Leesa Cross-Smith

If a book can hold my attention and I can finish it in a day, it must be pretty good. I like reading about relationships and this was a woozy.

Tallie Clark, a licensed therapist, quickly stopped her car after spotting a man, Emmett Aaron Baker, on the edge of a tall bridge in Louisville getting ready to jump. Her instincts went in gear. She immediately stopped her car and got close enough to try to convince him otherwise. As a therapist, her goal was always "to help people be kinder to themselves and others; to make the world a safer, sweeter place" and she felt like she was doing her job.

She somehow managed to convince him to go to a coffee shop and talk. And yet she calculated her responses carefully not giving him a hint on what she did for a living. She was 40 years old, married once but now single. He, too, just happened to be single, a little younger and good looking. It wasn't easy for her to get him to open up but little by little, he told her things. And she shared bits and pieces about her life as well. Then the story got a little more interesting.

All along, I was hoping for Tallie and Emmett to fall in love and be happy together. That's what the all American love story is all about. But we also know that unexpected things can happen. Overall, I enjoyed this book. The author made the words flow like a fast moving river as the characters came alive.

I will look forward to reading other books by Leesa Cross-Smith in the future.

… (meer)

Thanks to Hachette for the advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A quartet of female friends who were inseparable in high school are at the heart of this novel. One of the four, the main character, Kasey, is keeping a secret from the other three (Caro, Rosemarie, and Ada) that make coming home again to her small Southern hometown very difficult. What Kasey doesn't know is that her BFFs all have adult secrets too. As with Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe and Practical Magic, revenge against abusive men is a main theme. And of course you can't have a homecoming novel without the city boyfriend and the One You Left Behind. This novel had a genuine Southern vibe and well-drawn characters whose relationships were very believable. A fun read that manages to be strike a balance between angry and soothing.… (meer)

1.5 Stars rounded up to 2

I gotta say, it's hard to enjoy a book when you detest the main character.

Tallie and Emmett were really difficult to like because their behaviour was a mix of inappropriate, unprofessional, unacceptable and invasive. I probably should have dnf'd at 4% when I could tell I would find Tallie a tad annoying but I pushed through. I went in expecting a more moving story but alas this was not the case.

CW: Suicide and depression wife committed suicide by carbon monoxide in a car but left door open to house and her child also died, cheating, false imprisonment, infertility, grief, injury in fire

… (meer)