Saturday, May 6, 2017

The Night the Lights Went Out by Karen White



What They Say.....From the New York Times bestselling author of Flight Patterns comes a stunning new novel about a young single mother who discovers that the nature of friendship is never what it seems....
 
Recently divorced, Merilee Talbot Dunlap moves with her two children to the Atlanta suburb of Sweet Apple, Georgia. It’s not her first time starting over, but her efforts at a new beginning aren’t helped by an anonymous local blog that dishes about the scandalous events that caused her marriage to fail.
 
Merilee finds some measure of peace in the cottage she is renting from town matriarch Sugar Prescott. Though stubborn and irascible, Sugar sees something of herself in Merilee—something that allows her to open up about her own colorful past.
 
Sugar’s stories give Merilee a different perspective on the town and its wealthy school moms in their tennis whites and shiny SUVs, and even on her new friendship with Heather Blackford. Merilee is charmed by the glamorous young mother’s seemingly perfect life and finds herself drawn into Heather's world.
 
In a town like Sweet Apple, where sins and secrets are as likely to be found behind the walls of gated mansions as in the dark woods surrounding Merilee’s house, appearance is everything. But just how dangerous that deception can be will shock all three women....



What I Say....I freaking loved this book.  Karen White's ghost stories always scare the bejesus out of me - but I keep reading them - so I'm always so excited when she does a non-Tradd Street book.  The Forgotten Room, (one that she co-writes with Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig) was one of my favorite books last year.

Merilee is fleeing a bad marriage and starting over in a small farmhouse, rented to her by an old lady who  just wants to be left alone.  But once Marilee and her children move in, Sugar discovers that maybe her life has been lonelier than she thought.

As she shares the story of her life with Merilee, Sugar revisits a time in life when things were much different, and your life may have rolled out in a way that you never intended.  

Meanwhile, Marilee is adapting to her new job, her new life, and the new mean mommy group at her children's exclusive school.  Someone seems to have it in for Marilee, but she can't figure out why.......

I always love stories that go back and forth in time, comparing our lives as they are now to how people's lives unfolded back in the 50's.  it's amazing how much has changed in not that much time.

I read this while I was on vacation - I carried my Kindle with me for whenever I would have a free minute to get back to Sugar, Merilee and Heather's stories.  It was hard to put down!
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