Book Review: If We're Being Honest by Cat Shook

 GOODREADS SUMMARY:

When Gerry, the beloved Williams patriarch, dies suddenly, his grandchildren flock from across the country to the family home in Eulalia, Georgia. But when Gerry’s best friend steps up to the microphone to deliver his eulogy, the funeral turns out unlike anyone expected. The cousins were left reeling and confused, coping with their fresh grief and various private dramas. Delia, recently heartbroken, refuses to shut up about her ex. Her sister Alice, is usually confident, and flusters when she spots her high school sweetheart, hiding a secret that will change both of their lives. Outspoken, affable Grant is preening in the afterglow of his recent appearance on The Bachelorette and looking to reignite an old flame with the least available person in town. Meanwhile, his younger brother Red, unsure of himself and easily embarrassed, desperately searches for a place in the boisterous family.

The cousins’ eccentric parents are in tow, too, and equally lost—in love and in life. Watching over them all is Ellen, Gerry’s sweet and proper widow, who does her best to keep her composure in front of the leering small town.

Clever and completely original, If We’re Being Honest reminds you that while no one can break your heart like your family can, there’s really no one better to put you back together.

TEE'S THOUGHTS:

Listen, I have been having a hard " reading " year. I am struggling to find books that I really connect with, and I am hating that. I am even five books behind on my Goodreads yearly challenge, do you know when the last time I was a book behind there was? NEVER.

So when I received an advanced listen to If We're Being Honest, I approached it with cautious excitement. I love a good family saga, I love them better when they take place in the South, let's face it, a Southern family is just a bit different that others. I know this personally! But let me tell you, author Cat Shook and narrator Kathleen McInerney brought the story and the Williams family to life for me.

I loved the Williams family, all their flaws, all their mistakes, and I loved all their triumphs. The story revolves around this large Georgia family and starts out with a death and funeral and a shocking revelation that sends the entire family into a tizzy.

This isn't a book with loads of twists and turns, it moves like thick honey or a conversation between two Southern women, in other words, it is a slow burner, in fact, the entire book only spans the course of one week following the funeral.

The character list is loaded, and it did take me a few chapters to get everyone sorted in my mind, but once I did I enjoyed all of them and their place in the story. The characters all have issues, issues that all of us might relate to, and it was this, and their unveiling of them and their working through them that kept me reading.

This isn't heavy drama, but it is honest family living and it was perhaps the only book I have felt connected to so far this year.