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    The Apple Pie Knights: A Crossroads Cafe Short Story
    The Apple Pie Knights: A Crossroads Cafe Short Story
    The Apple Pie Knights: A Crossroads Cafe Short Story
    Ebook64 pages51 minutes

    The Apple Pie Knights: A Crossroads Cafe Short Story

    By Deborah Smith

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Military men have a special place in Lucy Parmenter's tortured heart. For the past few months, Army Captain Gus MacBride, stationed in Afghanistan, has transformed her lonely life at a North Carolina refuge for abused women and their children. The texts, emails, and phone calls between him and Lucy bubble with restrained heat; his sisters (Pickle Queen Gabby and Biscuit Witch Tal) have let on that Lucy has a painful history, and he romances her gently.

    When several of her sheep show up on a freezing January morning with full-body mohawks, Lucy's psychic "wooly clairvoyance" says the wool thieves are hiding in nearby woods owned by the MacBrides, and that Tal knows all about them. She confesses: they're veterans--men, women, and one service dog--suffering from PTSD, suspicious and jumpy. She's taken them to heart and won their trust with apple pies.

    Lucy struggles with her fear of strangers while her heart is drawn to people so much like herself. When word of other minor thefts start to cause talk around the Crossroads Cove, Lucy has to get involved.

    When Gus tells her he's coming home on leave soon, she realizes her challenges are just beginning.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBelleBooks
    Release dateSep 30, 2014
    ISBN9781611945379
    The Apple Pie Knights: A Crossroads Cafe Short Story

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    Reviews for The Apple Pie Knights

