Ok, so are you ready, get Ready BRILLIANCE THAT IS IT Just this One word needed here so again it is a Brilliant story!!!! It does start out a little slow, no a lot slow. Ya know I didn't even read the blurb I just started to read and man was I confused and I stopped. When I started to read it again finally it picks up and you just cannot stop until it is Over and then I was like No way, that cannot be it! Because you know what I am sure writers hate to end the book and wonder with a book such as this just how do you let it all go down how do you put these characters to rest, I mean I figured it was going to be one of three ways she would end things but heck I had so many shocking revelations I was waiting for anything! Lol that maybe it was a lie in the end, a dream or some quirky thing to just make me mad and never want to read another book from Haley Harrigan again, but oh no, I am sold hook line and sinker on this Arthur, heck I want this baby signed and mailed asap It Is That Good and Shocking, Just blow your mind, you did not think it would be This! So for me here are Key words you will get and feel are LOVE, LIES, SECRETS, CHEATING, FEAR, NIGHTMARES, GUILT, LOSS and GRIEF and Virginity is mixed in and lost, and that sweet innocence yes but other things in this book to me meant Sweet Innocence, like Jules and Reba being young and in the field, at the river, for each others birthday, and again Beck was just pure sweetness and she was loved and Jules and Reba those two young girls together after you have read it then you realize then how they together were really just sweet young little girls, Then at some point they start to grow up they are not children anymore and their lives change as peoples do as you grow but its also due to the people around them and the surroundings and what they make of it until they enter high school they then became young adults, up until this point loved each other and would do for each other whatever was needed it was Jules and Reba against the world!

So as you get start into this book at first I have Zero clue what was going on, at first I thought it was, heck I didn't know what it was I was reading I was confused about the content what was it about, I mean I do not care about sex in a book actually I am going to Like it a LOT! lol But this and her life with a child I didn't now about how it started and I actually thought I would not like it. I had another book I was given by an author and had very little time to read it so I stopped and read that one and t was really good I enjoyed it, I did my review and then I picked this book up again, Secrets of Southern Girls! I am so very Glad I did that WOW! I was like BAM it clicked the second time! Its like ok here we go this is the future and something has happened seriously here and this Julie is not only having nightmares but even during the day everywhere she goes...I was kind of relating to this medical nightmare...but this book NO it is not any comparison because of course its fiction but really good fiction! But I knew I had to keep reading and figure out what in the heck was wrong with Julie who had the sweetest little Beck! I have a lot going on with my grandson and its well he is really really sick and for a time I couldn't even concentrate to read I had tried several different books and I just couldn't find one to kick start me. I just wasn't able to get into any book since his diagnosis in January! So Thank You Haley Harrison for getting me out of the fog a bit and out of reality I needed that, YOU and one other Arthur did that But its this Book, I will think about for a LONG LONG Time!!!! I had a few other ARC's terrible, I mean one I had to write one and just say nope can't sorry, maybe next time! So after a few failures I read a book I bought and I enjoyed it, I though ok I can go back into my fantasy reading world for a bit every day and forget this nightmare happening to my grandson. And I knew I had some I needed to read in a timely basis before I picked anymore in a pinch to read!

But Secrets, they can become so engrossing into a persons life that is suffocates them . These are teens and they have no adults that they can turn to and ask good advise about so well You Have to Read This story because IT has the FEELS and I felt everything Haley Harrigan meant for me and you to Feel and why she wrote in this book! Like I said it took me a bit to get into the story though, if I had to tell her anything it would have been write a secret at the beginning not even the answer but something the two girls didn't really know about each other...because when I started it and I didn't understand what was wrong with Julie, it was confusing to say the least but I am super glad I kept reading and didn't give up because once you are 25% in well you have to figure out the mystery, I had so many thoughts going through my mind at first when Julie versus Jules and her sexual appetite I thought she had been raped and or kidnapped and had Stockholm's Syndrome even or then maybe her crazy home life might as a child and growing up their maybe something happened to her...BUT I am not giving anything away that easy this book is way to good! As I got along though at one minute I'd want to be Jules because heck everyone loved her and wanted her. THEN I found out some of the secrets, maybe little lies...oh boy did I want to know everything about Reba, that she was writing it all down in a Diary and we didn't know till way later it was well a GREAT Surprise, BRILLIANT some how somebody is going to spill some good stuff here, but can it be found or is there even one to be read? It was a great build up into a lot of other things being told before we ever even know for sure, its a guess though!

