Holy crap, ya'll. Read. This. Book.

"I wanted to fall in love, marry a dork like me, make more dorks. I wanted game nights, summer nerdcations to Ren fairs and Orlando, a better reason than my own sweet tooth for baking Yoda cupcakes. I had imagined what it would be like to leap in and make a life with someone. Make babies that were a blend of us. It must be a kind of magic, to create a kid with my husband's nose and my own deep-set eyes."

Okay, so I'm gonna need Ms. Jackson to get out of my head, thankyouverymuch. This is the second book by Jackson that I've read and both reviews so far have started with a quote from the book that touched me. This one reached right inside me and grabbed hold.

Also, any author who uses the term catty-whompered in their novel is my hero.

"I was pregnant with a secret mixed-race baby, carrying on an investigative flirtation with my in-the-dark baby daddy, and I honestly had the least fucked-up life of any adult in the house."

"People didn't take this crap seriously enough, acting like sex was something New York advertisers had invented to sell Coke and soap. Sex was offered up like asprin to the mildly wounded. You just need to go get laid, pretty folks on television and in movies told each other after breakups, or work upsets, or if anybody acted mildly grumpy. As if sex were as simple a sin as eating a second scoop of Ben & Jerry's."

"I personally would love to be rolled back for surgery to find that my twilight sleep would be managed by one of the Super Friends. It might be a little disconcerting for non-nerds, though."

Holy crap, ya'll. Read. This. Book.

A successful career, an ailing grandmother, a one-night stand, and a Southern family with untold secrets.

Leia had always been close to her grandmother, but did she really know her grandmother?  After finding out her grandmother has been suffering with dementia for over 10 years, Leia puts the job she loves on hold and goes to Alabama to see what actually is going on.

What Leia finds at her grandmother's home isn't what she had expected, and coupled with her unexpected pregnancy was a bit ​overwhelmed.

Grandmother  Birchie and her life-long friend, Wittie, are delightful characters and characters that can no longer live alone, but are putting up a fight.​  When the secret in their attic is found, they get a reprieve from having to leave their home becaus​e the Sheriff ordered them to stay in the state.

THE ALMOST SISTERS had a lot of drama​ and a lot of love​.  I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline, the Southern charm, and especially the characters. They all were lovable, authentic, and sweet in their own way.

THE ALMOST SISTERS was a very enjoyable first book I have read by ​Ms. Jackson​.  She has a marvelous writing style and  a women’s-fiction-theme-based story with some characters having unusual problems and others with normal, everyday problems that the reader can relate to.

THE ALMOST SISTERS is a touching, endearing book about family.

I would ​recommend THE ALMOST SISTERS to readers who enjoy Southern living and adorable characters you wish you could spend some time with and will miss once you turn the last page.

THE ALMOST SISTERS is a book that will bring you closer to your own loved ones.  5/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for a honest review.

Her debt is finally paid in full but I don’t think, that I what Kali really wanted. I think deep down inside Kali was missing her mother. Her mother was eccentric, she was one of kind and I think Kali knew that and although as odd as she was, Kali missed her mother, something that she didn’t want acknowledged.

 

Kali is a successful divorce attorney who uses the services of Birdwire, a PI. Something had occurred between the two of them in the past which I needed to figure out because when Kali calls upon him to ask for his assistance in a current case, there is some hesitation on his end before he finally accepts the assignment. Was it business or pleasure that caused them to separate on bad note when they last parted? I enjoyed Barbwire’s character as I thought he was an individual with many flaws that completed him. His flaws made him who he was, a distinct individual, who was zealous and genuine.   While the two of them were at the office, Julian arrives. Kali believes that Julian is a new client, looking for his birth mother.   She is correct; he is looking for his birth mother who happens to be Kali’s mother. Surprise Kali, you are no longer an only child! Shocked and dumbfounded, Kali is lost for words until the stories start falling out of Julian’s and Kali’s mouths.   These stories were wonderful and I loved this part of the novel as the two of them told stories throughout the novel of their childhood. As Kali reached back into her early days, you could feel the emotions and the energy in her stories as she unleashed them from inside. Her brother listens intensely as he wants to know everything about his mother and Kali wants to share what she can with her new sibling. Their stories were different as they had different childhoods, their mother had been locked away for such a short time, unbeknownst to them that they had siblings out in the world, and now they stand together hoping to reconnect.   This story was just getting started, the pieces of their lives were just getting shared and they were beginning to connect with each other when I realized that there was more to this story – more twists and turns. Kali has to keep her client base up while dealing with her personal issues and this adds drama and excitement to this novel.   I would have liked to known their mother, she sounds like quite a character. Her mother is one individual, whose life could definitely fill a novel.

