Schifflebein's Folly by Iris Chacon

Humorous, heart-touching story.

Blurb: “He's a tall, burly carpenter who will be a great mother someday, with a little unexpected supernatural help.
Lloyd has reached the age of 32 years, seven months, four days, and six hours without finding Miss Right and converting her into Mrs. Lloyd Schifflebein. Yes, Schifflebein. A name that is unromantic, unspellable, and way too long for signing checks and the backs of credit cards.
Even if Miss Right appears, there is another impediment to wedded bliss: Lloyd obsesses over his six children. He doesn’t have them yet, but he is working on it. He has been filing adoption applications all his adult life. This leads many people to deduce that Lloyd Schifflebein is crazy. Big and strong, sure. Cute, maybe, but loony nonetheless.
Somehow Lloyd finally convinces the Social Worker From Hell that he really is good father-material. Soon the Schifflebein household is a circus, with six special kids and their six neurotic pet bunnies. To become a forever family, however, they must pass a probationary period with surprise inspections at any time.
Then things begin to go wrong:
The Teapot arrives. The one that is certain to get Lloyd get officially labeled “insane,” removing any chance of successful adoptions.
Miss Right appears, but she is engaged to someone else.
Lloyd’s enemies attack him with false accusations and numerous lawsuits.
The government takes away Lloyd’s children, pending his day in court.
In his fight to keep his children, his livelihood, and his beloved bride, Lloyd definitely needs supernatural help – even if it comes in the form of a snarky, talking Teapot.”

Oh goodness, what a sweet story!

This was one of the cutest, funniest, heart-warming story I have ever read. The author’s easiness to write humorous lines is amazing, but I have to admit that the story brought also tears to my eyes at times. Despite the paranormal touch of the teapot talking and cooking tea by itself, I would love to see that Lloyd exists in real life. His past made him determined to adopt and take care of six young-children. He prepared all his adult life for this and despite the fact that people had him for being crazy, he never gave up. Were all his wishes fulfilled? I invite you to find out for yourself.
For me it was definitely a gripping read that I would love to see turned into a movie one day. Well done!

* At the time of this review the ebook is FREE on Amazon so I encourage you to grab your copy and see for yourselves how amazing it is.

Quotes:

“Lloyd had a philosophy: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If it ain’t on clearance (defined as at least 70 percent off), don’t buy it. If it’s less than 50 years old, it’s too good to get rid of. If it’s more than 50 years old, it’s an antique and therefore too valuable to get rid of. It was a blessing that Lloyd had never married because his philosophy probably would have driven some poor female to commit murder sooner or later….Despite his positive attributes, however, Lloyd had reached the age of thirty-two years, seven months, four days, and six hours without finding Miss Right”

“Supernatural assurance had surrounded Lloyd Schifflebein since the day in his early teens when he realized, calmly, that no divinely-inspired couple would ever appear to adopt him into their warm, sunny, house full of hugs and homemade cookies. Lloyd’s joy and comfort from that day forward had been his absolute certainty that he was going to provide that home for six very special children someday.”

My rating: 5/5.

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