Digital Reads Reviews

Many thanks to Suzanne and Suzy Approved Book Tours for my spot on this Blog Tour.

BEAUTIFUL. POIGNANT. THOUGHT PROVOKING.

A story of honest portrayal of life in the 1980s in Mississippi with its narrow minded southern culture and the after effects seen decades later. Author Claire Fullerton was mystical in the way she chose her words, bringing me closer to the truth, one page at a time, weaving the past seamlessly into the present. An author’s talent sparkled in the storytelling, evoking my emotions until I was left with a film of tears while writing this review.

Three friends, Celia, Remmy and Ava decided to get together to spend three days at the lake house to reminiscence and ponder over the decisions about the future and to heal. Celia had to deal with her past when her ex-fiancé turned up. This was a story about friendship, both past and present.

My first book by this author, and I was gently pulled into the story which felt like a breath of fresh air. The atmosphere was felt, right from the first page when the author decided to take me on a journey into the past, holding my hand at every step. The words were lyrical; they cast a spell of their own. The real world ceased to exist, only Celia and her life in the 1980s with her best friend Little Tea mattered.

Social prejudices and tragedies were slowly laid down like the scenes of the movie. The fortitude of the people until life broke them, only to lift them up unexpectedly was well shown. The author’s sheer talent was a sight to behold. Her power over her words came down to simple sentences with vivid imagery. Some of the scenes had to be felt to get the complete impact. The last line of the book, oh my, it was brilliant. It wrenched my heart, squeezed my tears out, and made me sigh. Absolutely perfect ending.

I smiled through my tears, and blood and gore was usually how I spent my breakfast, this book had a special place in my heart. An emotional, absolutely delightful read.

I received a free ARC from Suzy and the author, and this is my journey into its pages, straight from the heart!! STRICTLY HONEST AND UNBIASED.

All my reviews can be read here

Southern Culture … Old Friendships … Family Tragedy

One phone call from Renny to come home and “see about” the capricious Ava and Celia Wakefield decides to overlook her distressful past in the name of friendship.

For three reflective days at Renny’s lake house in Heber Springs, Arkansas, the three childhood friends reunite and examine life, love, marriage, and the ties that bind, even though Celia’s personal story has yet to be healed. When the past arrives at the lake house door in the form of her old boyfriend, Celia must revisit the life she’d tried to outrun.

As her idyllic coming of age alongside her best friend, Little Tea, on her family’s ancestral grounds in bucolic Como, Mississippi unfolds, Celia realizes there is no better place to accept her own story than in this circle of friends who have remained beside her throughout the years. Theirs is a friendship that can talk any life sorrow into a comic tragedy, and now that the racial divide in the Deep South has evolved, Celia wonders if friendship can triumph over history.