This is the best Lumby book yet. It made me cry in places and laugh in other places. I love this quirky little town. Hank, the pink flamingo, continues to bring a smile to my face with his costumes and the places he shows up. ( )

Pam and Mark Walker are celebrating their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary by inviting their families to stay at their bed-and-breakfast for a week. As in all families, there are some underlying issues that make the prospect of spending a week together a bit...interesting. Luckily, the county fair is in town that week, so everyone has plenty to do, if Mark can just make it through all the various competitions intact!

What a sweet book! Just what I needed. This is the fifth in a series. I haven't read the others, but I picked up on the story with no problems.

There were a few serious underlying ideas, like redemption, a teen's need to fit in at any cost, those family issues, and how the sale of a large tract of land to the wrong person can change a community's character forever. Linking all of these together was the question of how responsible we are to each other.

Mostly this was just a nice story with repaired family relationships, a community that looks out for everyone, and Mark's crazy antics to lighten everything up. Seriously, who enters a chainsaw art competition when they've never done anything like that before? Overseeing it all is the town's mascot, Hank, a plastic pink flamingo who longs to be an eagle. I loved the newspaper excerpts! They added a perfect little taste of small-town life.

I have to say that the resolution to the angsty teen didn't feel drastic enough. I didn't quite buy it. But the whole book is more of an escape than anything, so it did fit with the tone of everything else.

I also could have used a cast of characters. I lost track of who everyone was. This is where it might have helped if I'd read the books in the right order, but my biggest problem was with the various family members. I got the feeling that they were mostly introduced for the first time in this book.

I read an arc, but there was a whole section full of extras, such as recipes, discussion questions, and "What's in your..." interviews with characters. I enjoyed looking through all those.

If you've had a rough day and you need to escape to a simpler place, pick this up. I'll be doing that with the earlier books in the series.

Thanks to the publicist for sending me a copy for review. ( )

This book, 5th in the series, is the latest tale of the charming quirky little town in the NW that has enchanted so many. The reader is invited into the family of Mark and Pam Walker as they host a family reunion which will culminate with their 25th anniversary and the renewal of their vows.

The reader meet both Mark's Family and siblings and Pam's mother and all the dysfunctional antics that go with them. At the same time, additional residents in Lumby are introduced while the characters that were in previous installments are still in the area. Lumby shows to its best advantage the quality of small town living even when big city visitors are in residence.

I can't wait for the next book to hit the shelves. ( )

When Pam and Mark Walker invite their families to Montis Inn for a family reunion and twenty-fifth anniversary celebration, they certainly don't expect Mark's brother-in-law to broadcast his controversial radio show from their home or for their niece to be online disparaging Lumby and looking for a place to party. Add in the arrival of Mark's sister, who he hasn't spoken to in seven years, and Pam's mother bringing a boyfriend that she knew nothing about and it is quite the family reunion! Of course the monks, and now the sisters, of Saint Cross have their own part in the story and the entire town of Lumby is buzzing with the news that Mike McNear might sell his farm to a real estate developer. Mark's escapades at the county fair add in a bit more local color.

Lumby on the Air is the newest in the Lumby series and I'm happy to say that it won't be the last. I have enjoyed every one of these books and this one was no exception. In a way, it felt like the book circled back around to the beginning of the series with the focus being on the Walkers and their families. This is the first time we have met any of Pam and Mark's relatives and the first time that outsiders have descended with such force on Lumby. Unfortunately, the majority of the relatives are shown in a very unflattering light and I really wondered how Pam and Mark could be related to such people. I very much related to Pam's stress level at dealing with these people and her anger when they were so disrespectful to the life that she and Mark have built in Lumby.

Unfortunately, the family drama took up so much of the book that we didn't have much time to check in with old friends. A few show up here and there, mainly the monks and sisters, but many of the other town regulars were only seen briefly if at all. Despite their general dislike of outsiders, the residents of Lumby pull through for friends in a crises and it is that neighborly spirit that reaches into the heart of a man, showing him that he can accomplish something positive rather than relying on the destructive nature of conflict. ( )

Gail Fraser has done it again. Another trip to Lumby, the quirky little town that has come under fire from developers, looking to cash in on the area. Pam and Mark Walker are enjoying their inn, the former Montis monastery, and decide to hold a family reunion in celebration of their 25th wedding anniversary.

Everyone knows that getting relatives together can be a bad idea, and with all the characters living in Lumby, this could be a disaster. With the town hosting the county fair, there is a lot to do (if you like that sort of thing) and the young people are not receptive to the simpler life. Pam's Mom shows up with a boyfriend and a death wish, Carter, Mark's brother-in-law (a shock jock sort) shows up with his crew to broadcast (and make fun of) from the tiny town, Mark's estranged sister, Lynn shows up with her prized cat (the sexy thing) causing Mark angst.

We also have Old Jesse, the not too friendly bull, and of course Hank the flamingo is on hand.

Will Lumby survive to continue being the sweet, small town we love? Or will it become another paved over resort town?

Gail Fraser writes these books so charmingly, and so hilariously, that I can't resist another trip to Lumby. If you love the small town life, a slower pace, and funny as hell characters, these books are for you.

I received this book from Caitlin with FSB Associates. Thank you so much!! I love Lumby!! ( )