My library has ordered this title to be added to the collection.

I am always absolutely giddy when I am able to get my hands on an advanced copy of Karen Whites novels. What I like most about Whites novels is her ability to create memorable characters and, of course, her great southern humor. I felt a great affection for Sugar who reminded me so much of my grandmother, who grew up in rural SC working on a tobacco farm located on a dirt road named after her family. Like Sugar, she spoke her mind and was as spunky at 95 yrs old as she was at 25. Though parts of this were a bit predictable, I still really enjoyed it.

A fantastic read! With every twist and turn, I was on the edge of my seat. Secrets abound. When you find yourself in the dark, close your eyes, and you'll find the truth and a way out.--not meant to be a quote. Southern GRIT Lit at its finest!

A thoroughly enjoyable Southern story populated by endearing characters and enough juicy secrets to keep you turning the pages! I loved the way the relationship between Sugar and Merilee developed. The secondary characters--Wade, Heather, Dan, and Merliee's children--were nicely done as well. Throw in an anonymous blogger who's funny (those Southernisms!) and full of gossip PLUS a murder and you have a real winner. Fans of Karen White will not be disappointed with this one. Both the present day story and the flashbacks to the past are adroitly handled and the ending is definitely satisfying.

The Night the Lights Went Out by Karen White is an engaging escape, one that I had a hard time putting down. It is set in Sweet Apple, a small town outside of Atlanta, GA. That has been absorbed by the suburbs. Two women, one a recently divorced working woman with two young children and the other in her nineties whose family once owned most of the land around town, are brought together when Merilee rents a cottage on Sugar’s property. Sugar has been known as a curmudgeon, but underneath she is all that her name implies. Sugar can tell that Merilee has many secrets, having carried many of her own. Merilee is flattered that she is being courted at the by the leader of the moms, Heather Blackford, at her kid’s new private school. She can’t say no to requests involve herself in every committee and activity by this glamorous and wealthy woman.

Sugar finds it curious that Merilee doesn’t know how to bake or cook and inserts herself into the lives of her tenants to help out. As they become acquainted, she can’t help but unloading her deepest secrets to Merilee. She also bring in Wade grandson of her best friend since school, to fix thing in the cottage. Of course, handsome Wade becomes something of a regular fixture. Interspersed with the storyline is a series of blogs written by an anonymous person with town gossip and Southern sayings and ways of doing things, for the benefit of the many transients from outside that have moved to the Atlanta area. They help root the story in Sweet Apple. Less The Night the Lights Went Out seem to be a collection of sweet Southernisms, there is suspense on that night that you might see coming, but about which Merilee is clueless.

Thank you to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book prior to its release.

She's newly divorced and she and her children are going to make a fresh start. She's moved to a small house near the woods, right behind the big house of her landlord. She's a bit hesitant but it's cheaper and not far from her ex so visitations won't be a hassle. But she's got a sore heart and isn't ready to enter the dating world or even the "mom" world at school. Sometimes you just don't have any choice.

Berkley and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published April 11th.

Merilee finds her new landlord, Sugar, to be old and irascible. She wants nothing to do with them. Yet, she keeps showing up with baked goods and tries to get them to eat better meals. In time, a dubious friendship grows.

As if living in a strange town isn't bad enough, there's an anonymous blogger that knows about her past and the gossip going around town. She's trying to maintain a low profile but folks talk anyway. She tries to make friends but doesn't have as much success as she would like. She's happy the most popular and beautiful woman in town as taken her under her wing. She's even buying things for her as a friend. That would quirk my worry button. Nobody ever does stuff like that without wanting something in return.

When she goes to a fancy party at Heather and Dan's house, she does whatever Heather asks her to do. Finding Dan drowned at the end of the dock is more than she can take. Then they try to charge her with murder. It's a good thing she has Sugar and Wade on her side.

The ending is dramatic and you're not sure who is going to be alive when the fight is over. Old wrongs sometimes rise up in the present. Karma is a bitch. Merilee had carried guilt since high school over an incident but she didn't expect it to try to kill her...

