It’s no surprise that Ann M. Martin writes well. Who else could write a pop culture phenomena as the BSC? But while the BSC may be the most popular of her works, I want to highlight this series, combining warm, small town insight and historical fiction.

Main Street is my favorite out of Martin’s works, and this quartet follows in that vein with its setting switching from Lewisport, Maine to NYC to Princeton, NJ, allowing readers to see the patchwork community of each town and how it has changed over generations.

It has the added bonus of historical evolution where milliners, and knick-knack stores give way to coffee shops and franchises. One floor schools become big institutions, and female students wear jeans everyday instead of dresses.

Through each protagonist Martin charts a realistic change in perception as each girl grows older, questioning the adults around them including their secrets and prejudices and how it shapes them when they become adults and parents.

Martin treads over familiar themes through each book, special needs kids and the discrimination against them, blended families, and secrets. It might seem repetitive but is actually a fitting motif that ties the four generations of women together. It demonstrates how even though they grew up in different time periods, some things continue to touch on them and how each generation improves upon the next.

The overarching theme of secrets adds suspense and conflict between the mothers and daughters, a course that doesn’t always run smooth but you can feel the love at the end when all is aired out in the finale.

The quartet is more thoughtful than her other series, the women sometimes seem wise beyond their years, but I feel it adds to the sense of nostalgia with each reflecting on childhood and the passage of time, and the uncertainty of the future.