So lets go back a bit here, A little girl Julie is a 5 year old girl and becomes an orphan after her parents die in a car accident traveling from of New York to see her sister in Mississippi. So instead of a visit she has to be picked up by the only family she has, ones that are complete strangers to her, this was suppose to be the first time visiting, but instead they have to travel to get her and they go retrieve a few things but as a small child she wouldn't have a clue what to get and they are for sure not helpful in trying to get any belongings they just need to get her back home, They had just gotten a 5 year old child to raise that they most likely never wanted. The drive is long and nobody really speaks finally after the long drive they pull into the driveway she is looking at everything they live in a green house next to the pretty white house and she sees a little girl outside playing in a dress. Her uncle opens her door and she begins to cry hard. he says do you see the little girl over in her yard? Well I bet you both will be fast friends I think she is 5 yrs old to, she slowly goes to a lighter cry and her uncle cradles her and takes inside the home where she will live until she graduates high school and she does become very best friends with the girl next door!
So the story is mostly told in Julies POV but we do get several others later. Lawrence Mill but she thinks of it often, well like I said she is in a constant nightmare about the place, she talks about the little girl that lived next door, they did become inseparable, did everything together until senior year. Jules as she had been given the nickname by Reba even stayed at Reba's home a lot say after school, holidays well everything. Reba's family was more normal since her uncle had left. She never really understood why he just left and her Aunt Molly became a non-existent aunt as time went on she became more and more withdrawn not just from Jules but from her own son Toby. Jules and Toby tolerated each other, his bedroom right down from her and he constantly had people in and out either through the door and or the window she finally realized he was the major drug dealer in the small town as a teen and her aunt was oblivious to it all or maybe she wasn't maybe she was a user herself. But growing up it was Reba's mom that was the only mother she could really think of as a mother as time grew on with nothing but a picture that her aunt had of her mother she had pretty much forgotten her parents but she knew they loved deeply, that her life would have been so much better in NY and her and Reba's dream as they grew up and she talked about her mothers life on stage and how wonderful it had to have been because here she had nothing, she never even knew that her aunt got a check from her parents to care for her, but she never received a dime had she known she would have saved and saved and she did everything in school especially in drama to get a scholarship, her conduct on the weekends had nothing to do with school, at school it was to get out of this town, on the wknds. it was to forget the life she led in this town as she grew older and to be someone else entirely and she would drink and become well whomever they wanted her to be, a hot sexy young girl...the story told plenty to help ensure she would get out of this town and to go to NY go to college and get away from this small town, these people. As they got older Jules was the wild one dragging Reba and going to the only place in town to drink and dance the "Southern Saddle" it had it all Motel, Rest. Bar and even a Pool , pretty much anyone could go drink and dance and even though they were under age Jules had someone at the bar getting her alcohol and no one ever said anything, Reba didn't really enjoy it but went for Jules she didn't understand why Jules needed these strange men that came through town but Jules came alive while in the place she was beautiful and of course Reba thought she was much to plain and boring so she mostly sat and listened to the music and made sure Jules was safely home every time and now I wonder did she really hate it or was she truly more intrigued than she led on, nope I think Reba wanted the same thing but of course she had Jules running guard telling guys to back off Reba, so instead had this caused some wicked desire and want and jealousy? Sometimes Toby would give them rides, he always had a frown on his face but at times especially when he did delivery's at Nell's Florist were the girls both worked since they were able and then that senior year Aunt Molly, Toby's mom made him start working as well she knew he had money but still she made him get a job so even though when she wasn't at work she would drink until she passed out on the couch, she didn't sleep in her bed much never made it to bed, she still looked after Toby a little. Anyways they all ended up all working at Nells and for Reba it was her true escape, she loved the flowers and learning about them. At she would feel his eyes on her but then it would be gone and he would be his usual mean self as Jules always described and he would gripe about having helping Jules do anything, but to Reba Toby was the bad boy of town and in secret she thought he was so good looking and talented, he painted the strangest things on his wall but he never showed it off, matter of fact it was off limits they were never to be in his room so they would sneak and snoop when he wasn't home and both amazed at his talent with Art. He was Hot to and his body looked good and his long hair always neat in a pony tail and his looks were striking, yes he was fine but she would never say this to Jules because Jules told her all the time to stay away from him that Toby and his friends were scary and bad people to be around. Quite funny to Reba that Jules did all these things yet thought Toby was bad.

