Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Georgia Goodness


Rating: 4/5
Review: This was a great light read. It also made me want to fix up an old house in a place where traditons are strongly followed, and everbody knows everybody. Dempsey was a fun character that I could relate to, and I actually had a great-grandmother like Ella Kate. I didn't like how naive Dempsey was where her boss was concerned. I'd like to think that I would not have been quite as stupid in her situation, but she was influenced by her infatuation, so I can see how a person might not see what's really going on in that case. Love and infatuation does make us do stupid things, I suppose. I enjoyed the tidbits about house restoration, and how Dempsey was doing most of the work herself. The ending was good, but not very realistic. Still, I do like the idea of getting something you really need right when you need it.
Book Description: After her boss in a high-powered Washington public relations firm is caught in a political scandal, fledgling lobbyist Dempsey Jo Killebrew is left almost broke, unemployed, and homeless. Out of options, she reluctantly accepts her father's offer to help refurbish Birdsong, the old family place he recently inherited in Guthrie, Georgia. All it will take, he tells her, is a little paint and some TLC to turn the fading Victorian mansion into a real-estate cash cow.
But, oh, is Dempsey in for a surprise when she arrives in Guthrie. "Bird Droppings" would more aptly describe the moldering Pepto Bismol–pink dump with duct-taped windows and a driveway full of junk. There's also a murderously grumpy old lady, one of Dempsey's distant relations, who has claimed squatter's rights and isn't moving out. Ever.
Furthermore, everyone in Guthrie seems to know Dempsey's business, from a smooth-talking real-estate agent to a cute lawyer who owns the local newspaper. It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the pesky FBI agents who show up on Dempsey's doorstep, hoping to pry information about her ex-boss from her.
All Dempsey can do is roll up her sleeves and get to work. And before long, what started as a job of necessity somehow becomes a labor of love and, ultimately, a journey that takes her to a place she never expected—back home again.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a fun book. I've only read one by Andrews, but I can't think of what it was.