Real estate in small towns a stone's throw from the city is attractive to those looking for weekend houses. Maddie is a local realtor who depends on the weekenders for her bread and butter; her friend Luke resents them for destroying the land that made the location wonderful in the first place. How land is used is a deep subject which Gyllenhaal mines well. She is very familiar with the small town where the action takes place, and creates a convincing set of characters and situations. The way family predetermines your fate -- the events, the resentments, the petty feuds and tragic rifts-- these are all described in a way anyone could relate to. I especially liked the way the vulgar businessman befriends the police who he can use for his own agenda. ( )

This book had various stages of "boringness" where I really hoped it would just end and we could get on with the story. Many of these parts where when the story flashed back to the main characters' (Maddie, Luke, Paul) childhoods. There was a lot of build up in the beginning of the story that really amounted to nothing by the end. I agree with the other reviewer who said the book was hard to get into, because it was. I did persevere to the end, but I don't really think it was worth it. ( )

The book was very hard to get into. I put it down after about 150 pages. ( )