But in NY now she was Only Julie, she had only one friend and he stayed by her after the break up with her husband Evan, she understood and didn't quite know why Brighton even stayed around checking on her and Beck. But he did and he was try to get her to go out and socialize but he didn't quite know Julie had her own way to get men. but they would never stay the night they did what they both wanted and got out of the apartment quickly so that Beck would never know....and she never questioned Beck was a great kid and she would visit her dad, he paid child support but Julie hated to take it and she tried to pay for everything herself working two jobs.
One night Brighton asks her to go her a new band playing he was seeing a girl that was in the band and she finally agreed beck would be with Evan for that night so after work she went over he found her immediately and they were at a table close to the band, the lights the music, maybe this would make her head stop thinking, stop the nightmare she continued to run from and had for 19 years, so for a little while she would relax and decides to go get a drink she is walking that way and then she see's him, she is sure it is and he is looking right at her and she runs, runs from the bar and he hollers for her calling her Jules...she keeps running down the sidewalk all the way to her apartment she kept looking but he wasn't following, was it him? Maybe it wasn't but nobody knew that name he had called her that hadn't he? Soon Brighton was at her door banging and worried about her, she opened it and he said what the hell, and she said it was him, he found me....and he said Jules, did he call you Jules?

August he didn't know what to do, he had scared her, that wasn't his intention but he needed answers he had been following her for awhile trying to figure out how to approach her to see how she seemed, was she as crazy as him, was she too wrecked? After a few days he get brave enough and goes to her apartment by this time Julie had thought it was like all nightmares she had really only seen him with Reba one time so when someone knocked on her door she told Beck to go to her room, she opened the door and it was him, August and she invited him in, he told her Reba had a diary and he wanted it, he was sure she had it, he explained he had never been able to get past it and he had to have that diary, that Reba had told him that she needed to talk to him and she him her Diary it would make him understand everything. Julie was flabbergasted a Diary she never knew about a Diary, how had her best friend had a diary and her never know??? So August asks how she has been and she said terrible I never had a day of peace I live a nightmare and he said but you have a child are you married. And she told him to sit and about this time Beck runs out and giggles and is talking a mile a minute excited someone is visiting, soon she gets her to go to bed and they talk he tells he hasn't ever gotten passed it and they must go back and find the diary that he thinks other things were happening he just doesn't know what, but he wants to know why Reba would kill herself. Julie tells him NO she could never go back never be in that town again, that she barely survives now for her daughter but that she ruins everything and she cannot do this, he gives her his number and says he will be in town a few more days and if she changes her mind he will pay for them to go, to find that diary that it may help them both...And of all the things she had a diary Wow it was like oh my goodness surely she came alive, she did tons of stull all the while Jules is becoming Juliet or not I was so very thankful for Beck, Even and Brighton!!! TOBY wow what a Freak I am The things I thought about and had about TOBY.....Jeeze I need a Toby, at first your just shocked but at the end its just WOW I wept for them ALL!!!

