The Laws of Harmony by Judith Ryan Hendricks

Sunny Cooper's relationship with her boyfriend, Michael, is falling apart. They hardly talk anymore and, after a tragedy which uncovers secrets he was keeping from her, Sunny unloads all her possesions and gets as far away from New Mexico as she can. Sunny has always had a love/hate relationship with New Mexico, anyway. Growing up on the Armonia commune, Sunny hated having no privacy and still resents her hippie mother, Gwen, for not giving her a normal childhood. Sunny ends up in the little town of Harmony on San Miguel Island in the Pacific Northwest. In Harmony, she makes friends and creates a new home, but the scars of her youth, especially the death of her younger sister, are never far from her mind. Will Sunny be able to accept her past and learn to live for now and the future? I loved the descriptions of life in northern New Mexico, island life in Washington State, and Sunny's love of southwest cooking. Another winner from Hendricks, author of Bread Alone. The Laws of Harmony reminded me of the novels of Jo-Ann Mapson and The Way Life Should Be by Christina Baker Kline.