Description:
'You'll find home one day. Sure as sweet tea on a hot afternoon.' Words from Willa Muir's sketchy childhood haunt her dreams and color her days with longing, regret, and fear. What do the words mean? Willa is far from sure. When Hale Landon places a ring on her finger, Willa panics, feeling she can't possibly say yes when so much in her past is a mystery. Bent on sorting out her history, Willa returns to Rockwall, Texas, to the Muir House Bed and Breakfast, a former funeral home. But the old place holds her empty memory close to itself. Willa's mother utters unintelligible clues from her deathbed, and the caretaker of the house keeps coveted answers carefully protected. Throw in an old flame, and Willa careens farther away from ever knowing the truth. Set in a growing suburb of Texas, The Muir House explores trauma, healing, love new and old, and the life-changing choices people make to keep their reputations intact.
My Thoughts:
Mary DeMuth writes very powerful fiction. She doesn't hold back on the rawness of the emotions of her characters. I am always moved by the depth of the emotion of the writing. The only complaint I have is that sometimes this book depressed me. The depth of the darkness of Willa's emotions seemed a bit tedious for me sometimes. I wanted to shake her to have her see that she couldn't get so lost in the questions of her past or let it ruin her future. I wanted there to be some things that made her happy too. Some sense of hope for her future. That's just my take on it. The descriptions are very strong, but the plot was slow for me and I found Willa to be a bit too self-absorbed and depressing, though the other book reviews I've read make me question myself a bit on this since so many really, really liked the book. Sometimes my own emotions play a factor in my experience with a book and my own "funk" that I was in may have tainted my viewpoint. The writing is very emotive and good. Check it out and see what you think!
Book Bullets:
Thank you so much for reading The Muir House and offering your review. I'm humbled and thankful.
Posted by: Mary DeMuth (@MaryDeMuth) | January 23, 2012 at 10:46 AM