August and Jules do go back to a skeleton of the small town that they both never felt they should have been in, it had become a ghost town and it was another reason they both fled as soon as they could, August was moved back to VA with his family after his home was destroyed and Jules got a scholarship for drama in NY. It had been her and Reba's dream of course but because of that one horrid night it would just be Jules going! She met her Evan and for awhile thought life would be ok, but she had been a fool she had never got over her best friends death and she needed to know the truth because her cousin Toby has whispered a secret to her and it had scared her to death for these past 10 years. For August he felt he had been cheated of a life of his Love, no other woman could or would ever stand close to his Reba, that the secret love they had was real it was his Life but in this small town it would have been frowned upon, his dark skin to her pale skin, no she had told him my daddy would kill you. He knew her dad had burned down his parents house or suspected, what if he had killed Reba? So many of what and whys...the Diary, Nell at the Florist shop a place they all had in common they all worked for Nell well August didn't but it was were he had seen and met Reba and only seen Jules. Jules was a woman now so beautiful he thought, what if he had fallen for her instead of Reba, but Jules was busy with her play, Romeo & Juliet...how fitting that play had played into it all and yet Jules didn't even like Shakespeare she hated that was the play that her drama teacher had picked and Romeo was a boy Reba had always had a crush on, but Reba was innocent to Jules and quite these things August said she knew they were true she had not meant to sneak up on them but what she had heard Reba say still she had nightmares about it all, because she just knew it was all her fault even though she could barely remember that is what he told her wasn't it....
So they go on this trek to find this diary and they break into Nells and she calls her and tells her she knew she would try and she should have asked when they visited while she came by today, she finally tells her she has but says Jules you do not want the Diary it will change everything, I mean everything you have thought but Nell didn't know how Jules felt, the thing Toby had whispered, how August felt...how they felt life had passed by and they couldn't move forward, so they meet and get the Diary. And it is like and Explosion! So many things are wrote in this Diary, so so many!

So get this book and learn what your very best friend in high school could hide from you! The very person you would do anything for and then you think you did what to her??? No Way!!!!!

Excellent writing and character buildup. Great story telling. The download I got wasn't the greatest but I managed for it being a book to review before publishing I can understand it.
I loved it, I would recommend it to anyone and I know I will read it over and over again. Its one you would even want up on the shelf to get down and remember about Racism and how even in today it still goes on and that is also sad. I would love to even have it signed because she puts a lot of time in it!!!

Thanks Net Galley, Haley Harrison and Sourcebooks Landmark for the chance to read this book for free and give my personal and honest review!
for it was my pleasure!!!

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It kept me interested and had a good story, but it was redundant at times and could have used a lot of editing. Overall, I think the story wins out, and I give it four stars.

The writing here is beautiful, but dialogue between characters could use some work. About a third of the way through the story, I lost interest and did not pick it back up for a few days. However, once I did, I was engrossed.

It is amazing the lies we will believe out of guilt! this story is a great example of how lies can tear us apart and truth sets us free.

Intriguing blurb and cover but this reads like a YA book, overblown and rather juvenile emotions. The characters are bland, the diary entries unbelievable (dialogue in detail in a diary?), the whole thing messy and muddled. There's some lovely writing in the descriptions but the dialogue feels forced and unnatural - and the reader can see exactly where the plot is going from early on.

Julie accidentally kills her best friend Reba, but her death is believed by everyone to be a suicide. Julie leaves home as soon as she can after she graduates, to get away from everything connected with that tragedy. 10 years later, Reba's first love, August, finds Julie in NYC, and gets her to go back to Mississippi with him to find Reba's diary - the diary she intended to give him the night she died. Their journey back unlocks secret after secret, with several twists and turns along the way. I wanted to love this story, but it just didn't quite connect for me. Maybe it's just a little too slow paced; maybe it's that a 16 year old would not write and speak and act the way these characters did; maybe it's that August waited 10 YEARS to look for answers; I think it's actually a combination of several things. But the premise is great - and Haley Harrigan's writing is just beautiful, lyrical and so evocative at times. I think as her story lines tighten up, she will be one to watch - there is just so much potential there. Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me to read an ARC of this great little debut novel.

SECRETS of SOUTHERN GIRLS
HALEY HARRIGAN



MY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️▫️
PUBLISHER Sourcebooks Landmark
PUBLISHED June 1, 2017



SUMMARY
Secrets of Southern Girls is a debut novel for Haley Harrigan. Julie Portland and her best friend Reba grew up in a mill town in Mississippi in the 1990s. Julie thought they shared everything. But when they were seniors in high school Julie learned there were some big secrets Reba had been keeping from her. Julie was hurt and mad. And then something terrible happened. Reba was dead. Her body was found down river from their favorite bridge. Did Reba commit suicide? Or was she pushed? Did Julie have something to do with it?

It's now 10 years later, and Julie is single and lives in New York City with her daughter Beck. Julie has been stalked and finally approached by August, Reba's old boyfriend from high school. August wants Julie to join him on a trip back to Lawernce Mill, Mississippi. August knows that Julie had a diary that she had planned to give him that fateful night. No one knows what happened to it. August is able to convince Julie that Reba's diary might be the key to figuring out what really happened on the bridge that night.

REVIEW
Overall, I liked the book. It was fairly easy to read and the story was interesting. For a debut novel I thought the writing was good. I particularly liked the use of Reba's diary entries to tell her version of the story. I also liked how the intensity of the diary entries coincided with the intensity of the experiences Julie and August had in Mississippi trying to obtain the diary.

Secrets of Southern Girls contained a robust cast of characters, most all of which were adequately developed. The main characters were Julie, Reba, August, Nell and Toby. In addition there a host of minor characters such as Julie's aunt and Uncle, Reba parents and the famous actor, Evan, who was Julie's ex husband. I would have love to see Evan play more of a role in the book. I thought the artist, Toby, who was Julie's cousin and the antagonist, added a little creative spice to the story.

I found it a little unbelievable that Julie would hang out for 10 years without pursuing what really happened that night on the bridge. I also struggled somewhat with the perspectives from which the story was told. The chapters jumped between August, Reba, and Julie's point of view. Additionally chapters jump back and forth in time as well. It was a little hard to follow at times. Overall, it was an entertaining read. It's would probably appeal most to younger women between the ages of 13-35.

Thanks to Netgalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Haley Harrigan for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the almost lyrical prose, and was drawn into the mystery of what happened to Reba.

SECRETS OF SOUTHERN GIRLS BY HALEY HARRIGAN

Julie lives in New York City with her five year old daughter Rebecca whom she calls Beck. Julie and Evan are divorced and he pays for the expensive private school that Beck attends. Julie keeps thinking of Reba and August everyday. Brighton is the only one she shares her secrets with. Brighton took Julie out to hear the new drummer in his band. August approaches Julie and Brighton in the club. Julie runs out of the club she can't believe August has found her. He calls her and asks her to please wait but she keeps on running.

Reba's diary entries alternate the chapters stuck in at any given time. With a much older voice than the child she was when she wrote them. Sometimes they are short snippets of a thought. They seem like they would be written by a much older person than Reba was when she wrote them. Julie has gotten letters from August who Julie wants to avoid. August shows up at Julie's apartment saying he wants to know everything about Reba. How it all went down. He wants Julie to return with him to Lawrence Mill. August thought Julie had Reba's diary and he wants it. Julie told August she doesn't have the diary.

