Gravel Road Musings

  This is the second book I've read by Amanda Cox and it won't be the last, at least as long as she keeps writing books.  This is the story of the Old Depot Grocery store in Tennessee, well really it's the story of the three generations of ladies who worked at the Old Depot Grocery over the years. From Glory Ann who arrived at the store as a broken-hearted young bride to Rosemary who allowed guilt to keep her there through the years to Sarah who is trying to find what she wants in life and is sure it is at this grocery store, Amanda weaves a story of secrets, loss, reconciliation and hope all together into a highly readable story.  "I think that's how God works in our lives a lot of times. He doesn't give us the whole picture. He gives us that one stop. We just have to have the courage to take it and trust that when we do, it will become clear where to put our next foot. "  So often I want to know what the whole story will be and how it will all turn out a...

  First off, isn't that a pretty cover? It feels quiet and contemplative and in many ways it is descriptive of this story. As a little girl, Susie often wondered about the children of Vietnam during the Vietnam War and then as an adult, when researching the Vietnam War for another book, she came across the Babylift Operation where children were taken out of Vietnam. Out of that research comes this fictional story of Minh, or Mindy as she was called.  I would call it a quiet story, a story of life told in three different viewpoints with each viewpoint representing a different time frame.  Linda, the mother, tells the story in the 1970's when Mindy joined the family. She shares the struggle with acceptance that took place by some in the family and the initial adjustment. Sonny, Mindy's older sister, tells the story in the 80's and shows the differences between the two sisters in her quest to belong and be accepted. Bruce, the father, tells the story in the 2000's afte...

  This is the third book I have read by Valerie with her fourth sitting in my night stand. I will read any book she writes. I love her way of writing, the stories she pulls together from the south.  This book is set in Louisiana, deep in the bayou. Travel is mostly by boat and as I read the descriptions of going from one channel to the next, I was lost in the reading of it, and am sure I would have been hopelessly lost had I needed to travel that way. Alligators are prevalent with a legend about an all-white alligator for whom a bounty has been set.  Into this setting comes Ellie Fields. She's from a small town in Alabama and she is searching for home, a place to belong. She comes to teach school, falls in love, and lives the rest of her days there. And while that's a theme in the book, it doesn't feel as overarching as it can in some books. There is also the alligator bounty, there is an outgoing, gregarious man who becomes a dear friend of Ellie's, there is foul play ...