DNF - Opening and first 50 pages were not enough to draw me into the story.

A novel by Karen White is always an entertaining read. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. A story of two women that click, although they are of different generations. Both women have secrets. In Sweet Apple, Georgia there is a blog with commentary on those living there. The anonymous blog selected to comment on the reason for Merilee Talbot Dunlap's divorce. She and her two children, Lily and Colin moved into a cottage own by Sugar Prescott, the area's matriarch. Sugar is not friendly and has definite opinions. For some reason, she is drawn to Merilee and the children. Merilee is starting over as her marriage collapsed as the blog hinted. The children are enrolled in the elite school of the area. Heather, the leader of volunteers chooses Marilee for a special friend. Heather is the perfect Mother and woman and is happily married Sugar doesn't like Heather. The twists and turns this story takes will make it hard to put the book down. I highly recommend this book.

Disclosure: I received a free copy from Berkley Publishing through NetGalley for an honest review. I would like to thank them for this opportunity to read and review the book. The opinions expressed are my own.

I had kind of drifted away from this genre of book for a while but I'm really happy that NetGalley and Berkley gave me the opportunity to read this book. I fell right into this one. A hint of mystery in a small town sounds cliche but with wonderful depth of the characters and and an interesting delivery surrounding the plot I just kept smiling, laughing and crying. Going backwards and forwards between character is usually not a favourite of mine but in this case it was for an intriguing purpose. Very rarely these days am I left with the nostalgia of wanting to return to the life of these people in this little town where you would think nothing happens but that is full of love, secrets and sadness but most of all kindness.

I really liked this book! I'm looking forward to recommending it!

At first glance the story seems to have a sort of "mean girls" theme regarding school moms. I can't give away any more, but it's much more than that! I went into this not expecting a murder ... but I loved watching it progress! This story is packed with secrets, family history, and Southern sweet tea.

Sugar, you'll find, is the heroine of this book, and she's an absolute riot! She's your typical 90 something ... no filter, and lover of television mystery dramas.

Merilee, I thought, was a bit dumb and naive ... and she has her lucky stars to thank for everything turning out as well as it did. Her two children, Lily and Colin, were sweet but I think a bit spoiled.

Isn't this cover gorgeous? Those binoculars factor into this story ... and I loved the little white dog that kept disappearing and reappearing...

Overall, a solid hit. Karen White is definitely an author to watch!!

The Night the Lights Went Out is the story of two women: Merilee, a divorced mother of two young children, and Sugar, the ninety-three year old woman who rents a cottage on her land to Merilee.

Merilee is recently divorced and has moved to a different area of town so her children are enrolled in a new school – where she is quickly taken under the wing of the queen bee mom. Her new friend will do anything for her in the name of friendship – something Merilee isn’t used to but is grateful. Her life has been in a complete state of upheaval so she’s glad to have a friend.

Sugar comes off as aloof and cranky to most people but Merilee can see through that facade and doesn’t back down when Sugar gives her attitude. The two women form a friendship in spite of themselves. I enjoyed their relationship as it evolved as they discovered how much they had in common. And when things got tough they found they could rely on each other.

The Night the Lights Went Out is a story about love, revenge, and friendship. It’s about realizing who your real friends are and what that means. It made me think about my closest friends and how we would step up for each other – no questions asked. And everyone should be so fortunate to have a Sugar in their life.

Recommended to fans of Karen White and contemporary fiction.

Another great title from Karen White. This title was a little darker than some of her other titles, but still had the same southern charm and compelling plot line that makes it hard to put down the book until you come to the last page.

Not one of my favorites because of some irksome minor issues (superficial and stereotypical white suburban Southern culture), but the basic plot and writing was interesting enough to hold my attention to the end.

The Review for this book will go live on it's release date at http://dewonthekudzu.com.