Julie decides she would like to read Reba's diary as well so August and Julie stay in a town outside of Lawrence Mill called Opal. August and Julie have drinks in the bar and decide that they are going to try Nell to locate the diary. There are references made that Reba committed suicide. Nell denied having the diary. but Julie doesn't believe her. August has not stopped thinking about Reba'a diary since she told him there was something he needed to see. All through College, all through grad school he has been fixated in getting Reba'a diary. He knew that he himself was Reba'a secret, but he expected something inside would quiet once he read it.

This was an incredibly beautiful story with gorgeous writing and prose. I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you to Net Galley, Haley Harrigan and Publishing for my digital copy in exchange for an honest and fair review.

Ten years ago, Julie Portland accidentally killed her best friend, Reba. What's worse is she got away with it. Consumed by guilt, she left the small town of Lawrence Mill, Mississippi, and swore nothing would ever drag her back. Now, raising her daughter and struggling to make ends meet in Manhattan, Julie still can't forget the ghost of a girl with golden hair and a dangerous secret.

When August, Reba's first love, begs Julie to come home to find the diary that Reba kept all those years ago, Julie's past comes creeping back to haunt her. That diary could expose the shameful memories Julie has been running from, but it could also unearth the hidden truths that Reba left buried...and reveal that Julie isn't the only one who feels responsible for Reba's death.

I'm very impressed with the writing from a debut novelist. The story was intriguing and once it got going, proved to be difficult to put down. I am from many generations of southerners and often cringe when I pick up a book because of the stereotypical dialogue. And although the dialogue from the diary excerpts did not seem to reflect a dairy, the storyline itself was very good.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book. Instead, I struggled through it more than anticipated, which makes me sad.
The plot seemed to take so long to develop. In fact, I started and stopped reading several times before I decided to push forward and read through to the end.
While the storyline had so many promising opportunities, I felt there was something missing while other aspects were overplayed. Several details could have been elaborated on while others could have been left out completely without loss of plot. I still don't understand exactly what the draw of Reba was. She apparently was held in such high regard, but I just don't see it. She was practically worshiped! So much of Julie's history was left out too and I feel as though there was so much story developed for Evan and it didn't lend much to the book.
Overall, the connections in this book fell short for me. The story was intriguing and I liked the way the mystery concluded but it was just not as well executed as it could have been.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I wanted to like this book. It did have some good parts. It just dragged for me and I couldn't relate to these characters. Some of the writing is beautiful and I admire the author for writing on the subject of racism. But it felt there were inconsistencies in the diary entries from Reba. Maybe this book will have an audience. I just couldn't wrap my head around it.

Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this novel.

I liked the direction the story went & the characters, but I must say I had issues with the dialogue. I felt it was choppy & wanted to just skip through some of it. Issues with racism are also touched on a bit. I would definitely try another book by this author, though.

Haley Harrigan's book is essentially a story of secrets and deception. And with secrets come guilt and vulnerability. It is also a story about trauma and how it affects our lives. The book explores the many aspects of friendship and how these bonds can be manipulated. It is a page turner.

This book is soooo good!! It's a chick-lit meets murder mystery and has all the southern charm and big city life you could ask for all rolled into one. I think Haley Harrigan will definitely be an author to watch out for if this book is as big a success as I think it will be!

A very intense read! I could not put it down but at the same time was hesitant to go forward. The twists and turns and emotions were both exhilarating and exhausting. I truly enjoyed immersing myself in this story.

This a well-constructed mystery in which Julie reluctantly returns to her home town to try to uncover the truth about what really happened the night her best friend, Reba, died. Although, in her heart, she already knows the truth – that it was she who was responsible for Reba’s death – at least that’s what she’s always believed since she has only fragments of memory about what happened that night.

The story is told partly in the present as Julie and Reba’s boyfriend, August, search for answers and partly in flashback. The reader also has the benefit of excerpts from Reba’s journal which gradually reveal clues to what really occurred that night but also disclose a significantly different side to Reba’s character. The racism inherent in a small community is convincingly woven into the plot.

