Book Review: Still Waters

Still Waters
Lindsey Brackett
Firefly Southern Fiction, 2017

Cora Anne is the girl with the plan, until she gets wait-listed for her grad school of choice. With her future temporarily derailed, Cora Anne grudgingly accepts an invitation to spend the summer with her grandmother in Edisto Beach, South Carolina. Hoping to lay low and make it through the summer without dredging up her many memories of loss and a tragic accident on the beach, Cora Anne is chagrined to immediately encounter Tennessee Watson.

As much as she would like to avoid him and the guilt she feels when she thinks about the tragedy they shared, Nan seems to have other ideas, providing Tennessee with a list a mile long of improvements to be made to the beach cottage. Forced to work in close proximity to each other, Tennessee attempts to woo Cora Anne, doing his best to convince her that the only person she still needs forgiveness from is herself. But things are never as simple as they should be, and a revelation about Nan’s failing health complicates matters even more. Will Cora Anne be able to find peace with her past or will this summer close the Edisto Beach chapter of her life for good?

This post contains affiliate links. Read more about that here. Thanks to Lindsey Brackett for sending me a copy of Still Waters to review.

Still Waters is the debut novel for Lindsey Brackett and I would say she came out of the gate pretty strong. As a lifelong southerner I really enjoyed the world she created on Edisto Beach. Porch swings, sweet tea, and sticky summer afternoons are something I can relate to, and I felt like I was in that place with those people. The use of food to help set the scene also drew me in. Meals are such a universal way that people come together and I loved the supporting role that food played in this story with descriptions of good, classic southern recipes and family and friends breaking bread together.

The characters and their relationships felt believable and the dialogue flowed naturally. There is a sweet romance that evolves throughout the course of the story, but while there is love blossoming, there are also complex family relationships that add depth. We’ve all got those family members that we don’t see eye to eye with and I felt the like the representation of how some of those relationships play out was very relatable. Cora Anne learns a lot about herself and an important lesson about not assuming that you understand someones reasons for their actions without knowing their side of the story.

I saw lots of sequel potential with several side characters in Still Waters who I think could carry their own story and I hope I’m right about that! Hopefully I’ll get to revisit Edisto Beach in the not too distant future to see what some of my favorite side characters are up to now. Do you like southern fiction and family relationship drama? If so, you can also check out Falling Home and Honeysuckle Dreams, two titles that I enjoyed that both fit squarely into that description.