Rating: 
Summary: A sad second.
Review: After reading Big Stone Gap I fell in love with the characters. Everytime I looked at the book it made me smile. But, after reading Big Cherry Holler, I just want to sell my book back to the book store. The characters are still wonderful, except they take certain roads in their life I would have rather not known about. The ending to Big Cherry Holler was also very disappointing, but I'm assuming that is because she will write another. I say just stick with Big Stone Gap and keep the love of the characters in your heart.
Rating: 
Summary: It's Good to be Back in Big Stone Gap
Review: A month ago I read "Big Stone Gap" by Adriana Trigiana. The book put me under a spell, rendering it impossible for me to come up for breath until I had read the last page. I had such a good time with Ave Maria and her neighbors that I eagerly purchased the sequel, "Big Cherry Holler". Although the tone of this book is not as light as that of the first book, you will still be able to find the same group of old friends along with some new ones. Only this time, they deal with heavier issues such as the death of a child, marital strife,etc.Trigiana writes as if she were a best friend to her readers, filling them in on all of the deep, private thoughts of Ave Maria as she comes to terms with her marriage and her life. The thoughts are realistic and surprising at times, but always genuine. I hope to see the third book soon in this wonderful series.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent Read, but can't hold a candle to the first one
Review: I read Big Stone Gap and I just loved it. Great characters, a warm, wonderful tale, etc. I could not wait to read the next one.
It was an easy read and it was great to see all the characters again, but where the first one was fresh and rich, this was stale and bland. Some of the language was so simple and cliche, that I felt as if I were reading some run of the mill romance novel/self-help book.
The biggest problem is Ave's force-feeding us all of her revelations and self-analyses. If there had been more to this story - more about their son and more actual scenes about what was happening to their marriage as opposed to her telling us about them, it may have worked better.
Rating:
Summary: Even better than Big Stone Gap
Review: In Big Stone Gap, the first book of this trilogy, the reader is introduced to the charming characters of this mountain community in Virginia. In the second book, the tone is much more serious as the reader is taken into the eight-year-old marriage of Ave Maria and Jack MacChesney. The couple have two children, but their son dies at an early age from leukemia. Another misfortune strikes when the local mines are closed and Jack loses his job. These two tragedies cause Ave Maria and Jack to look inside themselves and to ponder the meaning of love and commitment. They begin to see that their different temperaments and ways of dealing with tragedy are beginning to pull them apart. Both of them are tempted to be unfaithful and how they deal with this situation determines the fate of their marriage. This is a very well-written book, full of insights about the relationships between men and women and how they are effected by the baggage that people carry with them.
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT ONE OF THREE GREATS.
Review: BIG CHERRY HOLLER IS THE SECOND IN ADRIANA TRIGIANI'S TRILOGY
WITH BIG STONE GAP AND MILK GLASS MOON BEING THE OTHERS. I LOVED
ALL THREE AND RECOMMEND THEM HIGHLY! IF YOU WANT TO GET INVOLVED IN "ANOTHER WORLD" WITH THAT WORLD'S CHARACTERS - I
ESPECIALLY LOVED IVA LOU AND FLEETA WHOSE EXPRESSIONS ARE
PRICELESS - THIS TRILOGY IS FOR YOU. PERSONALLY, I FOUND THESE
BOOKS ENTERTAINING FROM BEGINNING TO END AND WOULD WELCOME A
CONTINUATION WITH # 4.
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