Amazon.com Editorial Review

One of the most poignantly precious novels I have ever read, June 7, 2004

Reviewer: Daniel Jolley, Shelby, NC USA

I hardly know how to begin to describe my appreciation and love for this novel. Cheri Laser, who seems to be quite an amazing woman herself based on her bio, has written one of the most remarkable, engaging, and downright precious books I have ever been fortunate enough to read. Not only has she brought to life some of the most vivid and unforgettable characters I have met in a long time, she did this for not one but five generations of an American family. The emphasis is on the women of that family, but there are some amazing men who also weave themselves into the story. It sounds cliché to say that I laughed, I cried, etc., but in this case it is the absolute truth.

Even the title of the book is intriguing. Cinnamon, I must tell you, is the name of the central character in the story, the grand lady who connects all of the generational players in this incredible drama. As we first meet her, she is an elderly lady determined to tell the story of her life before she passes. She drafts her grand-daughter Megan for this last special project, revealing deep and far-reaching family secrets to her; she then charges Megan with one final task, the unraveling of a family mystery and tragedy dating back almost five decades. Cinnamon's story is complemented by a number of journal articles, letters, poems, and precious artifacts, and I still can't get over just how real and inherently human all the players in this extended drama are - you don't merely read about their lives, you are there to witness each of them first-hand.

We start with Amelia and Nathaniel, a young married couple who, in 1875, left their home in Ireland to sail to the United States in search of a prosperous life together. The next significant family member we meet is Jonathon McClinty's wife Mimi, Amelia's daughter-in-law. Together, the two women embark on an extraordinary interior decorating plan for their new home, hiring a number of the town's less prosperous craftsmen and artists to do the work. These noble artisans and craftsmen become an extended family to Mimi and her children for decades to come, especially after Mimi and her young daughter Cinnamon are suddenly (and quite coldly) ushered out of Jonathon McClinty's life, starting Mimi on a heartbreaking journey to a rather tragic end. Even when Mimi finds happiness and a new life in New York, fate soon reappears to pull the rug out from under her feet yet again. This will become a pattern in the lives of the McClinty women.

While we meet Cinnamon's daughter Claudine in the latter section of the book and get to know Cinnamon's grand-daughter Megan quite well along the way, this truly is Cinnamon's story. She led an amazing life filled with times of great happiness as well as times of terrible loss and regret. While the tragedies she had to bear seem far too excessive for such a lovely, vibrant lady, she overcame each obstacle that was placed in her way, proved herself to be an independent, self-reliant woman in the years of the Great Depression, succeeded in life in all manner of ways, and kept the whole extended McClinty family together as she grew old. It is hard to imagine how she could have lived for decades with the secret she reveals to Megan in these pages, but that, as they say, is really just the beginning. The unlocking of this secret leads to evidence of a series of tragedies that, fortunately, Cinnamon was never forced to comprehend and deal with on her own. In fact, Megan herself can hardly deal with the shocking truths she uncovers.

I could literally write about The Truth About Cinnamon for days. It's the kind of novel you just want to talk about with anyone who will listen. These vivid characters are not larger than life; instead, they are very real, incredibly human, and wonderfully grounded in the particular historical eras in which they lived, loved, suffered, and died. I feel like an extended member of Cinnamon's family myself now, and I am not exaggerating when I say I grew to dearly love so many of the characters in this incredible story. I desperately hope this novel will get the attention it deserves, for it is a true modern classic which cannot fail to touch the heart of anyone who reads it.

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THE COUNTY SEAT, Tuesday, March 1, 2005, by Deanna Dempsey
In "The Truth About Cinnamon," you don't just read about the life of each character, you are there to witness their lives firsthand. Cheri Laser makes each character incredibly human and grounded in the historical era in which they lived, loved, suffered and died. This is an amazing story about five generations of one family told by the keeper of Pandora's Box, Cinnamon, to her granddaughter, Megan Cole.

Cinnamon will take her granddaughter, Megan on a journey through her family's history using journals, letters, poetry and even artifacts that Cinnamon saved all these years. Megan learns of all the family secrets and tragedies dating back to the first McClinty generation to arrive in America in 1875. Megan even learns that her grandmother has redefined the word ordinary. Cinnamon defines ordinary as "the baseline of all human life... A life that began as ordinary might have circulated through times of grandeur, or poverty, or perhaps a respectable, unremarkable point in between. The only thing we know for sure about endings is that a unique story lies behind every journey just completed, and there's certainly nothing ordinary about that!"

The story grips you from the very beginning. You don't want to learn all of their secrets, yet you don't want the stories to ever end. While reading this novel you feel as if you are listening to stories from your grandmother, rich in history and detail, that will make you want to laugh and cry. The story shows that the love of one person can be the thread that holds an entire family together. Cinnamon has learned through her long, and sometimes tragic life, that family is most important and should be treasured even though they all have their secrets.

When you are finished reading this intriguing novel, you will feel as if you belong to the "ordinary" family.

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The setting, plot, dialogue and pace of The Truth About Cinnamon are written very effectively. The author moves back and forth from present to past smoothly...If a reader asks "What about this book can I identify with that will make me want to read it?" there should not be a problem, because there is plenty!