Half of What You Hear by Kristyn Kusek Lewis ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

Fitting in is not easy in a small town no matter who you are. I went through the pain of moving to a small town after leaving Detroit, so this book spoke to me in many ways. My move wasn't quite as dramatic as the move in the book but it WAS difficult.

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December 2018; Harper Paperback; 978-0062673350
audio, ebook, print (384 pages); women's fiction

Bess Warner, her husband Cole and their two children move from Washington DC to Greyhill, a small town in Virginia, after Bess's very public firing from her job as social secretary to the First Lady in the White House. At first, she thinks the move may not be too bad because it's her husbands home town and she had visited there often. She quickly finds out that visiting in a small town and living in one are very different. Her problems are added to because they live across the road from her husband's parents and her mother in law doesn't approve of her. In a small town, there are no secrets and everyone knows everyone else's business and what they don't know for sure, they speculate about. When Bess makes the move, she finds out how difficult it is to fit in. Then when she is offered a chance to write an article about the notorious Susannah, one of the town's oldest residents, she finds herself the center of even more gossip. Can she find a place in small town America where she and her husband and children are safe and can have a happy life?

Even though my transition to small town living was much less dramatic that Bess's, her story still resonated with me. It is difficult to fit into a totally different life especially when every move you make is part of the local gossip grapevine. I thought this was a great book about small town life with some fantastic believable characters. I really liked Bess but had some problems with her husband who tended to side more with the town than with his wife. That said, the small town drama and some of the quirky characters in town along with Bess's quest to be accepted will quickly draw you into this great novel.

Buy Half of What you Hear at Amazon

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling. She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter. 

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