Nowhere But Home

I can't believe William Morrow/Harper Collins published this daring novel. I've read and enjoyed all of Liza Palmer's work but this Bad Girl Returns Home story really pushes the envelope. A heroine who finds her truth and realizes where she belongs while cooking last meals for prisoners on death row? Seriously? But it works. Queenie, her sister Merry Carole, and nephew Cal are such wounded but wonderful characters that you feel their pain and share their triumphs. Small town Texas life is presented with both flaws and benefits, and the cooking is seamlessly integrated into the plot (I hate it when novels that include recipes feel like they can't make up their mind if they want to tell a story or serve as a cookbook). Only the romance falls short. Even when Everett is given a rationale for following family orders and marrying someone else, I never forgave him, and his last minute public acknowledgement of his relationship with Queenie was too little, too late.

Next time someone accuses you of reading trash because you like Chick Lit or Women's Fiction, give them a copy of this book (punching them in the face is optional).