book review: "Whiskey and Ribbons"...

...by  Leesa Cross-Smith. Another of those recently published tomes randomly chosen off the shelf at the library when I was in need of a distraction. After reading the back cover reviews and possibly the inside front flyleaf, it came home with me. I have mentioned how books are chosen so haphazardly, either in print or Cd, with the knowledge that should it turn out to not capture my attention, I am under no obligation to read all the way to the boring end. Readily returning those hundreds of words without a second glance. I've also more recently developed the ill-mannered habit of starting in the middle: just open it up and see what 's going on. Where, should the narrative be sufficiently riveting, I will go back to the first page in order to find out how all those people and circumstances came to be - what got the plot started and brought those characters together.

The first line in the book is in the voice of the  main character, Evangeline, who reports she was sleeping when her husband was killed in the line of duty. He was a police officer, shot by a teenager when he went to respond to a call for a domestic disturbance,  even though he was off-duty, on his way home at the end of a shift. She was nearly nine months pregnant with their first child. The story is told from the different points of view, changing voices with each chapter, of the family members: her husband Eamon, his brother Dalton.

The couple met when Eamon was serving as security, an off duty job at the church where Evangeline was attending. They started as casual friends, even though in the course of the book, when the story is told in Eamon's voice, he reports knowing when they first met he would marry her. Eamon and his brother Dalton are very close, only children, actually raised by the same parents after Dalton's mother died, as Eamons' mom and Daltons' mom were best friends.

Characters were well developed, with lots of interesting detail to make them come to life, as if you had actually met them by the time the book ended. It was so easy to get involved, feel as if the reader were right there, sharing time, eating meals, listening to conversations sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. A well written tale, with characters you feel you know by the last page. Not wanting the story to end  you are so immersed in their lives and circumstances. Waiting for the next book, or another chapter in their lives.