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Eyes on the Prize is book 43 in the Tales From Grace Chapel Inn series about three sisters who run a bed-and-breakfast from their maternal ancestors' Victorian house in the village of Acorn Hill, Pennsylvania. Their late father, Daniel Howard, had been the pastor of nearby Grace Chapel, hence the name.

Widowed Mrs. Louise Howard Smith teaches piano as well as keeping the inn's books. Alice Howard is a part-time nurse. Divorced Jane Howard was a professional chef in San Francisco. She does the cooking and gardening. They share in housekeeping tasks.

These books have a formula: there will be a main problem and one or more problems for subplots. Guests and/or townspeople will be involved. Faith will play a part in resolving the problems.

Normally, Jane Howard is the one to grow vegetables and flowers for the inn, but Louise has tried growing giant pumpkins. We readers are given a hint of Louise's secret fertilizer early on, but the rest of the characters have to wait for most of the book. Louise is urged to enter her biggest pumpkin in a competition.

Jane enters a charity run with an impure motive: one of the organizers of the Harvest 10K Run is Carrie Blankenship Gleason. Carrie and Jane were cross-country run competitors when they attended Franklin High School, and Carrie ALWAYS beat Jane.
Jane is determined to beat her this time.

Alice's dear friend, 5th grade teacher Vera Humbert, needs help. Her beloved 86-year-old Aunt Agatha broke her hip weeks ago. Vera's cousin, Reggie Smith, wants Vera to help him convince Aunt Agatha to leave her big old house for an assisted living home. Vera wants her nurse friend to come with her when she visits Aunt Agatha.

Poor Louise has to contend with sightseers for her pumpkin as well as rival growers. At least her daughter, Cynthia, is visiting. Jane is having trouble getting in shape for the run -- she usually just walks or jogs a mile or two. Alice is learning how much of Vera's past she didn't know, even though they've been friends for 25 years. It was nice hearing about how Vera's Grandma Lindsey helped her with her romantic woes in chapters 22-23.

NOTES:

Chapter 1: Yes, Jane is running on a quiet, even deserted road, but I wish the author had stated whether Jane had her music playing softly enough that she could hear if a vehicle came up behind her. Don't forget that author Stephen King was hit from behind.

Chapter 8: Acorn Hill has a Cat Rescue Center.

Chapter 9 explains the three-way method for measuring giant pumpkins.

In chapter 11 we learn a bit about organic insect control.

In Chapter 12 we learn that Vera Humbert's mother's name was Grace and Vera's full maiden name was Alvera Lorinda Jamison.

According to chapter 13, Vera's great-great-grandfather was a Shelton and he built the house that is the current Shelton Cove Yacht Club building in 1853.

The question about moving to an assisted living home or staying in one's own home is not an easy one to decide. My late mother and some of her sisters lived in their own homes until they died. Two moved to assisted living homes. The two still living are at home, even though one of them is in her mid-nineties.

The charity run is raising money to help spread information about diabetes, an important health problem. I have a close relative who wasn't diagnosed until he was hospitalized. This book mentions diabetics having to have amputations, but I'm even more afraid of diabetic retinopathy, which can lead to blindness. Control that blood sugar!

As always with this series, this is a gentle book. The worst of those I've read so far I gave only three stars. I rate this one three and one half.

The recipe this time is Penne With Pumpkin Sauce and Pork Loin.

Cat lovers: Wendell , Howards' the big gray tabby does appear. He may have even helped save the giant pumpkin.

Miniature pig lovers: Daisy, Clara Horn's darling, as a cameo. ( )

Eyes on the Prize (Tales of Grace Chapel Inn) by Sunni Jeffers
Eyes on the Prize (Tales of Grace Chapel Inn)
by Sunni Jeffers
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Martha Davis's review
Oct 12, 10 · edit

3 of 5 stars
status: Read from October 04 to 09, 2010

The Grace Chapel Inn series is a lot like the feel good story they run on the Friday evening national news. There may be a some hard ship but in the end everything works out just fine.

The series has several different authors, some better than others. Jane Orcutt, may favorite passed away several years ago and I feared I may not find the series as enjoyable. Well, I need not have worried. Sunni Jeffers does a fine job handling her entries into the series.

This time around we have youngest of the Howard sisters, Jane, preparing for a 10K run while trying to fight her desire to beat an old high school rival. Then the Louise, the eldest Howard sister has decided to try her hand at gardening and could just be growing a record breaking giant pumpkin. All of this while middle sister Alice is out of town helping her friend decide whether or not to put a beloved relative into a nursing home.

While not the most complicated of stories there is enough story to keep you ...more The Grace Chapel Inn series is a lot like the feel good story they run on the Friday evening national news. There may be a some hard ship but in the end everything works out just fine.

The series has several different authors, some better than others. Jane Orcutt, may favorite passed away several years ago and I feared I may not find the series as enjoyable. Well, I need not have worried. Sunni Jeffers does a fine job handling her entries into the series.

This time around we have youngest of the Howard sisters, Jane, preparing for a 10K run while trying to fight her desire to beat an old high school rival. Then the Louise, the eldest Howard sister has decided to try her hand at gardening and could just be growing a record breaking giant pumpkin. All of this while middle sister Alice is out of town helping her friend decide whether or not to put a beloved relative into a nursing home.

While not the most complicated of stories there is enough story to keep you interested. Alice's story was by far the most intriguing to me. I thought it was nicely handled (even if it was easy) and ended happily (was there any doubt?). The story of the giant pumpkin was fun and I'll have to look up Louise's secret ingredient to see if it's real. The 10K run storyline was the least successful for me but I think that was just me and not the author's fault.

All and all I enjoyed this entry into the series. There will be no grand book awards for any of these books. But their entertaining and lighthearted. The only thing I wish they had were recipes for all the wonderful food mentioned because they all do sound yummy. ( )