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Mandi Tucker Slack

Author of Tide Ever Rising

2 Works 15 Members 1 Review

Works by Mandi Tucker Slack

Tide Ever Rising (2013) 13 copies
Fade to Gray (2016) 2 copies

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She's Got Books on Her Mind

Kadie is a history teacher who one summer decides to find the history in old worn down places. She takes along her sister, Maysha, who is dragging along with her only out of love and concern while she rather be shopping somewhere. In a burned down house she discovers an old can filled with a necklace, a journal, and other personal items. She becomes obsessed with figuring out who it belonged to and how to get it back to them. This all leads to a impulsive road trip to Washington on the front steps of the sister that the journal belongs to. She discovers a conspiracy of murder and the sister, Adelaide, tasks her and her handsome grandson Logan to find out what really happened all those years ago.

I don't really know what I expected when getting into this book. I knew it was about but I didn't think that the story would unravel this way. Kadie has a certain way about her that I've never met in a character before. She has this sort of older sister vibe. She's very shy, polite, and more than anything a good person. She has this thing where she either sighs or has this small little smile when she's happy or when opposing her sister. She doesn't really oppose her sister but she was supposed to leave Washington a while back but getting to know the grandson of Adelaide (Logan), Adelaide herself, Logan's sister Beth, and Logan's little girl Zaza she becomes close with the family. She feels a bond and natural connection with them and you feel it too.

The girl that wrote the journal is Charlotte. She was Adelaide's twin whose body was never found when there was a horrible fire at their house. Adelaide has always talked about her sister to her grandchildren and has felt this loneliness since she's been gone. Everyone thought she died in the fire but the journal proves that there may have been another cause to her death. I thought we found who did it fairly fast after they went searching which was like half way through the book. There were no ifs or buts about it. I think it was presented that way on purpose but kind of ruined a little bit of the mystery for me but then BAM! Something HUGE happens where Kadie has to fend for her life. So I'm definitely sure it was presented early so there was this whole new drama the characters had to deal with. I like how it went actually. It was much more different then I expected everything to happen. It added so much to the story especially since we were able to see the sort of build up between Kadie and Logan.

Logan's a single father who loves his daughter to death. He hasn't been able to let anyone in since he's ex-wife up and left him alone with her. He's got this sweet protective thing going on with him. You know he's a great guy instantly. He smiles cautiously at Kadie just like she does with him. They are very alike and make a good romance. Problem is Kadie is engaged. She's engaged to a mama's boy and for awhile she's been thinking why she even wanted to marry Robert. I thought the way the author dealt with their relationship was good but there was a part where it just didn't conclude that well for me. You can't possibly like him and Kadie doesn't do anything with Logan while Robert's in the picture. Kadie was amusing whenever she thought to herself that she was acting foolish or like a child when she was around him because that's not how I saw it. Compared to other characters I've read she was docile character who had a crush on someone else. I mean she was very quiet kind, and she blushed a lot but it was sweet and you could tell it wasn't anything too crazy. She truly did care about him and just because I making her sound like she's a very calm person doesn't mean she didn't have some passion in her when the time came. There were great moments between the two but they were serious when they needed to be. There was only one overly dramatic moment that I thought was a bit silly but it happens.

When the story shifts where Kadie has to fend for her survival I kept on thinking "How in the world did this just happen? These people are insane!!!" I couldn't believe what happened so prepare for a major change in the story. I thought the story came together really well. The romance was done just right and the conspiracy was done well too. I cared for Zaza so much! She was just so adorable! All of the characters we got to know were wonderful. I thought Kadie's sister, Maysha, needed to be part of the story because of how Charlotte and Adelaide being such close sister's I really would have liked her more in the story and was a little disappointed in some of her reaction towards the end. Her comments here and there and her general grumbling was pretty funny. I really liked how ghosts were incorporated into the book. Kadie had nightmares and it was like Charlotte was watching her. It wasn't creepy though it was really cool. I wouldn't want ghosts haunting my dreams though. I'm really impressed with how everything turned out. I hope to read more by Slack. This was a genuinely wonderful story.
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AdrianaGarcia | Jul 10, 2018 |

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