What You Said to Me

GIVEAWAY
RANDOM RETRO READ DAY!

NEWPORT, OLIVIA

WHAT YOU SAID TO ME

When 15-year-old Tisha Crowder gets caught shoplifting, attorney Nolan Duffy tries to protect her from consequences that could rattle her already troubled life. His daughter, Jillian, feels like she's the one being punished instead -- by having Tisha assigned to work with her on a backlog of genealogy files. Tisha doesn't seem interested in taking the job seriously, and Jillian's patience wears thin. Besides, everyone in Canyon Mines knows the Crowder family have experienced generations of brokenness. Then a sliver of hope turns up in long-ago words in plain sight, challenging shrouded assumptions about Tisha's family. Now Jillian is the one who can walk with Tisha back to 1893 and uncover where everything went wrong in the first place -- and save her from the past.

My Review:

published in 2020

This is a series that somehow got away from me but I'm rectifying that asap even though I'm reading them out of order. :-) Now I've read book one and four and have to fill in with the middle books. There does seem to be some carry over elements among the stories, but I didn't feel lost at any point, though I am eager to backtrack because Jillian has picked up a beau somewhere along the way. :-) The whole series explores the legacy of family history and how it continues -- for good or bad -- into each generation.

So, basically what you need to know in order to jump right in with book four is that Jillian and her father are very close and they live together. I  love the relationship between this duo. It's funny and touching and rooted in love and a shared loss. 

She's a genealogist (which sounds like all kinds of fun!!!) and her dad is a lawyer with ninja mediation skills. She's pretty careful and exacting and...well, predictable. He's a more carefree, go-with-the-flow kinda guy. And that means sometimes they clash. Like when Nolan comes home with a fait accompli involving Jillian supervising a juvenile delinquent's community service time. Aka, find ways for the sullen teen to help out with  the huge genealogy project Jillian's working on. That goes about as well as you'd expect. :-)

Did I mention this is a dual timeline? The story flips between present day with Jillian and Nolan trying to help the recalcitrant Tisha and the intriguing past of a family in turmoil in the late 1890s. Both are fascinating and emotional and I was near crazy trying to figure out the connection between past and present, because I knew there had to be one. Wonderfully written in an engaging style that kept me flipping pages until the very end. Yep, read it in one sitting. Already have books two and three on hold at my library. :-)

Goal Update: #2 Catch up on series

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is for a paperback or ebook copy -- winner's choice.

If you would like a chance to win a copy of What You said to Me, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add your email to a comment, remember to use AT AND DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday February 26 2022. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck