This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration.

The Night The Lights Went Out

Summary: From the New York Times bestselling author of the Tradd Street series 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….

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

Full Confession: This is my first Karen White book. Sure I’ve met her 2 times before (Lemuria Books and Turnrow Books) but those books have suffered from being put aside to read for another day. Sigh. When can I quit my day job and just read and be a stay at home mom to my cats?

Anyway, when I was contacted about this book- between the cover and the summary of the book (plus comparisons to Big Little Lies) I knew this would be the one I would read first.

I loved how Karen portrayed Sweet Apple, how she worked blogging into her book and even a timely issue like bullying- it all added to the intrigue of the secrets in Sweet Apple.

 

What I liked:

The cover. Gosh, so pretty. My only regret about reading this book is that I had an e-copy and I would have loved a paper ARC. Guess I’ll need to make a stop by a bookstore soon 🙂

Who the blogger is. I can’t say it was a complete surprise, but I’d had other guesses and when the identity was revealed- I had to chuckle.

The back and forth between current time and Sugar’s stories from the past. Both kept me entertained!

 

Bottom line: Even though I sometimes wanted to give Merilee a STRONG talking to ( seriously, the girl needed a few strong words from time to time), I was really captivated by the setting, the Gone With The Wind like moments, and ultimately the reveal of what all really was going on in Sweet Apple.

 

*This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*

 

**The Night The Lights Went Out was an April #FuturisticFriday selection from Traveling With T.**

 

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Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,

T @ Traveling With T