Flamingo Diner

by Sherryl Woods

Book Overview

Returning home has never been so bittersweet in this acclaimed novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods

Flamingo Diner has always been a friendly place where everyone knows your name. Unfortunately, in the small town of Winter Cove, Florida, it is also the place where everyone knows everything about you. As a teenager, Emma Killian didn't recognize what a remarkable business...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0778369757
• ISBN13: 9780778369752
• Release Date: April 2018
• Publisher: Mira Books
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 4.1" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Touching story of a family in crisis

Growing up in Winter Cove, Florida, Emma Killian couldn't wait to get out. As soon as she graduated high school, Emma headed to Washington, DC for college and later her career. She has however remained close to her family via phone calls and occasional visits. When her kid brother calls her begging her to come home because their father is acting strangely, Emma doesn't believe it's as bad as he says. Two days later, Emma gets a call in the middle of the night that her father is dead.When Emma returns home, she finds her mother in denial about her husband's death and refusing to get out of bed, her middle brother is trying to dull his problems with drugs and her youngest brother mad because Emma did not come home when he asked her to. Although the coroner rules the death an accident, Emma suspects it's suicide based on her brother's phone call. Matters get further complicated when her father's will is read and it's discovered that he not only spent all the family money but has heavily mortgaged the house and the family diner. Emma asks her childhood friend, Matt Atkins, who is now chief of police, to help her find out what really happened to her father so she can have closure. In order to save her family, Emma quits her DC job and stays in Winter Cove to run the diner.This was a very interesting story. Woods did a good job of developing her characters. I felt the anguish of the characters as they came to grips with the suicide of their father/husband. Matt was a great male lead. Emma was a very strong female lead but her obsession with having to return to DC, even when she realized she liked being back in Winter Cove, was irritating after awhile. Overall, this book is worth reading.

Poignant

Her sixteen year old brother Andy calls pleading with Emma Killian to come home because their dad is acting strange; Don has even yelled at his beloved wife and two sons in front of patrons of the family run FLAMINGO DINER. Emma, busy working at the DC based Fashionable Memories Antiques store, blows away her sibling as being an alarmist. Two days later, Don apparently committed suicide driving his car into the nearby lake.Emma returns home to bury her father and to help her mother and siblings cope with the tragedy. Police Chief Matt Atkins who witnessed the death tries to help the family too, but especially Emma, a woman he loved since his teen years. As the four surviving Killians try to regain their equilibrium, Emma falls in love with Matt, but she feels that Winter Cove is not cosmopolitan enough for a big city antiques dealer like her.This is a strong character study as each one of the four Killians struggles in their personal way to cope with the apparent suicide. They go through the various stages of grief starting with none of them accepting that Don killed himself. Returning to normalcy is impossible as each copes with their feelings of guilt. Sherryl Woods provides her audience with a taut touching tale and readers will appreciate the depths the author reaches. Harriet Klausner

Very well done...

Emma Killian escaped her small town home as soon as she could, leaving behind her family business, the Flamingo Diner and all it's know it all gossip. She never intended to return, but when her father commits suicide, finds she has to. Emma returns home with a heart filled with pain, and a mind full of questions. The only man capable of soothing both is the police chief, bad boy turned good, Matt Atkins. His investigative skill might be able to find out the truth behind her father's death, and Matt can definitely give her heart something for which to beat.***** With the book Ms. Woods enters a new dimension in her career. Though it has its light moments, the topic is more serious in tone than usual for her, yet it is handled with sensitive realism that shows her compassion. *****Reviewed by Amanda Killgore

:)

At first, when I read the title Flamingo Diner, I thought the book would lean towards comedy (don't ask me why). Then I read the blurb on the back and the comparison of the Flamingo Diner to the television show Cheers had me groaning (I hated that show). I then read the 'Dear Friends' letter by the author where it was made clear the issues in this book would be a bit more serious than her past books because the tragedy in this book is suicide. After reading this I wasn't even sure if I wanted to attempt to read this book. Nine years ago (although it seems like yesterday) my uncle took his own life, leaving behind a wonderful little girl and a heartbroken grieving family, including my mother, his sister. I seen the hell she went through and the strength that it took for her to go on with life. I was sure that this story would only leave me depressed, however, I won this book in a contest and felt obligated to read it (plus I loved the authors earlier work). So, I read it. I will be the first to tell you that I was surprised and thrilled at how much I enjoyed it. The focus of this book is not about death and sadness, although it's certainly there. No, the focus is on life, love, family, friends, and community. Suicide is real and unfortunately happens everyday. Flamingo Diner focuses on the aftermath and the pieces that are left behind for loved ones to deal with. Along with the biggest question of all, something everyone wonders, WHY? Why would someone take their own life? Don Killian takes his own life. Now his family, friends, and the community must deal with the consequences. His wife Rosa falls into a deep depression. Jeff, his oldest son, falls apart. Andy, his youngest son, is suddenly wise beyond his years and tries to be the man of the family. Emma, his daughter and oldest child, now has everything put on her shoulders. She is going to need a lot of help. Who better than the man that has loved her most of his life, Police Chief Matt Atkins. This story has so many wonderful elements. One is relationships. Rosa and Don's relationship was destroyed by lack of communication. Jeff and Marisol had a relationship that was presently unhealthy for both of them. Sylvia's marriage. Kim and Jolie's revolving door of men. The relationships between the people in the support group and their loved ones. And Emma and Matt--there is so much to say about them. Mostly, I loved the pure, unconditional, unselfish love that Matt had for Emma. Matt's love for Emma was like a breath of fresh air. I have to admit that occasionally I had to wonder if Matt deserved more than Emma. Emma's hesitation, doubts, and stubborn independence made me want to smack her at times. Any woman would be lucky to have someone like Matt in their lives. But, it's not just about relationships between men and women, but also relationships between siblings, mothers and children, friends, etc.. Flamingo Diner is a story about death, but more importantly it is a story about Life! If I was di