Born in Alabama, Paula Vauss spent the first decade of her life on the road with her free-spirited young mother, Kai, an itinerant storyteller who blended Hindu mythology with southern oral tradition to re-invent their history as they roved. But everything, including Paula’s birth name Kali Jai, changed when she told a story of her own—one that landed Kai in prison and Paula in foster care. Separated, each holding secrets of her own, the intense bond they once shared was fractured. These days, Paula has reincarnated herself as a tough-as-nails divorce attorney with a successful practice in Atlanta. While she hasn’t seen Kai in fifteen years, she’s still making payments on that Karmic debt—until the day her last check is returned in the mail, along with a mysterious note: “I am going on a journey, Kali. I am going back to my beginning; death is not the end. You will be the end. We will meet again, and there will be new stories. You know how Karma works.” Then Kai’s most treasured secret literally lands on Paula’s doorstep, throwing her life into chaos and transforming her from only child to older sister. Desperate to find her mother before it’s too late, Paula sets off on a journey of discovery that will take her back to the past and into the deepest recesses of her heart. With the help of her ex-lover Birdwine, an intrepid and emotionally volatile private eye who still carries a torch for her, this brilliant woman, an expert at wrecking families, now has to figure out how to put one back together—her own.

Amazon.com

 

 

 

 

 

Kali Jai comes into the world via a teen mother with a love for Hindu mythology. Once Kali's grandmother fills out her birth certificate though, Kali's name officially becomes Paula Jane. Paula's upbringing with her mother, Kai, over the years ends up having a somewhat exotic, little bit transient flair to it -- what with her mother's boho style, rotating door of boyfriends, each uniquely different from the last, not to mention Kai's love of storytelling -- her own brand being a blend of Old South folklore and that Hindu mythology that inspired Paula's original name. Paula grows up never knowing who her father is, but people around her speculate on her dark looks, noting that she has an Asian look to her features that clearly didn't come from her very much Caucasian mother.

 

But after some clashing with a drug-dealer boyfriend of Kai's, preteen Paula puts in a call to the police to rat the guy out, but also accidentally implicates her mom as well. Kai ends up serving a prison sentence that also requires Paula to be sent into the foster care system. 

 

Fast forward about 15 years and Paula is a successful divorce lawyer and a partner in a prestigious Atlanta, GA law firm. She also hasn't heard from her mother in years. That is, until a note comes from Kai revealing a terminal cancer diagnosis, giving her only a couple weeks left. Shortly after that note arrives, so does Paula's half-brother she never even knew existed. Desperate for answers, Paula, along with the help of ex-boyfriend / private investigator Zachary (aka "Birdwine"), sets out on a mission to unravel all these mysteries her mother left her with.

 

Ultimately, the story ends up being about the complex relationship between a mother and daughter, and the family secrets that can affect or even completely ruin that bond. Not a bad concept, but I felt the secrets & reveals were a little bland, falling a bit short of what could've been. There were a few little twists and turns near the end, but for me there was not enough build-up within the rest of the story to warrant any kind of jaw-dropping shock.  I also found it annoying that it seemed like whenever things started to get interesting, the very next chapter usually seemed to be a flashback to Paula's foster care days, so I'd be reading through that when I just wanted to get back to the present day storyline. 

 

I did enjoy the rhythm of the dialogue. Paula and Birdwine had some entertaining banter between them and there were some honestly funny one liners & conversations throughout. I also liked the personality and humor of Paula's half-brother. I could imagine a fun series of stories stemming from the three of them working together. 

 

It was also cool to see my town worked into part of the plot, which I was not expecting (since it's not mentioned in the synopsis anywhere). So thanks for the nod to my city, Ms. Jackson! :-)

 

FTC Disclaimer: William Morrow Publishers (an imprint of Harper Collins) kindly provided me with a complimentary copy of this book with the request that I might provide an honest review. The opinions above are entirely my own.