My review can be seen on rtbookreviews.com

I loved this story. Divorced, Merilee and her two children move to a new Atlanta suburb and is renting a coach house apartment from her landlord, Sugar Prescott. Sugar lives in the big house at the front of the property. Sugar is 97 and her family used to own most of the property around the county. It all having been sold off and developed over the years. So you might say that Sugar is pretty well known. Merilee is divorced because her husband decided that just having an affair with his daughter's third grade math teacher wasn't enough, he wanted more. At least that's what the town blog says. A blog that has just recently started up and keeps everyone informed as to what's going on much to the chagrin of everyone who's mentioned, including Merilee.

Merilee has put the children into a private school where most of the mother's are your typical tennis moms with their outfits, expensive cars, homes, etc. and their leader is named Heather. She makes sure all the mom's sign up for all the committees, etc. She latches onto Merilee on day one and says she's her private project and because Merilee is a working mom, she's going to help her.

Yes, you can tell that Heather is up to something, but your not sure exactly what she's up to. Just that it's something. Yes, I caught onto who Heather really was, but did that kill the ending for me? Not in the least.

Now Sugar is one of those women who like to play it up mean and not show her nice side. However, she just can't help herself with Merilee and her kids. She tells them stories about her life, bakes them sweets, babysits and becomes like their grandma. Merilee tells her stories and they are all like a little family looking out for each other. Sugar reminds me of my granny. Of course, it doesn't start out like that. Sugar is very gruff to begin with, always correcting, never smiling and actually kind of funny in her old ways.

I can't say anymore without spoilers. However, the ending - oh my. The suspense, it felt like my heart was going to come right out of my chest.

This was my first book by this author and I will definitely be looking to read more by Karen White. This book was amazing.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was an absolute delight from start to finish. Karen White knows how to weave a story filled with interesting characters, a distinct setting, and a web of secrets and lies. A fantastic story of second chances, secrets, friendship, love, and a reminder that things aren't always what they seem.

I actually moved to Fulton County for a time because I was so influenced by the complexity of
personality in the writings of Carson McCullers and Flannery OConnor-southern fiction is truly the
best of regional writing.. The Night the Lights Went Out provided some much needed deja vu except
that I can't say I ever an enduring connection to the social mores, clay swamp and insects that makes he regig. What it is.
perfect character development esp Sugar and Lily- and I could easily read an entire book of blog
posts-I did find the plot melodrama around Meriilee/Heather a bit too much-in this otherwise fun read-the Sugar like characters in the South are amazing-Thanks to the publisher

This story was not what I expected from reading the introduction. The cliquishness of the school mothers was perfectly normal, the way Heather went out of her way to befriend Marilee was unusual but did not arouse suspicions right away. The story pulled me in right from the beginning and built gradually to a totally unexpected blowout ending. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

I am a fan of Karen White but she has out done herself with this book. From the New York Times bestselling author of Flight Patterns comes a stunning new novel about a young single mother who discovers that the nature of friendship is never what it seems....

Recently divorced, Merilee Talbot Dunlap moves with her two children to the Atlanta suburb of Sweet Apple, Georgia. It’s not her first time starting over, but her efforts at a new beginning aren’t helped by an anonymous local blog that dishes about the scandalous events that caused her marriage to fail.

Merilee finds some measure of peace in the cottage she is renting from town matriarch Sugar Prescott. Though stubborn and irascible, Sugar sees something of herself in Merilee—something that allows her to open up about her own colorful past.

Sugar’s stories give Merilee a different perspective on the town and its wealthy school moms in their tennis whites and shiny SUVs, and even on her new friendship with Heather Blackford. Merilee is charmed by the glamorous young mother’s seemingly perfect life and finds herself drawn into Heather's world.

In a town like Sweet Apple, where sins and secrets are as likely to be found behind the walls of gated mansions as in the dark woods surrounding Merilee’s house, appearance is everything. But just how dangerous that deception can be will shock all three women....
I thought I had it all figured out several times just to be thrown off the trail. I enjoyed this book so much and can't wait for the next book. This was a home run!!