Second Helpings at the
Serve You Right Café
Second Helpings at the Serve You Right Café by Tilia Klebenov Jacobs
Paperback and e-book, 218 pages
Published April 5th 2015 by Linden Tree Press
What if the world didn’t want you to go straight? Out on parole after almost ten years in prison, Emet First is repairing his shattered life. He has friends, a job, and his first date in a decade. The young woman, Mercedes Finch, is lovely but wounded. When her deranged brother learns about Emet’s past, he will stop at nothing to destroy him—and suddenly Emet has everything to lose.
My thoughts about Second Helpings at the Serve You Right Café ~~
I have to be honest here—as a cover lover, I am totally drawn to this cover. I love the yummy looking drink in the cup, the cookies, and as I was looking at again after I had finished reading the story, I noticed the broken plate. I missed that all the other times I saw this cover but it really has significance to the storyline.
Emet First was recently released from prison. When the cafe owner asked him what it was like for him when he got out, he said --
"Like the air was made of color and I could breathe for the first time."
Isn't that such a great line? The whole book is full of wonderful lines spoken by great characters, most who are wonderful people. Eden, the cafe owner, gives Emet a job when he get out of prison. She figured he probably deserved a second chance.
"Well, I didn't know if you deserved a second chance or not. But if you didn't, then probably I didn't either. And I don't know if I deserved it, but I got one, once a long time ago. So I was willing to take the risk."
I think she is all about giving people second chances and the story is full of people's second chance stories. Eden is such a wise, kind woman who supports and loves all of those around her. I wish I could meet her and could go to her cafe. What a lovely woman she is.
The whole story is full of wonderful characters; Eden, Emet, and Mercey, the gal who falls for Emet and can see past his prison life. And then there is the older couple, Daisy and Isadore. Their story is so sweet. Everyone who comes into the shop is given second helpings and second chances.
I am sure there could be more stories that could come out of the Serve You Right Café and I would love to visit there again some day.
I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for my honest review.
About the author
Tilia Klebenov Jacobs holds a BA from Oberlin College, where she double-majored in Religion and English with a concentration in Creative Writing. Following an interregnum as an outdoor educator with the Fairfax County Park Authority in Virginia, she earned a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Secondary School Teaching Certification from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Despite lacking the ability to breathe fire except in the strictly metaphorical sense, Tilia has taught middle school, high school, and college. She has also won numerous awards for her fiction and nonfiction writing. She is a judge in the Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition, and she teaches writing in two prisons in Massachusetts. Tilia lives near Boston with her husband, two children, and two standard poodles.
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