I enjoyed the book but the main issue for me was Reba’s journal. I can understand the author’s decision to use the device of a journal as, since Reba is dead, the only way Julie and August can learn what happened from Reba’s point of view is through something like a diary. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t believable that a teenage diary (or any diary for that matter) would use such literary language, include meticulous detail like a woman tapping “the manicured fingernails of one hand absentmindedly against the wooden countertop” or record long conversations word-for-word, complete with speech marks. Overall, I was slightly disappointed; the book didn’t live up to my initial expectations.

*I received this book for free, Via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*

The Good; It was written well, nice and descriptive, without being over done. The Chemistry with the characters was also done well. The emotions they feel, can easily make you feel the same way.

The bad; I feel like the diary entries were often to short, and didn't flow well. It felt like one second I was reading Reba, and then without any acknowledgement I was reading Julies story. There was no transition from past to present. I also felt it should be considered more suspense, than thriller.

But overall, a good book, and I enjoyed reading it.

Secrets of Southern Girls is a poignant novel of love, loss, and the effects on those left behind when someone dies too young. It’s also part mystery, as two friends try to find out what really happened on a night a long time ago.

Julie Portland believes that she killed her best friend, Reba McLeod, ten years ago when they were 17. It was nighttime and there was a rickety bridge over the river. Julie thinks she pushed Reba, who broke through a railing and fell into the river, where she drowned. Now, a man comes to visit her in her new home in New York. His name is August Elliott and he used to be Reba’s secret boyfriend. He and Reba had to keep their love secret because he was black and she was white. Even though the events happened in 1997, they lived in Mississippi and it was not totally safe for them to be open about their relationship. August tells Julie that Reba had a diary and that the whole story is probably in that diary, if only they can find it. This means a trip back to her hometown of Lawrence Mill, Mississippi. Overcome with guilt for all these years, Julie wants desperately to know the truth, so she agrees to go. She had left that town after the tragedy and has been in New York ever since, pursuing her interest in acting. She never thought she would go back to Mississippi.

Julie and August travel back to Lawrence Mill and try to find the diary. They believe an old friend, Nell, who owned the town’s flower shop, has the diary. But, she won’t give it to them. Why? What secrets is Nell protecting after all this time? What does Toby, Julie’s cousin, have to do with all this?

The story is told with current events surrounding Julie and August interspersed with snippets from Reba’s diary. As the story unfolds, we learn more and more gritty details of Reba’s life, things she had hidden even from her best friend. When Julie and August get the diary, will they be upset by the things they learn? Or will it give them relief from their guilt after all these years.

The issues brought up in this book are fairly timeless. Relationships and all the issues surrounding them, the loss of friends, job status and how important it is to some men, interracial relationships and how they are viewed in the culture of the place, adoption and acceptance of adopted children into their new families, teen pregnancy, love, jealousy, and loss. All these issues play a role in this book. The author skillfully weaves the story and it doesn’t come across as farfetched or unbelievable. It’s all totally believable and very real to the reader.

The characters are believable and have lots of background information so the reader can form a good picture of each in their mind. Their motivations are clear, in most cases, and easy to understand. Although this is a complicated story with some subplots, it is written clearly and the reader will have no trouble following the action.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. It was very well-done and intricately plotted. It maintained my interest throughout. I recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery, stories of love and loss, and suspense. Although it’s not really a mystery book, there were mysterious elements. The suspense is palpable when you get near the end and things are happening fast on several fronts. This was quite an excellent book and I hope other readers enjoy it as much as I did.

I thank the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a promising debut novel by author Haley Harrigan, although I think it needs a bit of work in order to be as wonderful as it could be. With that being said, it is pretty clear that the author has a flair for writing, and plot is there where it should be. The dialogue needs a bit of work though and once the book is published (with any changes that are hopefully made) I would certainly purchase a copy for myself