Fishing That's More Rhan a Sport: The Reel Sisters

In our everyday lives, there are tons of serendipity that we come across. However, the path to all these may not be a walk in the park. This raises the question: What are you wading for? With the spirit of unveiling opportunities for people to step outside their comfort zones and learn something new about themselves, Michelle Cummings in his novel, The Reel Sisters, arouses women to take up fly fishing not only as a sport but also as a medium of friendship which is very relevant to their profession, economic activities, and even their social lives.

This novel follows a story of five women from different walks of life whose main common bond is fly fishing. The Arkansas River is their usual converging point where they escape from their busy family chores and job duties. At Arkansas River, there is a beautiful three-bedroom cabin tucked in the pines near Salida, Colorado. Here four women--Sophie, Amanda, Veronica, and Rose (the owner of the cabin)--had been meeting for fly fishing. One day while angling, a young naked woman appears (crying for help) while being swept downstream by water. The woman is called Melody. She is rescued and joins the sisterhood. As the story develops the relationships between these women intensify day by day.

Reading this book, I realized that most people--especially women--overlook fly fishing as a sport. Moreover, others (like I was) have no idea of what fly fishing entails. I love fishing, but I have never engaged in fly fishing before. I picked this book to acquaint myself with the knowledge of fly fishing. However, I found it to be more than what I expected. Cummings tailored this story to serve more than the purpose of enlightening her readers about this angling activity. She weaved it to allow her readers to learn the significance of friendship in our lives.

Michelle Cummings brought out relevant and realistic conversations that made the characters to be relatable and likable. As this character-driven story picks up, readers immerse themselves into a sweet intriguing story of these five anglers. I must confess it kept me up into the wee hours of the night trying to find out what next.

The book consists of ten sections. Each section begins with a quote from fly fishing books. Each woman tells her own story in separate chapters from her own perspective. Cummings also included possible book club discussion questions, resources for women in fly fishing, and fly fishing clubs for women (both national and international). She allows her readers to ponder for themselves about issues that normally face women lives such as; relationships betrayal, worrying about their away-from-home partners, the stress of taking care of kids, and the pain of losing their loved ones.

I found it easy to like the traits of Sophie more than other characters in this novel. She was caring, loving, and cautions about making mistakes. I loved the habits of Melody the least. It was difficult to get along with her vulgar language. Nevertheless, I wasn't impressed with her choices. Sincerely there was nothing I didn't like in this novel.

As far as negative is concerned, I did find a few instances of typos throughout the book. Fortunately, there was no profane language used in this book. Overall I rate The Reel Sisters a solid 4 out of 4 stars simply because it could deserve nothing less. The editing was nearly perfect, and the story was intriguing. I recommend this novel to women who love fishing, especially those with interest in fly fishing. Those who love a good women-friendship story will enjoy this book. If you hate fly fishing, then this book is not for you.