Leaving Carolina

What is forgiveness? If someone has hurt you and you say you forgive them and then go to great lengths to avoid them, have you truly forgiven them?
Piper Wicks is faced with this very dilemma. It has been twelve years since she and her mother left Pickwick and all of their backstabbing relatives behind. They never treated her or her mother as if they were really a part of the family. She seems to live by the scripture found in Luke 9:5, "If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town as a testimony against them." This is exactly what she has done. She has created a new life for herself. She has dropped the "Pick" part of her last name. She is a partner in a PR firm. She has a client who has recently show more talked about them becoming "engaged to be engaged". Of course as a Senator he must wait until the timing is right. The more successful she becomes the more she keeps telling herself that her walk with God is still okay.
Piper's past comes back to haunt her when she receives a phone call from her uncle's lawyer. Her services are being sought to change her uncle's mind. He has decided he and his family have wronged enough people of their town. He plans on making things right with them and with God by changing his will. Unfortunately when he changes his will he will set into motion something his relatives don't want, negative publicity. They have all had their problems displayed before the town. They are not all looked upon in a good way. Some of them have actually made changes to their life for the better.
The last thing that Piper wants is to return to the town she left behind. Who is the strange godson who has persuaded her uncle to change his will and what is his agenda? Piper wants to get in and get out as quickly as possible. Things rarely happen the way one wants. Piper wasn't prepared for all of the work she would have to do to help her uncle. She wasn't prepared for the change in her relatives. Most importantly she wasn't prepared for Axel. He seems to have used his relationship with God to help her uncle make some changes. Maggie and Bart also seem to have a closer walk with God. Why is it that everyone keeps trying to tell her what God wants. She knows what he wants. All she has to do is open her Bible to the passages she has highlighted. The funny thing is they all seem to carry the same theme. Is it possible that she has not truly forgiven? Is it possible for her to do so?
This was a wonderful book. I absolutely loved reading it. I felt sorry for Piper being dragged back into a town and a situation she had put behind her twelve years before. I loved the romance part. It was not your typical romance, boy sees girl, boy gets girl immediately. This was more like real life. It had real life problems with real life solutions and the solutions were sometimes messy. I am looking forward to reading Maggie and Devyn's story when it comes out next year. I was able to relate to Piper. I told myself that I had forgiven someone but just couldn't forget what they had done. I felt no peace because I had not truly forgiven them or tried to find peace. Once I did that we were able to start fresh again. This book is a great read for anyone who likes romance, realistic fiction and stories that portray life as it really is, even if it isn't all pretty.
I am so glad I was given the opportunity to read and review this book. show less

Wow! If there is a writer who truly grasps a character and brings that character to life, it is Tamara Leigh. Each page brought me closer and closer to Piper Wick (formerly Pickwick). I was transfixed by the story unfolding when Piper would relive moments in her past. Each memory was achingly realistic and clearly represented with Leigh's writing. Reading Leaving Carolina was close to watching a film in my mind.

Piper has worked long and hard to get past her roots in the Southern town of Pickwick, and now she has to go back to problem solve. One problem after another seems to land right on Piper's plate from the moment she heads out. Piper works hard to remain in control, but that defense mechanism is not going to work in this show more town.

Leaving Carolina is told with humor, insight and just the blush of romance (exactly what I like). There is a lot to be gleaned from this book as you are being entertained by the lively characters and the slowly revealed answers to questions the reader just has to ask.

It is with intense joy that I discovered that this was just the first in a series! I was thrilled because Tamara Leigh introduces so many colorful characters in this novel. It was a delight to settle in the quirky town of Pickwick, and I was in no hurry to leave. I look forward to the next books in the series. I hope it comes out soon!

Thank you to WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for sending me a copy of Tamara Leigh's "Leaving Carolina" to review. My review is from reading this book and is my honest opinion. show less

*sigh of contentment* I do enjoy a good book by Tamara Leigh, she's quite the down to earth entertainer. Now after reading this story of Piper Pickwick in "Leaving Carolina", I really want to go back to my TBR shelf and find "Faking Grace", because I'm pretty sure I have a copy out there. Hmm... This book is full of family secrets, but so much more than that, it is a story of acknowledging and owning up to mistakes and sins and moving appropriately beyond them with forgiveness and admittance. Each page is filled with a pull to turn to the next page and finish the next chapter to read the continuing whit. The personality of our main character Piper is priceless and sets one to giggling and grinning as well as a bit of snickering here and show more there. The romance is blush-worthy and brings forth a sly grin to any reader. This is a fun loving book of entertainment, but also so much more as real lessons are brought forth in the twist of tales. I highly recommend this read, and personally cannot wait for more from Tamara. As this is my first of her novels that I have read cover to cover I need more. With that said, I'm exceptionally looking forward to the summer of 2010 to find more in The Next Adventure of Maggie and Devyn!! show less

*sigh of contentment* I do enjoy a good book by Tamara Leigh, she's quite the down to earth entertainer. Now after reading this story of Piper Pickwick in "Leaving Carolina", I really want to go back to my TBR shelf and find "Faking Grace", because I'm pretty sure I have a copy out there. Hmm... This book is full of family secrets, but so much more than that, it is a story of acknowledging and owning up to mistakes and sins and moving appropriately beyond them with forgiveness and admittance. Each page is filled with a pull to turn to the next page and finish the next chapter to read the continuing whit. The personality of our main character Piper is priceless and sets one to giggling and grinning as well as a bit of snickering here and show more there. The romance is blush-worthy and brings forth a sly grin to any reader. This is a fun loving book of entertainment, but also so much more as real lessons are brought forth in the twist of tales. I highly recommend this read, and personally cannot wait for more from Tamara. As this is my first of her novels that I have read cover to cover I need more. With that said, I'm exceptionally looking forward to the summer of 2010 to find more in The Next Adventure of Maggie and Devyn!! show less

This was an enjoyable read about a quirky and somewhat disfunctional family, the Pickwicks, and discovering "you can take the girl out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the girl". It was not a page turner story for me, one that I just couldn't put down until I finished. But it did have its moments.

Piper Wick (whose name is really Pickwick but she shortened it when she left town), is being called back to Pickwick, North Carolina. This is a town she hoped to never have any more association with because of the way she and her Mom were treated by "the family" as a young girl. But the family needs her expertise as a public relations consultant to get Uncle Obe to not change his will, and start revealing family mishaps and show more mistakes, one of them being one of Piper's secrets. She arrives in town ready to do business and get out, but finds herself once again in the midst of family disputes. But time has passed and people have changed and with God's help, even Piper finds herself changing. Then there is the gardener, Axel Smith, who has a way of getting under Piper's skin.

I enjoyed getting to know the family members and to see that people can change and forgiveness is possible. I also liked how Uncle Obe felt the need for making things right and how his life was changed when he sought a relationship with His Lord. He is quite the character! show less

I understand that Christians choose to deliberately not understand the history of how their religion came to exist, but this book (at least the first 39 pages of it) ranks right up there in terms of showcasing Christians willful stupidity. This is what got me: "Jesus eggs" for Easter eggs. Seriously? Study history! Actually learn that Easter was celebrated for millennium before your religion came along and stole many holidays, including Eostre. Ugh! This book had Christianity on every page, so if that is your thing, plus the willful uninformed parts, then get this book.

Tamara Leigh's style was a little different and it took some getting used to. That aside, this is a great book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and really got into the characters. I can't wait to see where she takes us in book 2.