    4/5

    125 ratings22 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I got this book free from Amazon for the Kindle my daughter gave me for Christmas. I liked the title (being from the South I have an instant interest in anything containing "crossroads" for some inexplicable reason) and the synopsis sounded interesting.The characters are introduced in a way that lets you understand the psyche that runs through their lives and the anguish each character endures in their private lives. It's a dramatic book with a feel-good ending. Although it is an obvious fiction piece the characters are fairly believable if the circumstances seem a little contrived. This book is has an underlying theme of hope and resurrection for the suffering characters without being candy-coated. I enjoyed reading this piece and highly recommend it to all.
    • 2/5
      An unoffensive book about love conquering all and how returning to your roots and embracing family will heal all. I found the writing very flat and the characters not very engaging.
    • 3/5
      Movie star Cathryn Deen has a storybook life - until a freak accident brings it all crashing to the ground. Scarred, emotionally devastated and deathly afraid of fire, she retreats into her Beverly Hills mansion and starts making plans for her funeral. But some distant relatives and very determined recluse with more than a few issues of his own have different ideas about where Cathryn should go from here.Ex-NYC architec Thomas Mitternich knows all about loss. 9/11 and the Towers coming down took his wife, son, and most of his will to live. But he's determined to accumulate enough karma to get himself to wherever his family ended up - and Cathryn's his latest project. At least, it starts off that way.Folksy, biscuit and grave laden and sweet. The grieving process, addiction and what makes a family take a front seat, and if you're in the mood for a tear-jerking feel-good story, this isn't a bad place to start. Although it's a bit too reminiscent of Smith's When Venus Fell - I wish she'd have found a different name to christen the Netties with, as I found myself conflating them with the Nellies....
    • 5/5
      I received this book as an early review edition and I really, really enjoyed it. It was funny and poignant and sad and wonderful...Deborah Smith is a new favorite for me! Now that I've read it I only wish that I had picked it up sooner.
    • 4/5
      A story of the South and love conquering all.
    • 3/5
      it was pretty good, but its not one of my favorites
    • 5/5
      I laughed, I cried, I got really angry and then I got an intense craving for homemade biscuits. Not enough words are in my vocab to express my thoughts about this book. So I'll keep it simple...I LOVED it.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed this book so much that I immediately went in search of more books by Deborah Smith! I'm reading one now and enjoying it, too. Great writer.
    • 2/5
      Well, I can't be nice all the time. This is going to be one of those times I can't endorse something with everything I've got. I'm the type of person that can go through 3-4 books in a week easily, but when I picked up The CrossRoads Cafe by Deborah Smith , I labored over reading it for a solid 3 weeks. I'd take it a little bit at a time and get exhausted by the need to try to care about the characters so much that I'd put it down and walk away from it. I literally couldn't wait to finish it. And then the dread about the review came to me and I got sad because I really wanted to like this book.The premise is good: Take two heavily flawed characters, a 9/11 dad who lost his wife and son and a movie star who lost her looks, and put them in a situation where they need each other to emotionally survive. Throw in a cartoonish cast of characters as a supporting cast, along with a villainous ex-sister in law and you have a recipe for...exhaustion. Here is why it didn't work for me: I have my own problems. I didn't care about Thomas or Cathy in any way that meant anything to me. This is a flaw in the writing that caught me over and over and over again. Thomas could have been a heart-wrenching character but he was written in such a stereotypical way that I predicted his behavior repeatedly and was bored enough to want him to go away. Cathy is just shallow enough to make you want to hit her with her good arm. Their situations are tragic. There is no doubt about that. The writing didn't support the situations and their characters were not developed to the point where I wanted to see them succeed nor did I care that they did. As one of the characters noted, in paraphrase here, we all carry our own scars. Right now, mine are pretty heavy. I just wanted Thomas and Cathy to get over it and move on. It took too long to move them forward and the jumping back and forth felt inauthentic to me. The book itself felt about 100 pages too long.
    • 5/5
      This is a romance novel taking place in a Southern town with the usual Southern characters surrounding two damaged people who find salvation in each other, themselves and those around them. The author introduces characters and lets your own prejudices lead you to your first impressions but then writes a story that tells the whole story of many of them, usually very different from those first impressions. The two main characters take a while to find one another, building their own character separately first. It's nice because for once in a romance novel, they don't start out hating one another.It's also nice because the romance isn't the sum end of the novel but more a part of the characters' developement. To be honest, I only read past the first chapter of this book because I received it from Early Reviewers and felt obligated to read it. The synopsis of the plot seemed overly contrived and extreme and the description of the bird dropping on the man in the first few pages seemed like bad omens. I kept reading though and I'm glad I did. I enjoyed this book.
    • 4/5
      I love the characters in this book and the beautiful representation of the Appalachian region. The characters are warm, realistic, and believable. Good story about what really matters in life and what does or does not make someone beautiful.
    • 3/5
      This is a story that will keep you turning pages from beginning to end. Two people who've been through harrowing situations individually find love and redemption in another chance with each other. Laughing and crying...you'll experience the emotions with the beloved characters of Crossroads Cafe.
    • 2/5
      Cathy & Thomas are both damaged in their own ways; Thomas by a tragedy so huge that it’s understandable that he might never get over it. Cathy’s damage was physical but that always has a psychological impact. They meet in a tiny community in the middle of the Appalachians, a community filled with “characters” that do their best to bring them together and heal their broken lives. This romance novel reads like a feminist treaty which might have worked in another writer’s hands but not in this case. The characters are both self-aware and completely unaware. They often discuss their motivations quite clearly but then seem oblivious as to why they do something. I finished reading the book because I received it as an Early Review copy, otherwise I would have put it down before the end of the first chapter.
