Monday, November 17, 2014

Review & Giveaway: The Paragraph Ranch by Kay Ellington and Barbara Brannon


Title: The Paragraph Ranch
Author: Kay Ellington and Barbara Brannon
Publisher: Booktrope
Publication Date: August 29, 2014
ISBN:  9781620154618
Number of Pages: 266
How I Got It: Direct from author
Format: paperback

Description:
EVERY WRITER KNOWS YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN. But that's just what is required of West Texas expatriate Dee Bennett-Kaufmann when her mother is badly injured in a mysterious car accident. Single-again “Dr. Dee” has never been on the “A-team” in her trendy East Coast MFA program. When a prestigious summer fellowship gives her the chance to finally finish her book, salvage her career, and spend some quality time with her college-age daughter — Dee's certain her luck is about to change. Returning to care for her irascible, widowed mother threatens all of that. With so much at stake, Dee engineers a series of unorthodox strategies and creative trade-offs to keep her options in play—and despite herself finds friendship, love, and the power of words in the unlikeliest of places.

My Review:
From the first sentence of this book I was transported to dusty Texas farms and technologically barren landscapes. Dee Bennett and her siblings must decide who will care for their newly injured, headstrong mother. Her brother, a football coach, is in the middle of his coaching season. Her sister, a real estate agent, is in the middle of planning her daughter's wedding. Dee, a college professor, has just been granted a fellowship so she can finish her book. With everyone claiming to be too busy to take time to help their mother, the siblings leave all the responsibility for their mother's care and the farm's upkeep up to Dee. Now in a bind as to how she can make it to her fellowship, she uses her time at the farm to work on the novel as well as sort out her relationships with her ex-husband, boyfriend, daughter, siblings, and her cranky mother. She also barters her services as a writing professor with the town librarian and starts a writing club. This story of a southern summer on a Texas farm was a fun read. If I had to complain about anything, I would only say that I wish it was longer.



** I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review **


Share:

No comments

© Ivory Owl Reviews | All rights reserved.
Blog Layout Created by pipdig