Thursday, March 13, 2014

16. A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty - Joshilyn Jackson

Audio read by the author (another slam dunk!)
10 unabridged discs
2012, Grand Central Publishing
322 pgs.
Finished 3/12/2014
Adult CRF/Southern Fiction
Goodreads Rating: 3.93
My Rating: 5/Just wonderful - stayed up late to listen
TPPL
Setting:  Small town, rural Mississippi

My comments:  For me, everything that makes a really good read came together in this book.  An exceptionally woven plot.  Characters with personalities that are deeply drawn, real, and believable.  A strong voice - in this case three strong voices.  Three points-of-view that tell this story perfectly.  And to top it off, a reader that hits the absolute bulls-eye.  Joshilyn Jackson once again reads her own book and she's just perfect, including her own wonderful southern lilt.  I'm not a particular fan of southern fiction, but I'd follow Jackson anywhere - this is the third book of hers that I've read/listened to and I consider her an exceptional writer and storyteller. (I love the cover, too - maybe it's the color?)

Goodreads Review:  A GROWN-UP KIND OF PRETTY is a powerful saga of three generations of women, plagued by hardships and torn by a devastating secret, yet inextricably joined by the bonds of family. Fifteen-year-old Mosey Slocumb-spirited, sassy, and on the cusp of womanhood-is shaken when a small grave is unearthed in the backyard, and determined to figure out why it's there. Liza, her stroke-ravaged mother, is haunted by choices she made as a teenager. But it is Jenny, Mosey's strong and big-hearted grandmother, whose maternal love braids together the strands of the women's shared past--and who will stop at nothing to defend their future.

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