What a wonderful surprise it is to select a book, serendipitously, and have it turn out to be a gem. Browsing the new fiction rack at the library recently, the title of this book jumped out at me and said "Pick me! Pick me!" So I did. This is a new to me author. I've never heard of her, never read her debut novel, and never read any reviews of the book before taking it home.

I was immediately pulled into the story. Angel and Hannah are such wonderful characters. The book is very well written and the story is sad and haunting. I knew the direction in which the story was heading, but it did not detract one bit from the journey. I did not want to stop reading, nor did I want the book to end. I love Southern fiction, so it was another plus for me that the book is set in the South.

I've put Ms. Keener's debut novel on my Wish list and can't wait to see what this very talented writer does next. Can't recommend it highly enough.

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I can't really put my finger on what it was about this book, but it just didn't grab me. It's not a bad book by any means because I enjoyed the author's style and depth of writing. The characters of Hannah and Angel were well developed and the alternating perspectives of the two was complimentary to the story and kept it interesting. However, it was easy to figure out where the story was going long before you got there. That's not necessarily a bad thing if there's enough in between to make it worth your while, but I eventually lost interest. I wouldn't NOT recommend this book, but I enjoyed the author's other book, The Killing Tree, much better.

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