    • 3/5
      I was slightly disappointed with this book. I think I had Deborah Smith's previous book in mind when I read it. I loved that one (A Place To Call Home) and consequently, The Crossroads Cafe didn't live up to my expectations.Despite that, this book is a sweet love story - and not just between a couple. It includes a classic craftsman house and the land and the people that inhabit it. The characters were likeable enough (though - and only those who've read the book will understand this I think - the physical description of one of the main characters includes substantial facial hair, something I cannot stand and so unfortunately I wasn't crazy about that person) and they manage to give the impression of a welcoming presence - sort of a like a Fannie Flagg novel does. And that is who I would recommend this book to - fans of southern fiction who enjoy Fannie Flagg books.
    • 4/5
      I did enjoy this book. I also am not a big fan of romance novels or graphic mushy details. The story line was a good one and easy to follow. I also enjoyed the quotes at the start of the chapters and my favorite being "The really happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery when on a detour". Really gives you alot to think about! I enjoyed the characters in the book and watching how they developed and lived with the tragedies they encountered in their lives and how brought together they conquered what each needed to and enjoyed life again making it complete. I love getting free books!
    • 4/5
      I am a Southern novel fan. I need this genre to offset the darkness that comes along with other genres I read. Therefore, Deborah Smith's The Crossroad's Cafe was quite emjoyable. I don't read romance but if it's thrown in a good story ok, then you must have me hooked because most romances will turn me off. The Crossroads Cafe had me marking paragraphs to think on. "There are people nobody notices, but the world revolves around them. They're the quiet ones, the strong, peaceful ones who form the unbreakable hub for a bunch of fragile spokes. True families aren't bred, they're spun together. And at their center, at the center of the infinite wheel of every family of every kind, blood, or otherwise, there is a hub, that person, those people, who hold the wheel together and keep it turning."Then there were quotes at the start of each chapter that made the reader think. One I have borrowed for my FaceBook now, "The really happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery when on a detour" Take the above ingredients then add one Cathy from Georgia with a Hollywood story, mix in a big portion of Thomas living in North Carolina and haunted from the recent past of New York City, gently fold in the quirks of a small town and a biscuit making relative named Delta and you have yourself a different sort of story. I did think the author covered a bit too much but some of our lives just do the same thing. So if any of the above rings a bell with you give this book a real try. Get past where it looks like it's just a sappy read and take it for what it is. I think Deborah writes a bit like a Pat Conroy and her quirky characters become quite vivid to me. I could even hear a little Paula Dean that so many Southern families are lucky enough to have in their own family! My daughter-in-law (24) whisked this book away from me as soon as I closed it!
    • 4/5
      This is my second time reading something by Deborah Smith. "A Gentle Rain" was my first experience with Smith and I loved it, however it was a little disappointing to find that this book was written in the exact same style- she switches point of view every couple of pages, going from the male to the female in order to get into the heads of her characters. Also there are quotations at the beginning of every chapter which gets annoying.The story itself is interesting. Cathryn is a beautiful movie star who gets into an accident. Thomas is a widower who lost his wife and child in 9/11. Both of them struggle to get over what cards life has dealt them, and they do it by healing in a small community with The Crossroads Cafe.I liked this for the most part. Smith is great at writing dialogue and there are plenty of really good one-liners. That said, people don't really talk like this in real life, so every once in awhile when the dialogue got really back and forth or snappy, it drew me out of the story. But, I liked the plot and subplots, and I liked the different themes that ran through the book. If this is your first Deborah Smith book, I expect you'll enjoy it- just be aware that her style stays the same if you plan on picking up another by her.
    • 2/5
      I really wanted to like this book, the concept intrigued me for sure. But I could NOT like or care for the characters at all! Yes, like a previous reviewer said, the author does an excellent job of describing their grief, but to me neither of them had enough redeeming qualities to make me care how they came out.
    • 4/5
      This novel starts out strong. We quickly come to care about the two main characters and feel their pain - beauty queen turned movie star Cathy and alcoholic architect Thomas, who lost his family during the 9/11 attacks. The author does a wonderful job of describing their anguish and making us root for their redemption. The second half lost some of its edge but the feel good ending is satisfying. Well done.
    • 3/5
      An entertaining read, although the sex scenes did not fit within the theme. It was like the author inserted soft porn periodically which was totally unnecessary
    • 2/5
      I received this book from Early Reviewers. After reading about the content and a few reviews on it, I thought that it was one that I would enjoy. I was wrong. I tried to get through it, and finally just skimmed to the end. It is just not something that I wanted to give a lot of time to. I have passed it on to a friend that I am sure will like it.
    • 5/5
      It's hard to believe that an author as talented as Smith has to self-publish her books but that's the state of the world these days. What is wrong with publishers anyway? This book was recommended by Wendy and completely blew me away. Are you in the mood for a good cry? Well, get out a box of tissues because you're going to need them. Cathy Deen is a beautiful, rich, Hollywood actress who is injured in a horrific car accident and suffers disfiguring burns that end her career. Thomas Mitternich is still grieving the death of his wife and son in the devastating attack on 9/11. He is wandering aimlessly, sleeping in the bed of his truck and slowing drinking himself to death when he finds his way to Crossroads, North Carolina. Cathy has become a recluse is Hollywood and is eventually convinced to come home to Crossroads where her Granny's house waits for her. This story is about the healing power of love and what a story it is. But it's not sad and depressing. This book is darn funny with wonderful characters and great dialogue! It's a beautiful, heartwarming, humorous tale of two damaged people who overcome their internal terrors. It's told in first person alternating between Cathy's and Thomas' POV. I highly recommend. (Grade: A)

