Rating: Good
Source: NetGalley
Description: Home is where the heart fits . . .
Summer Murray is ready to shake things up. She doesn’t want to work in risk management. She doesn’t want to live in Hartford, Connecticut. So she plans a grand adventure: she’s going to throw out all the stuff she doesn’t want and travel the country in her very own tiny house house shaped like a train caboose. Just Summer, her chihuahua-dachshund Shortie, and 220 square feet of freedom.
Then her take-no-prisoners grandmother calls to demand Summer head home to the Pacific Northwest to save the family bakery. Summer has her reasons for not wanting to return home, but she’ll just park her caboose, fix things, and then be on her way. But when she gets to Cat’s Paw, Washington, she’s shocked by her grandmother’s strange behavior and reunited with a few people she’d hoped to avoid. If Summer is going to make a fresh start, she’ll have to face the past she’s been running from all along . . .
Genre: Romance - Contemporary
Why I Picked This Book: I've watched more than my share of Tiny House Hunters on HGTV so I thought it'd be fun to read a book set in a tiny house.
My Impression: I'm so torn on this one! This book reads super fast and is fun but at the same time several elements left me rolling my eyes. So that this doesn't become too convoluted I'm going with a list format for this one!
The Good:
The pacing is super fast and it's a really light read - this would be a good sick in bed read or a stress relief book.
The parts of Summer's journey where she's learning how to travel in her tiny house were pretty fun and I enjoyed seeing her confidence grow as she went along.
Summer's relationship with her grandmother, Queenie was interesting. We get hints that Queenie is not quite so serious and rigid as she seems and that's really fun.
Summer's dog, Shortie, was really cute and I loved his friendship with the much bigger Andre. That's a visual image that really gave me a lot of giggles.
The Not As Good:
I had a hard time believing that Summer was really 28. She seemed so very immature and unsure of herself. It got better in the middle of the book but towards the end flared up again. She makes assumptions based on things that happened 10 years ago and it never occurs to her that things could have changed since they were teenagers. As well I struggled to really get behind her new plan when she had yet to really successfully make a purse.
The romance isn't developed. For a good 3/4 of the book I would have considered this just really light contemporary fiction. Nothing is really resolved at all until the last few pages.
Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Since this book was so readable despite my irriations I'd give this author another try but only if the premise really grabbed me.
Would I Recommend this Book? If you're in the mood for a really light read and the premise appeals to you this is a fun read. If you're in the mood for a good romance I'd skip this one.
I am sorry this one wasn't better for you, Katherine. At least you Queenie sounds like any interesting character.
ReplyDeleteYou had me at "tiny house," as that whole way of living sounds tempting. And fun. Sorry it wasn't as good as you'd hoped. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis does sound a bit mixed. Sometimes a fast read is what I need but I am not sure about the characters. Great review!
ReplyDeleteLike you, I've always been fascinated by those Tiny Houses, and to have an author actually write a story about it sounds neat. As you know, a story that moves in slow motion with an underdeveloped character would end up causing me to to DNF, so I despite the topic, I'm not sure this could hold my interest. Love the way you reviewed it, though. Hugs...
ReplyDeleteI love the cover of this, it really promises something and plus I too love the concept of tiny houses (well in theory anyway) however I think you make a few valid points about where the book falls down!!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I love to watch the tiny house construction shows I know I couldn't live more than a few days in one. That said, I love that it's part of a novel - I'm just not sure I'd have patience for the lead character. Maybe.
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