THE STARLET IN CABIN NUMBER SEVEN (THE GUEST BOOK TRILOGY)

In Braun’s novel, the conclusion of her Guest Book Trilogy, a campground owner’s childhood friend seeks a fresh start and an older man works to uncover a family secret.

It is 1981, and Annie Parker is in her second year as the owner of a cluster of mountain cabins in Lake Arrowhead, California, built in the 1920s by a movie studio to be used as housing for cast members during location filming. Hollywood elites (and a few notorious gamblers) soon found Arrowhead to be a peaceful, discreet retreat. It is here that Annie has found renewed purpose in life after her divorce. Now her friend, Sarah Jones, is visiting with the same intention; she is divorcing her husband and is looking to start over. Annie is an independent interior designer; she meets new clients Hudson and Constance Fisher, an older couple looking to buy and redecorate a large house. The old cabin records reveal that Hudson’s mother, the actress Celeste Williams, stayed in one of the cabins while working on a movie in 1929. Series regulars, including Noah, Annie’s love interest; Josh, Noah’s best friend; Sam, former owner of the cabins; and Ginny, owner of a café, return as the author leads readers through another year of Annie’s personal and professional growth in the mountains. Ambling at an unhurried pace, the book feels like catching up with old friends as the narrative amiably revisits the highlights of Lake Arrowhead (“I saw a squirrel sitting on one of the large, low branches. His coat was covered in snowflakes, his eyes were closed, and he was concentrating on eating whatever morsel his little paws held. I’d never seen anything so adorable, and the sight of him made my heart swell”). Following the format established in the series’ first two installments, Annie’s chronicle alternates with the stories of other characters—in this case, Sarah’s poignant tale and Hudson’s reckoning with his complicated family history.

A light and engaging read, with an enticing mountain setting.