Ashton Lee wraps up his Cherry Cola Book Club series with the promise of the future for the Cherico Public Library in Cherico, Mississippi. Of course, he’s talking about a new generation of library users in Book Club Babies.

Library director Maura Beth McShay is pregnant. So is her sister-in-law, Elise, who is staying with her aunt and uncle in Cherico. Maura Beth’s best friend, Periwinkle, owner of The Twinkle restaurant, is also expecting. Because the three women use each other as sounding boards, it inspired Maura Beth to start a support group at the library. It’s called Expecting Great Things, and all the members of the book club are invited, as long as they tell entertaining stories about pregnancies. No horror stories.

The three women are perfectly capable of providing their own horror stories. Elise is going to be a single mother who planned her pregnancy, going to a sperm bank. Periwinkle’s mother rejects the idea of a grandchild, because she’s racist and won’t accept that Periwinkle married a black man. Maura Beth’s story really isn’t horrible. She has to stop her husband, Jeremy, from having all her symptoms. He’s using his wife and sister as the basis for a new novel. Writer’s block really only stops when he teams up with a fellow teacher to write a different book, one for fathers-to-be. But, the drama in Book Club Babies doesn’t end with horror stories.

All along, Ashton Lee’s Cherry Cola Book Club books have been about the library as the heart of a community. As library director, Maura Beth struggled in the series. She faced a town council and its leader who did not appreciate the library. She headed a library that was in poor shape, with no parking for patrons. She faced down the council when they wanted to close the library so the money could go elsewhere. Lee’s support of public libraries was evident in the series of books, as he introduced a young woman who faced obstacles to get town support for the library, and then support to build a new, modern library. Maura Beth grew in the course of the series, both professionally and personally. She met, fell in love with and married Jeremy, and, by this final book, she and her close friends have all moved on to motherhood. Best of all, though, in the course of this series, she helped a small town build a community.

These books, including the latest one, have gathered the townspeople together at the library. They formed a book club, ate wonderful food, and supported each other through death, marriages, and, now births. Ashton Lee never forgot his aim of showing the importance of libraries in the current world. He understands their role in communities.

Now that there is a new generation to attend story times, read books, use library computers, there’s the promise of the future in Book Club Babies. This is the perfect way to end the series. Fans can see what the future might be for favorite characters. This is a satisfying way to conclude the books. But, Lee has one more gift for readers. This book also includes all the recipes that have been in the Cherry Cola Book Club books. He leaves all of us with the gift of food and community. What’s any better?

Book Club Babies by Ashton Lee. Kensington Books. 2017. ISBN 9781496705808 (paperback), 272p.

*****
FTC Full Disclosure – The author sent a copy of the book, hoping I would review it.