Wow, I've lucked out recently with good books. I hope that doesn't mean I'm due for some boring ones soon. This was excellent - so interesting and the suspense part of it had me totally absorbed. I love this writer (thanks for telling me about her Katie!) and I'll definitely read her other books. I think she's only written three books since 1994 and one is due out next month. The writing is superb and Kline has that great storyteller quality that makes for my favorite kinds of books.

Cassie Simon returns to her mother's hometown in Sweet Water, Tennessee when she inherits a home and land from her grandfather. There, Cassie reconnects with her estranged family and tries to find out what happened the day her mother died in a car accident when Cassie was only three years old. The past is revealed in alternating chapters richly told by Cassie's grandmother and present chapters with Cassie doing her own investigating. I'd been stuck in a rut of starting books that lacked movement...

Well this was definitely one of the most depressing - and dysfunctional - books I have ever read. I had a hard time wrapping my brain around so many decisions made in this book, and was really frustrated with so many poor choices everyone in this family seemed to make. And what's with women always being so willing to throw each other under the bus - even when they are best friends - all for some man that truly has no redeeming qualities? No loyalty to the sister-hood whatsoever! And don't even g...

Twenty seven year old Cassandra Simon is lost. Her life in NYC is mundane at best. Both her professional and personsal lives are lacking. Cassie isn’t sure what is lacking. So when an unexpected bequest from Amory Clyde, she decides to go to Sweet Water TN. Her father warns her that she may not find what she’s looking for. Her friend Drew cautions, “Sometimes we are running from something or we are running towards something.” For Cassie the truth may be both. Haunted by the death of her mother 2...

This is the first book written by Kline, who wrote The Orphan Train. They're giving away the ebook version now, I think mainly to provide an intro to that other book in case you're one of the few yet to read it. Many typos and unintended bolding of random words were a bit distracting.I felt the writing style was inconsistent, and it seemed the author wasn't sure what kind of book she wanted this to be. It is touted as a mystery, but the mystery wasn't that great, and it seemed a little Harlequin...

Okay...so I was really into the book through I'd say, Part IV....but when I got to the end, I thought, WHAT?! So many loose ends. First of all, there's no way in the world that raging psycho grandma breaks her hip and suddenly loves this mysterious granddaughter she never knew. Second, as soon as they mention the whirlpool in the pond I knew where this was going. Just so much about this family was messed up that I wanted to know more and was left SO wanting. Also, what happens with her and Troy?...

WHAT IN THE EVER-LOVING CRAP IS THIS.I can't remember the last time I got this angry about a book without DNFing it. I couldn't DNF it, you see. The WTFery is all right at the very end. I can't really call it an end. This book doesn't end. It just stops. You think you might be easing into the denouement and you hit the page turn button and the next page is...a preview of the author's other book.And screeching to a halt like that meant the author hadn't gotten me as a reader, yet, to buy into for...

This was a fascinating family mystery (with a somewhat slow start). At its core are the two narrators, the grandmother and a granddaughter, both grieving for the woman between them who had died 20 years before. In dying, the grandfather surprises everyone by bequeathing the old family homestead to his granddaughter; she further surprises everyone by accepting so she can get to know the family she's never known. Family and small town secrets nearly destroy all the characters, past and present, be...

I really enjoyed this book. It was women’s fiction with a little mystery too. 27-year old Cassie Simon inherits land and a house in Sweetwater, Tennessee from her grandfather. She is currently living in New York and her life is at a cross roads so she decides to move to Sweetwater and get to know her mother’s family who she hasn’t had much to do with since her mother died 24 years ago. The story is told by Cassie and by her grandmother, Clyde, so we learn about the past and present. I really enj...

I liked pieces of it but other things - little side stuff that didn't affect the story line but did affect my feelings about this book popped up every once in a while and soured the book for me. (view spoiler)[ The flash back to her college friend and the cousin thing weird-ed me out. The college thing was just weird and totally did not advance the story at all - why have it all I ask (hide spoiler)]

Liked the way the story is told by both grandmother and granddaughter with each chapter featuring one or the other. After being disillusioned with her life in New York, a young woman moves to Tennessee after the maternal grandfather she never met leaves a home and land to her. Since her mother died when she was 3, she is eager to meet the extended family for the first time in hopes of learning details about her mother's terrible accident, which leads to some very dark discoveries & well-kept sec...

Things that are wrong with this book:1) The shocking mystery is incredibly obvious to everyone (reader and characters) and much of the book is spent dancing around the subject. So much so that I was certain the author was making room for a surprising twist but nope. The big reveal is what it is and it's given away early on. Even in Clyde's second flashback of Bryce's death, I was sure we were about to get a fabulous piece of the puzzle but no. Not really. Just confirmation that what we assumed h...

I would have given this a solid three stars if the author would have actually ended the book. Seriously. I kept thinking there was an issue with my Kindle copy and something didn't download.

I read this book for I absolutely loved Orphan Train - which I highly recommend you reading! It was WONDERFUL... this book- not so much -

I had trouble deciding on a rating for this book.The premise and the writing kept me captivated throughout. I did not want to put it down. I really enjoyed the read. On that basis, I would have given it 5 stars.The problem came with the details. The writing did not convey the setting to me. I did not get the feeling from the dialogue that this family came from TN. I don't think there was one "bless your heart" in the whole book. These people felt more like they belonged in the Northeast. They se...

The ending was incomplete. The book was a story of family secrets. I think the ending is another secret.

A book about secrets and how they can destroy a family. Was a good story and could have ended on a high note, instead it ended rather abruptly and that was it, no closure.

Cassandra Simon had been living and working with Adam for so long, her life felt stale; she was stuck in a rut and didn’t know what to do about it. Cassie was an artist – sculpting with clay was relaxing and gave her a sense of peace. New York had been her home for her whole life – living with her father after her mother had died when she was three years old was all she remembered; she didn’t know her mothers’ family at all…When she discovered her grandfather – a man she had never known – had le...

I'm not sure what to think of this book. I found it a compelling read but SPOILER ALERT, it contained a very creepy side plot with Cassie falling for her cousin. Yes, I get he's adopted so they technically aren't related and they'd never met so it wasn't like they grew up together, but seriously. Ewwww. It wasn't like they were long, lost 5th cousins or anything that never knew the other existed. First cousins. Who knew about each other, albeit, again, never met. I found that a little skeevy.Two...

From New York City to Tennessee?Was Cassie making the right move? She thought so, but meeting family members she hadn't seen since she was three was frightening as well as disillusioning. She had to find out her roots, to find out what happened to her mother, and to find out why her mother really didn't want to live in Sweetwater, Tennessee, and why her grandfather left her the family home and 60 acres​. What could the reason possibly be when she never knew him?Cassie is an interesting character...