    Book preview

    The Apple Pie Knights - Deborah Smith

    Praise for Award-Winning Author Deborah Smith

    As enchanting as Tallulah’s biscuits . . . This novella truly captured the essence of what [coming home] means to the heart.

    —Teresa Medeiros, NY Times Bestselling Author

    An extraordinarily talented author.

    —Mary Alice Monroe, NY Times Bestselling Author

    A storyteller of distinction.

    —Book Page

    An exceptional storyteller.

    —Booklist

    Deborah Smith just keeps getting better.

    —Publishers Weekly

    Praise for The Crossroads Café

    Winner of a HOLT Medallion and a Reviewer’s International Award (RIO)

    Unforgettably poignant.

    —Booklist

    A top five romance of 2006.

    —Library Journal, starred review

    A perfect 10.

    —Romance Reviews Today

    The best romance of 2006.

    —The Romance Reader

    A true treasure.

    —Romantic Times BookClub

    A book that readers will open again and again.

    —Romance Designs

    Other Novels by Deborah Smith

    A Gentle Rain

    Sweet Hush

    On Bear Mountain

    The Stone Flower Garden

    Charming Grace

    Alice at Heart

    Diary of a Radical Mermaid

    The Mossy Creek Series (contributor)

    The Sweet Tea Series (contributor)

    The Crossroads Café Series

    The Crossroads Café (novel)

    The Biscuit Witch (long novella)

    The Pickle Queen (long novella)

    The Yarn Spinner (short story)

    The Apple Pie Knights (short story)

    The Kitchen Charmer (novel)

    The Moonshine King (novel)

    Available in Audiobook

    A Place to Call Home

    Blue Willow

    Silk and Stone

    Miracle

    When Venus Fell

    The Apple Pie Knights

    A Crossroads Café Short Story

    by

    Deborah Smith

    Bell Bridge Books

    Copyright

    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events or locations is entirely coincidental.

    Bell Bridge Books

    PO BOX 300921

    Memphis, TN 38130

    Ebook ISBN: 978-1-61194-537-9

    Bell Bridge Books is an Imprint of BelleBooks, Inc.

    Copyright © 2017 by Deborah Smith

    (Excerpt) The New England Cook Book, or Young Housekeeper’s Guide—Being a Collection of the Most Valuable Receipts; Embracing all the Various Branches of Cookery, and Written in a Minute and Methodical Manner—Author Unknown.

    Published 1836 by Hezekiah Howe & Co, and Herrick & Noyes, Connecticut

    (Excerpt) Dishes & Beverages of the Old South, by Martha McCulloch Williams

    Published 1913 by McBride Nast & Company, New York

    Printed and bound in the United States of America.

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

    We at BelleBooks enjoy hearing from readers.

    Visit our websites

    BelleBooks.com

    BellBridgeBooks.com

    ImaJinnBooks.com

    10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

    Cover design: Debra Dixon

    Interior design: Hank Smith

    Photo/Art credits:

    Woman © Chesterf | Dreamstime.com

    Sunburst/compass textures (manipulated) © Sofka_QWE | Fotolia.com

    Textures (manipulated): © Yobro10 | Dreamstime.com

    Title Letters © Jaguarwoman Designs

    :Epak:01:

    Dedication

    For Smudge, Carter, and Bumpy

    Chapter One

    Via letter

    I needed to write to you with a pen, on paper. Nice paper and a beautiful fountain pen with a casing made from oak timbers that were salvaged when the Crossroads Café was destroyed by a tornado and fire some years ago. Delta only gives them to her favorite cousins. I suspect there are a lot of us, but still. I knew I had to save it for very special letters.

    Tonight, you’re somewhere in mountains that don’t love you the way these old blue-green Appalachians do, and it worries me that you’ve been away from base for three weeks—the longest since I’ve known you—and I haven’t heard from you in all that time.

    I know you’d

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