woods’s readers will eagerly anticipate her trademark small-town setting, loyal friendships, and honorable mentors as they meet new characters and reconnect with familiar ones in this heartwarming tale.”
—Booklist on Home in Carolina
“Once again, Woods, with such authenticity, weaves a tale of true love and the challenges that can knock up against that love.”
—RT Book Reviews on Beach Lane
“In this sweet, sometimes funny and often touching story, the characters are beautifully depicted, and readers…will…want to wish themselves away to Seaview Key.”
—RT Book Reviews on Seaview Inn
“Woods…is noted for appealing character-driven stories that are often infused with the flavor and fragrance of the South.”
—Library Journal
“A reunion story punctuated by family drama, Woods’s first novel in her new Ocean Breeze series is touching, tense and tantalizing.”
—RT Book Reviews on Sand Castle Bay
“A whimsical, sweet scenario…the digressions have their own charm, and Woods never fails to come back to the romantic point.”
—Publishers Weekly on Sweet Tea at Sunrise
The Sweet Magnolias series
Stealing Home
A Slice of Heaven
Feels Like Family
Welcome to Serenity
Home to Carolina
Sweet Tea at Sunrise
Honeysuckle Summer
Midnight Promises
Catching Fireflies
Where Azaleas Bloom
Swan Point
For additional books by #1 New York Times bestselling author
Sherryl Woods, visit her website, www.sherrylwoods.com,
and click on the checklist.
SHERRYL
WOODS
A Slice of Heaven
Dear Friends,
When I first wrote A Slice of Heaven, I was just getting to know the three original Sweet Magnolias, but I already loved these three women and the deep bond of friendship they shared. I’m so happy to have this edition available for readers new to the series.
Dana Sue’s book has everything I could possibly want in a story—a dramatic, realistic crisis with her daughter’s anorexia, friends who surrounded her with their unwavering support, and, of course, the reunion of two people who’d lost their marriage but found an even stronger love during this near-tragedy with their daughter.
And it gave me a chance to imagine—not eat—lots and lots of good Southern cooking, the kind that Dana Sue’s restaurant, Sullivan’s, specializes in. Ultimately, years later and thanks to a fan email, that led to the creation of The Sweet Magnolias Cookbook, filled with recipes from my imagination and the real-life cooking skills of chef Teddi Wohlford, a South Carolina girl who wrote to tell me how much she identified with Dana Sue. If the food mentioned in this book makes your mouth water, track down the cookbook for Teddi’s easy-to-follow recipes.
In the meantime, though, I hope you’ll enjoy book two of the Sweet Magnolias series and want to return to Serenity when Feels Like Family is reissued soon.
All best,
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Epilogue
Feels Like Family
Excerpt
Chapter One
The smell of burning toast caught Dana Sue’s attention just before the smoke detector went off. Snatching the charred bread from the toaster, she tossed it into the sink, then grabbed a towel and waved it at the shrieking alarm to disperse the smoke. At last the overly sensitive thing fell silent.
“Mom, what on earth is going on in here?” Annie demanded, standing in the kitchen doorway, her nose wrinkling at the aroma of burned toast. She was dressed for school in jeans that hung on her too-thin frame and a scoop-neck T-shirt that revealed pale skin stretched taut over protruding collarbones.
Restraining the desire to comment on the evidence that Annie had lost more weight, Dana Sue regarded her teenager with a chagrined expression. “Take a guess.”
“You burned the toast again,” Annie said, a grin spreading across her face, relieving the gauntness ever so slightly. “Some chef you are. If I ratted you out about this, no one would ever come to Sullivan’s to eat again.”
“Which is why we don’t serve breakfast and why you’re sworn to secrecy, unless you expect to be grounded, phoneless and disconnected from your email till you hit thirty,” Dana Sue told her, not entirely in jest. Sullivan’s had been a huge success from the moment she’d opened the restaurant’s doors. Word-of-mouth raves had spread through the entire region. Even Charleston’s top restaurant-and-food critic had hailed it for its innovative Southern dishes. Dana Sue didn’t need her sassy kid ruining that with word of her culinary disasters at home.
“Why were you making toast, anyway? You don’t eat it,” Annie said, filling a glass with water and taking a tiny sip before dumping the rest down the drain.
“I was fixing you breakfast,” Dana Sue said, pulling a plate with a fluffy omelet from the oven, where she’d kept it warm. She’d added low-fat cheese and finely shredded red and green sweet peppers, just the way Annie had always liked it. The omelet was perfect, a vision
