Esme Chill Fails Spectacularly suffers a little from its non-linear timeline, and a little bit more from its ordinary storytelling. But the end result is a perfectly readable book with some charming characters and a warm and pleasing narrative. Though it doesn’t reach a peak of greatness, it’s a nice book with some really delicious bright spots that are well worth digging through that typicalness to read.

Thirty-something Esme Cahill is out to forge herself a brand-new life. A native of Ashville, North Carolina, she’s retuned back to the resort where she was raised by her grandparents, George and Adele, after losing her job as a book editor after what she calls “The Incident” (i.e a duel with a sexist, ancient author) and her marriage to infidelity. Esme is a failed novelist, with ten-plus novels under her belt and no publication in sight. Her time in New York picked her up and let her down, and her plan now she’s back home is to rest and recoup. But she’s shocked to find things have been gradually falling apart without her, and she sets about trying to fix things. If only because she feels guilty about not coming home in time to be there when Adele passed on, ignoring a letter begging her to return. Fixing the Last Lake Lodge and writing her grandparents’ love story – with the help of materials her grandmother left behind – is high on her priority list.

George is willing to help even though he’s in the early stages of dementia, as so is her dramatic mother Robyn, with whom she’s always had an awkward and combative relationship – not only are they completely different personalities, but Robyn refuses to tell Esme who her biological father and – oh, she left Esme with George and Adele and hasn’t seen her in ten years. The Lodge also houses the rude Dawes McCormick, a handsome chef who makes killer grilled cheese and might be the answer to Esme’s post-divorce doldrums – if only they could stop clashing for a second. Esme strikes up a deal with her mother – if she can get the property to turn a profit by Labor Day, they keep the property, and if not Robyn can sell it.

As they work to impress clientele and food critics, old wounds are hashed out and family secrets are revealed. Soon, Esme starts seeing a woman dressed all in blue by the lakeshore who seems to be leading her somewhere. When Esme finds some stunning quilts created by her grandmother in the attic, Esme learns much more about Adele than anticipated, and is inspired to tell an unsung part of her story. Can Adele’s past help win the Last Lake Lodge a new future?

Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly is at its worst a patchwork of too many ideas being squeezed into a single novel which results in some poor plotting choices. You have your woman-finds-succor-in-a-small-southern-town-because-the-big-city-is-evil plotline – but you also have a ghost story that doesn’t really lead anywhere new and a romantic subplot that feels more like a plot requirement than anything else. On top of that, we have a duel-timeline story following Adele as a younger woman in the 1940s.

Esme is relatable if incredibly helpless for a thirty year old woman. Sure, she’s had a lot of failure behind her – and her struggles as a writer are terrifically laid out and make her all too human. But she’s also never baked a cake from scratch and doesn’t have any hospitality industry experience, so cue fish-out-of-water situations. I will give Bostwick credit; the way she paints New York doesn’t make the place look entirely evil, and Esme has allies there. But one is still left with the impression that Esme wasted her time there and should never have gone. Her story is about accepting that not everything one creates is a mainstream best-seller. And I genuinely liked Esme, who experiences true growth.

The supporting characters are a mixed bag. I adored burly, lovable George. Robyn’s reckless poutiness is enough to drive the reader to distraction, and her attitude is a total trial for the first half of this book, but she deepens and matures understandably in time. Too often, Dawes treats Esme like an innocent child who’s never had a real conversation, which makes the development of their relationship read awkwardly; his reactions to her are often preachy and they grated on me. Their romance boils down to a childish conflict that stretches on for far too long, and though it’s a relief that it ends the way it does, the audience can’t help but feel frustrated by its existence.

More interesting is Adele’s part of the narrative. She is stricken with numerous physical ailments and a severe sense of self-doubt, a simultaneous gift and curse which allows her to taste the colors she sees, and an essential tremor which takes away fine motor skills and robs her of her initial desire to paint. Sometimes it feels like she’s put through almost too many tragedies, but they’re sympathetic ones that make the audience feel for her.

Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly is a nice story of a woman discovering her true talents and abilities.