Always a Silver Lining

by Jessica Redland

I enjoy Jessica Redland’s intricate plots, descriptions of settings, and complex characters. As the title indicates, Redland writes with positivity, but that doesn’t mean her books are sugar-coated. She writes scenarios that are often difficult for the characters—relationships that are dysfunctional, events that are traumatic, wounds that resist healing. An example is the main character sharing, “I suspected there weren’t many women who could say that they were best friends with their ex-fiancé’s ex-wife.”

In Always a Silver Lining, Juliet is cleverly written into this group of characters that are already connected in many ways—professions, backgrounds, and ties through blood and marriage. It’s enough to make your head swim. The focus, however, is definitely on Juliet, a talented wedding and event planner. She planned her own wedding twice and through very different circumstances, both were canceled. Juliet works hard to find a silver lining to her difficult circumstances. She meets Christian who is quite a bit older, but they connect because of their backgrounds. There are concerns about their families’ reactions. Juliet has a secret she has never told anyone, but decides it is time to open up and share it—with her parents, a close group of friends, and Christian.

I particularly enjoyed the descriptions of the Christmas weddings and other celebrations. There is a special birthday party and a very creative event to advertise a new children’s book. All the characters are likable except one, and he proves himself a cad every time he shows up, which is fortunately not very often.

I received a review copy of this book for free. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Rating: 4/5

Category: Fiction, Romance, Women’s Fiction

Notes: 1. #6 in the Escape to the Lakes Series. This could be read as a standalone as the author includes information about previous characters both in a list and as part of the story. I would recommend reading the series from the start as relationships are important in this book, and there are a lot of them!

  2. There are a lot of 21st century relationships in this book, especially unmarried couples living together, but it is a clean book with no open-door bedroom scenes or inappropriate language.

Publication:  October 19, 2026—Boldwood Books

Memorable Lines:

It’s been a game-changer, acknowledging that bad things have happened but finding the positives from them instead of focusing on the negatives.

They’d been through plenty of tough times but told me that a combination of their love for each other and their faith in God meant they’d been able to face anything thrown their way, always coming out the other side stronger than ever.

No regrets, just silver linings.

Don’t go for good—go for exceptional.