Cornucopia 3. Chronicles from the Orchard

I have loved this entire series! The characters are complex and interesting, the background for each story and vignette is detailed enough to believe that you could just get in your car and drive there and the story lines merge and flow nicely through each tale. The author has done a fantastic job here with the entire series!!

An excellent companion to the earlier Orchard series which should be read first to get the most out of this volume. There are elements from the past which help to clarify those events from different perspectives and from the present showing how this complex “family” is growing and maturing in loving, healthy relationships- they have come a long way since the bitterness and self-hate of the earliest part of the saga.

The quality of the writing is excellent; nothing glares out and prose just flows along.  Another 5* piece of work and congratulations to the author and their team.

This review is actually on all four books in this series that has been written at the time of this review. It has become my favourite serie in gay genre so far. I highly recommend it and hope more people will discover the books and enjoy getting to know David, Andy, Troy, Tanner, Matt, Aaron etc. They are friends. They are family. They are everything you wished for, warts and all.

As someone closer to 50 than 40, I grew up in a time where gay marriage and family acceptance was more a dream than something achieveable. Gay content were hard to find and most were pornographic. It tends to give one a skewed view of gay life. The Chronicles from the Orchard books are about the ups and downs of family life for a bunch of gay and straight friends. It talks about trauma, addiction and other difficult subject without bogging the reader down in the dirty details. Critics may say that it is a Disneyfied depiction but I’ll take it. What I want is not the puking scenes but the healing. The books have made me cry over the wounds the characters have suffered, and the healing and support they have provided for each other. It has given me a view on what a bunch of friends and family can do to support each other through lives ups and downs, without having homosexuality being an issue. 

With that said, the books are not just about doom and gloom. Far from it. Their struggles is what drives the plot but the books flows with lots of funny and heartwarming scenes from the adults to the kids. I found myself loving all the characters and wanting so desperately to be part of this extended and unconventional family. The feelings I get after reading them is heartwarming and cozy. I hope more readers will get the chance to experience it.

Thank you for another beloved segment of this amazing saga. The characters are diverse and fully developed leaving the readers to believe they live just outside of town. The realism of the complexities of their lives is a  subtle reminder that we  all need this type of family  support. The plot and storyline are rich  and powerful. This saga is truly an enjoyable experience and should be read from the beginning to understand the complexities of the characters and the storyline. I wholeheartedly recommend this series and story.