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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Book Review: Sleeping in Eden by Nicole Baart


Nicole Baart's writing just gets better and better with each book, and Sleeping in Eden is, to be so cliche, a page-turner.  The book arrived early afternoon one day last week, and a couple of hours later, I began reading.  I kept reading, and we had leftovers for dinner because I didn't want to take the time away from reading to cook.  I read all through my son's tae kwon do class, all through the kids' baths, am not really sure when they went to bed, and then I finally finished around 11:00 p.m., and set the book down feeling like I just wanted to pick it back up and read it again.  

In Sleeping in Eden, Lucas Hudson is called to be the coroner in a suicide case.  While there, another body is discovered buried beneath the location of the hanging.  Lucas' story, the mystery woman's story, and Meg's story are all unraveled throughout the book as each chapter is written either about Lucas or Meg.  Both protagonists make us want to know them more, to be involved in their lives and decisions, and to celebrate and grieve with them.  

Sleeping in Eden is a fantastic read.  There is a depth to the book and the characters that is often missing from popular fiction.  All of the characters are real, vulnerable, and so human (so if you read the review of the person who returned it for a couple of bad words, take that with a grain of salt.  That reviewer missed out).  I highly recommend it.  

From the book's description:

She knew what he wrote . . .
One little word that made her feel both cheated and beloved.

One word that changed everything.

MINE.

On a chilly morning in the Northwest Iowa town of Blackhawk, Dr. Lucas Hudson is filling in for the vacationing coroner on a seemingly open-and-shut suicide case. His own life is crumbling around him, but when he unearths the body of a woman buried in the barn floor beneath the hanging corpse, he realizes this terrible discovery could change everything. . . .

Years before Lucas ever set foot in Blackhawk, Meg Painter met Dylan Reid. It was the summer before high school and the two quickly became inseparable. Although Meg’s older neighbor, Jess, was the safe choice, she couldn’t let go of Dylan no matter how hard she tried.

Caught in a web of jealousy and deceit that spiraled out of control, Meg’s choices in the past ultimately collide with Lucas’s discovery in the present, weaving together a taut story of unspoken secrets and the raw, complex passions of innocence lost.



I did not receive this book for free as I often do for book reviews.  I bought it because Nicole is a good real-life friend I have gotten to know over the past year.

2 comments:

Lana Hope said...

I followed you from Tony Jones' blog. I studied English literature too!

Kelly J Youngblood said...

Hi Lana! Nice to meet you! Thanks for stopping by my blog.