A Year on Ladybug Farm (A Ladybug Farm Novel) Paperback – March 3, 2009

Nice story

It isn't often that life gives you a second chance to start over again. A chance to try something different, a chance to get out of your comfort zone and be daring. But if and when those chances come along, you'd better grab them by the brass ring and don't let go.This is the premise of the fascinating novel, "A Year on Ladybug Farm" by Donna Ball.Three close friends and neighbors, Cici, Bridget and Lindsey, find themselves at a crossroads in life and long to do something different, something unique. Bridget has recently become widowed, Cici divorced, and Lindsey retired from her teaching position. So when the opportunity to purchase a dilapidated old house in the Shenandoah Valley comes up, the ladies decide to make the leap from their comfortable suburban lives and become lady farmers.They soon find out that they truly have their work cut out for them, as the house is in worse shape than they thought, and inhabited by hundreds of thousands of ladybugs. As they work together to restore the house (and to shoo the thousands and thousands of ladybugs out), the gals find strengths inside themselves they never imagined. Even though the day to day activities are strenuous, a calmness and appreciation for beauty of the simplest things becomes important to the three friends.As the trio work to bring the house to a livable condition, it soon appears that a mysterious guest might be living among the numerous rooms, a helpful if not ghostly guest who keeps leaving clues and solutions to the myriad of problems the ladies encounter. There is also the problem of a gang of renegade sheep and a certain garden thief who keeps the girls stepping lively as they adapt to country life.Author Donna Ball weaves a delightful story of friendship, resilience, and confidence in her latest book. Readers will find themselves chuckling on one page, then tearing up a few pages over. No stranger to the world of fiction, Ball has published over eighty works of fiction under a variety of pseudonyms as well as her own name. With "A Year on Ladybug Farm," Ball promises future stories about the gals down on the farm, and I for one am looking forward to the tales.

The book is simply childish and it portrays women as stupid beyond belief. Three retired, grown women don't know to turn off a stove before they leave the house? Twice. Really? The woman who has cooked all her life doesn't know that the strawberry preserves she's making go into JARS? And she had to "trick" a store clerk into revealing that to make them required pectin? Having characters act stupid for stupid's sake is not comedy. Comedy is funny because it rings true. A character who sold real estate for 30 years doesn't know to plan for remodeling or budgeting money also does not ring true. Agents are savvy, shrewd individuals who know what's involved in purchasing a house. From having characters who don't exercise routinely and pick up and run miles one day, to not knowing for almost an entire year that someone else is living in their home, the author doesn't understand what she is doing. Ball has written profusely, according to her bio, so it is no mystery that that is ALL she has done with her life. She has NO life experiences whatsoever in order to write at all. Ordering around contractors is NOT the same as remodeling yourself, as is evident in the characters' insistence that the floors be done last (as no remodeler would ever do), and is rather confused as to how badly the walls look (as the women have done it all---painted, wall-papered, and paneled in the bedrooms) if you paint the trim first or how terrible the trim looks if you paint the walls first. Huh? The book was written in 2009, but the women are amazed that CiCi "knew" that minimum wage was $6.00. Really? EVERY person who works for a living knows what minimum wage is. Ball is so far removed from reality, she makes a buffoon out of herself. Consider the end when she thinks she's being philosophical comparing Ladybug Farm to Roanoke Colony, that lost colony of the Shenandoah Valley. Puh-leez. Roanoke Colony was an island of the coast of North Carolina, not Virginia, dearie. Oh, and let's not forget, that when they're broke, in despair, and facing foreclosure, Ball's answer is for the women to go to to parades and picnics and plan a Christmas party. With 5 dozen cookies for tons of people. That's 60 cookies for at least 50 people. Ye-ah. Let's have women everywhere applaud and emulate this nonsense, shall we, instead of being smart and working hard. Watch "The Money Pit," or "Baby Boom" if you're in the mood for a laugh about the pitfalls of remodeling. Don't waste your money on this trash.

This book is about three middle-aged women who buy an old mansion together, which is a rich setting for a story through which women can live vicariously. Unfortunately, it's a rough start, with lots of narration, none of which is in the point of view of any of the three characters. There's no internal dialogue, just a lot of talking, acting, and the narrator providing loads of scene description and exposition.But the women are likable and funny; as the story progresses we grow to care about them and other characters. There's decent dramatic tension. Best of all, the author has the woman thing down. I laughed at such passages as this: "The women gathered on the porch for their evening ritual, comfortable in cotton drawstring shorts and tank tops without bras...when the workmen were around (they dressed better). But when the day was done, and they sat splay-legged in their rockers, or with their feet propped up on the railing, sipping wine and watching the evening, it didn't matter whether their armpits were shaved or their varicose veins were showing. They were home."There's a lot to like in the overall story, and I recommend it.

This is a good story but all the difficulties were over exagerated and she contradicted herself in a few places to try a stress how bad things were. It was kind of disappointing because the story would have been really good.

Sometimes you just need to read a book that touches your heart, returns to the simpler things in life and has realistic complications. Will continue on with the Series.

This is a wonderful, heartwarming series. I love them. You can't just read one, you'll have to read them all. Keep the stories from Ladybug Farm coming Donna Ball and Thank You!