One year in Coal Harbor

Is it wrong that the entire time I read this book (and Waffle) I wanted so much to go out to coffee with Polly Horvath? She writes the kinds of books that I would have gobbled up as a tween and now love as an adult. They are not sugary sweet or predictable. They are actually kind of dark. I love them.
That said, this one bogged down a pinch for me in the middle. Perhaps I am a bad person and did not care enough about the logging to want to read so much about it. Or perhaps this one was a little harder for me because bad things were not happening to Prim (who I know can handle it), but to those around her. And I fully felt her frustration at not being able to control everyone's situation, even when she is so sure she knows what is best for everyone else. In this manner I felt detached from what was going on (just like her).
While my favorite will always be Canning Season, Everything on a Waffle and its companion: One Year in Coal Harbor are close seconds. Just wonderful and perfect for the reader who is ready to move out of hot pink candy fiction and into something a little more realistic.