Blog Tour: Leaving Carolina by Tamara Leigh

Synopsis:

Piper Wick left her hometown of Pickwick , North Carolina , twelve years ago, shook the dust off her feet, ditched her drawl and her family name, and made a new life for herself as a high-powered public relations consultant in LA. She’s even “engaged to be engaged” to the picture-perfect U.S. Congressman Grant Spangler.Now all of Piper’s hard-won happiness is threatened by a reclusive uncle’s bout of conscience. In the wake of a health scare, Uncle Obadiah Pickwick has decided to change his will, leaving money to make amends for four generations’ worth of family misdeeds. But that will reveal all the Pickwicks’ secrets, including Piper’s. Though Piper arrives in Pickwick primed for battle, she is unprepared for Uncle Obe’s rugged, blue-eyed gardener. So just who is Axel Smith? Why does he think making amends is more than just making restitution? And why, oh why, can’t she stay on task? With the Lord’s help, Piper is about to discover that although good PR might smooth things over, only the truth will set her free.

My Thoughts: This was a very slow starter for me. It did eventually pick up but it took time, a lot of time. In the first few chapters, the reader is introduced to so many characters, it's mind boggling. Piper struck me as a 30 year old still stuck in the mindset of a young teenager. Through flashback thoughts, we see that all the myriad of cousins didn't take too kindly to young Piper. An infamous "teenage stunt" that could cause some great scandal if brought to light after twelve years turns out to be (imo) making a mountain out of a molehill. Supposedly with the threat of this revelation, Piper is fearful that her boyfriend to whom she is engaged to be engaged, will hear of this and drop her like the proverbial hot potato. The premise to get her back to North Carolina to forgive her family and be free of all this angst and move on is a good one but the plot lines to get her there are weak. Supposedly she is, as she puts it, "taken", but when she first sees Axel she looks at him as a dog would the last t-bone on earth. She must mention he has blue eyes about 78 times.

The funny thing is that one of her cousins, Maggie, who was so mean to her in school has now become a nice person with a wonderful and very intelligent 12 year old daughter. It seems Maggie has progressed emotionally since Piper has been gone. Now if we could just get Piper to do the same. About half way through the book, the story did finally pick up and I found myself liking some of the characters; Maggie, her daughter Devyn, Uncle Obe and Axel. Piper, as the main character, never really did it for me but the story turned out nice and neat. I have no quibble with the ending as I think the author did eventually achieve her objective. It just took an awfully long time to get there. If you like christian fiction, a little romance and family entanglements, you might like this one. For me, it was an okay but just not great read. 2.5**

This book was provided for review by the Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group. For more info on the book and where to purchase on line, please visit Random House.