Hi everyone! I hope you've enjoyed this super fun week of blog posts I've had. First you got to know more about me then you had a fun game and yesterday tons of great images from Britney's latest music video. Well, today I'm slowing it down a bit and sharing a great review of a book I was so generously given. It's called Grounded by Angela Correll. Here's some more about it.
Disclaimer: I was given this book on behalf of the Literary Junkies Book Club. I was not compensated and all opinions are my own.
This is a novel about a woman who just had her world turned upside down and she needs to start over fresh. Her name is Annie Taylor, small town girl who moved to New York and became a flight attendant fulfilling her dreams of travelling the world. Her job is on the line and her relationship along with it when one day it all comes crashing down out of nowhere. She finds out her boyfriend isn't who he says and that she was laid within the same afternoon. So much for that relaxing weekend in Italy! With no apartment, no job and a nagging jerk of an ex-boyfriend, Annie decides to hightail it back home to a small town in Kentucky. It's here that she reconnects with her only living relative, her grandmother and finds herself and the man who she was always meant to be with.
I really enjoyed this story. Annie is someone who worked hard to get where she was. She's a fighter and a hard-worker. In that sense she reminds me of myself I guess. I was able to relate to her feeling of defeat after she lost everything and had to go back home. I feel like every single one of us can put ourselves in Annie's shoes at some point in our lives. Having a character so real and so raw was refreshing. Correll really did an amazing job forming this character. She had her strengths but she also had her flaws.
I especially liked Annie's grandmother, Beulah. She is a firecracker and every time she hits a little road bump, your heart drops a little lower into your stomach. She has all of these superstitions and old-wives tails even though she won't admit to you that she believes them. Their relationship is rocky at first but as soon as they learn how to communicate and help each other out, things smooth themselves out.
I'm sorry if I'm giving away a ton of the story but you don't have any of the details. I just really enjoyed it so much and I can identify with so many parts of Annie, especially her relationship with her grandmother. I read this book in one night. I recommend it to anyone and everyone. Five stars on my end.
Here is the description from Goodreads:
New York City flight attendant Annie Taylor is grounded, putting a halt to weekends in Rome and her jet-setting lifestyle. Soon her noncommittal boyfriend’s true nature is revealed, and to top it all off, she loses her apartment.
With nowhere else to go, Annie leaves the city for the family farm in Kentucky, a place she’s avoided for years. She finds a shotgun-wielding grandmother, a farm in disrepair, and a suspicious stranger renting the old stone house.
The country quiet haunts Annie with reminders of a past that can’t be changed. She tries persuading her grandmother to sell the farm, but is met with stubborn refusal? Yet in the midst of her crashing life, Annie sees a glimmer of hope for a second chance.
Jake Wilder is contemplating jumping off the corporate ladder to follow his passion for sustainable farming. He’s almost ready to propose to Camille, a girl who wants more, not less. Annie believes Jake is about to make a terrible mistake, but does she have the right to tell him?
As the summer heats up, so do Annie’s unexpected feelings for Jake and her interest in the land. When a sudden phone call comes from New York, Annie is forced to choose between coming to terms with her past or leaving it all behind.
