Quirky but Average Read

When I was growing up, we always lived at least two states away from both sets of my grandparents so I never had the relationship with them that some of my cousins have had. Joyce Magnin’s main character, Harriet Beamer, seems like the type of grandmother that every child should have. She’s quirky, a little bit silly and values her friends and family (and of course her Basset Hound, Humphrey).

In Harriet Beamer Strikes Gold, Harriet is feeling a little left out after her move across the country to live with her son and daughter-in-law. When Harriet is visiting a local café and runs into a teenage girl who tells her about a gold mine her father is looking for an investor for, Harriet feels this could be something she can call her own. She also finds out that she is getting a new Grammy Suite to call her own (with room for her collection of salt and pepper shakers), her best friend is coming to visit from Pennsylvania and she is going to become a grandmother for the first time (to twins). With all of this excitement in her life, will Harriet be able to see the truth behind the gold mine? Will she learn where the true treasure lies in her life?

The story was engaging and moved a long pretty well because there was so much going on but I just couldn’t get past the fact that the main character seemed to ignore so many warning signs. I was also a little bothered by the fact that when the characters said they would pray, I never read any prayers, just conversation between characters. Yes the conversation was often about God but I would have liked to have seen some prayer written into the book.

Over all, I would give the book three stars out of five

****Zondervan Publishing provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. I was not compensated in any way for either a negative or positive review.