Closer Home by Kerry Anne King [ARC Review] Genre: Mystery, Romance, Women's fiction Publication date: 22 Mar 2016 Format:eARC (I was provided a copy from NetGalley and publishers for a review) You can buy this book at Barnes and Nobles or on Amazon. Here’s the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Closer-Home-Kerry-Anne-King-ebook/dp/B014R7CC1G (If you have Kindle Unlimited, you can now read this book for free.) I think this may be my longest review to date but I assure you it’s a good one. Summary: When Lise Redding’s estranged sister, country-pop star Callie Redfern, is killed during a publicity stunt, the small-town music teacher is dragged from her quiet life into the spotlight. Lise hadn’t spoken with Callie in ten years, ever since Callie’s betrayal split them apart, so she’s shocked to discover that she’s inherited her sister’s massive estate. Not only that, but Lise is now the guardian of her sixteen-year-old niece, Ariel, to whom she’s practically a stranger. Overwhelmed by grief and her new responsibilities, Lise thinks things couldn’t get worse. But overnight she becomes the paparazzi’s latest obsession. Suddenly she and her longtime friend Dale are plastered over the front pages of the tabloids. Desperate to escape both the media and her memories, Lise sets off with Ariel on a search for the girl’s father. Yet instead of granting Lise a reprieve, the quest brings her face-to-face with long-buried secrets. Only by learning to forgive will she be able to find her way back home.
I usually give my own summary but the summary provided by NetGalley does a amazing job. My Thoughts: When I first requested the book, I was intrigued by the description provided. I don’t usually read books that have to do with death or wild goose chases because they take too much of an emotional toll on me (because I connect with books way too much) but I still chose to read this ARC. Like most books, the first chapter jumps straight into the moment, at Callie Redfern’s funeral. We follow her sister, Lise Redding around as she learns about her major inheritance, the mansion, millions of dollars, and Callie’s 16 year old daughter, Ariel. Ariel, who has never been told who her real father is, now want to take this chance to run away from home and find him. Lise is unable to stop her so like any other responsible adult, she goes with Ariel. Motivated by the journal Callie kept in high school listing every guy she slept with, Ariel uses technology to reach out to each one and collect a DNA swab to conduct a paternity test. I really felt bad for Lise throughout the entire book. She never asked for any of this wealth but now, she has all the money along with tons of other burdens. She doesn’t even know who to trust after the only person Ariel thought she could trust betrayed them all and turned out to be working for the paparazzi. Lise is shoved into the spotlight, while following around Ariel’s wild goose chase to find her father, only leading them back home. By the time they end up in Lise’s and Dale’s hometown, it’s pretty clear to the readers who the father is. The use of dramatic irony is what’s so amazing. The reader will probably have a theory as to the result of the book but the journey there is a surprising one. Somehow, I didn’t get the feeling that this would have any romance to it but it has an underplot-line of romance. The book covers a wide range of topics, including betrayal, the past affecting the future and being thrown into the spotlight. There were many moments where I was just thinking, ‘what if this happened?’ because the plot could have gone so many different ways. I wasn’t expecting to like this book as much as I did. Usually these types of books end on a miserable note, with a side of heartache for the characters. But I absolutely loved this. The part that I enjoyed the most was when the pair finally made it back to Callie and Lise’s hometown. This is the part where everything is revealed, leaving Lise to accept all the facts or deny them. Another part that I liked was when Lise pushes a photographer into the pool. I won’t say why, you’ll just have to read the book yourself to find out :) On another slightly related note, since I am taking a design class in school, I noticed that the cover is a girl running away, showing that the farther she runs, the closer she is to her real home. In addition to that, the colors are shades of blue and purple and some pink. Purple usually represents wealth while blue shows sadness, which represented this book extremely well. Of course, this is just my interpretation of the cover but I’m sure there was a thought process similar to this when the cover was created. I don’t see many books with covers that have this amount of deeper perspective to it. Most books that are in this genre have covers with darker colors so Closer Home definitely stands out (in a good way). I recommend Closer Home to people who enjoy books with mystery and romance. This was a good read and I finished it within a day at school. As much as I enjoyed this book, I won’t be re-reading the book though because this is one of those books that once you know the plot, it’ll be boring to read again. I give Closer Home a 8/10 stars for blowing my expectations out of the water. Also, Kerry Anne King was a new author for me and I think I may look at some of her other books. So what do you think of Closer Home? If you liked my review and my blog, share with friends on social media or by word of mouth. I love to see more people enjoying what The Cozy Little Book Nook has to offer. ~Brooke
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About me!Brooke's a high schooler who loves to read all sorts of books. She's happy to be able to share all the books she's reading with all of y'all. Archives
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