“Strawberry Lane” is the first book in the “Someday Valley” series by author Jodi Thomas. This book primarily serves to introduce us to this world, with the reader meeting a lot of new people who form unique connections. 

In the small town of Someday Valley, the death of a cantankerous old man becomes the catalyst for four complete strangers to form a family, and we meet two of them — Rusty O’Sullivan and Zachary Holmes — in this book. Rusty, who has never known a family and always been a loner,  suddenly finds himself in the midst of well-wishers when he has an accident. During his recuperation, he is continually pestered by lawyer Jackson Landry and, through him, gets to know that his father, whom he has never known, has left him and his brothers, whom he’d just discovered, a sizeable inheritance.  Though he turns down the wealth, he hires the Landry to learn more about his brothers. 

As luck would have it, one of his brothers, Zachary, turns up at the police station after comitting a petty crime. With new people in his life rallying behind him and the support of his new tribe, Rusty gives Zach a home, and experiences for the first time the comfort of a family. Through the course of the the book, we get to know how the two brothers and the people connected to them fare.

Thomas has written a sweet story focusing on heartfelt relationships between people who are on the fringes of the society. Particularly, she has managed to give a lovely insight into the heart of a person who has never known love or affection through Rusty.

However, for all the book’s charm, I found myself not able to connect with any of the other characters and it might be because the author hasn’t forayed deep enough into those people’s minds. Still, this book is for you if you are into lighthearted character-driven stories and don’t mind the lack of depth in the prose. 

This book gets 4 out of 5 stars.