After loosing her home, (and everything she owns) in a fire, Mary Anne feels lost. I'm glad that she has regained some self-assurance.
I disagree with the reviews below me on how Mary Anne should have "moved on." You never get over something like that entirely. It was very realistic to create three books in this series on her situation. (Four if you count the BSC series) If Ann wrapped up this plot to quickly, her character wouldn't have gone through the grieving process of loosing her home realistically.
In #131 of the BSC series, you saw Mary Anne shocked because she's lost her home, but she's numb. She doesn't really feel that pain until the end of the story. In #3 and #8 in the Friends Forever series, she's trying to get over that shock.
#11 concludes the fire. It's put out in her mind, at least for now. She finally feels as if she's gone home. I look forward to reading more about Mary Anne Spier. Meanwhile, I also enjoyed how Sunny Winslow was tied into this book from the California Diaries series. It was like Ann tied in two main plot lines from two different series and put them both into one story. I too lost my mom to cancer (in fact she died a month before the book where Sunny's mom passes is puplished), so I can relate.
Good job Ann Martin for a touching ending to this plot and for Sunny's story to be brought in as well. I look forward to reading more about both of your strong characters.