Tabs’ review of Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer
Women’s Fiction published by William Morrow Paperbacks 03 Apr 13
It has been a number of years since I’ve read chick lit or women’s fiction, so getting back into the swing with a homecoming story seemed appropriate. Queenie Wake is thirty-one years old and has spent her entire life running – from responsibility, from the love of her life who didn’t choose her when it mattered, and from a classist town that feels like it exists just to put her in her place. When her latest job ends, like they always do, she heads home for the first time in a decade or so to regroup.
You CAN go home again is a theme I’m rather fond of and that part of the story works pretty well here. Queenie has a support system of friends and family who love her and wish she’d love herself in return. The best part of this book, by far, is Queenie throwing off the yoke of her late mother’s neglect and bad behavior and choosing not to let it weigh her down anymore.
Another aspect that I think works quite well is the small-town claustrophobia. It’s not downplayed that many of the townsfolk are set in their ways, have long memories, and are invested in keeping the status quo, but changing things up isn’t nearly as hopeless as the Wake sisters have always thought. I actually really appreciate that two of the chief antagonists are given dimensions to their characters and even get to work toward their own happy endings. I also really like Queenie’s big sister and her adorable secret romance with the town football coach would make a lovely romance novel.
What doesn’t work at all for me in this story is a truly bizarre “finding yourself” plot. How does Queenie figure out her true calling? By cooking elaborate last meals for death row inmates, of course. It’s as melodramatic and exploitative and as cheesy as you can possibly imagine. I think I somehow missed that part in the blurb or I likely would have passed on this book. The side romance between Queenie and the town scion is also criminally underdeveloped. I get that they’ve been in love most of their lives, but there is nothing on the page to convince me they are in love now as fully fledged adults and certainly nothing to convince me that Everett would have Queenie’s back when it really matters.
This book was a decided mixed bag. Parts of this story worked for me but bigger parts didn’t work at all. I dug this title out of my TBR pile for the “women’s fiction” square on the #romanceopoly challenge.You can follow my challenge progress on twitter and read more about the challenge here.
Grade: C
Summary:
After Queenie Wake is dismissed from her restaurant job, she returns to North Star to cook meals for death row inmates.
Hopeful that the bad memories of her late mother and promiscuous sister (now the mother of the captain of the high school football team) have been forgotten by the locals, Queenie discovers that some people can’t be forgotten—heartbreaker Everett Coburn—her old high-school sweetheart.
When secrets from the past emerge, will Queenie be able to stick by her family or will she leave home again?
Liz Palmer’s Nowhere But Home is a funny and touching story of food, football, and fooling around.
No excerpt available.
