Kristy Woodson Harvey: Slightly South of Simple

Kristy Woodson Harvey (here), who I am lucky enough to call a blog friend, is the author of design blog Design Chic and three novels (here):

Her blog is one of my favorites. I won't spend a lot of time on this because I know you all know it. As her newest work of fiction is just launching, she has been dedicating the blog lately to all things related to her books, like southern homes, reading spaces, etc. It's so worth following if you don't already:

But on to the newest book, Slightly South Of Simple:




It is the first book in her Peachtree Bluff series, and is the perfect summer read (or anytime read, really). It is southern fiction and women's fiction at its best. It features four unique and complex strong female characters - a mother and her three daughters - and the various people in their lives. There is drama, romance, scandal, love, and plenty of design in this book, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Kristy was kind enough to send me an advance copy, and I stayed up half the night the night I started it because it was really that good. 

Here is what Amazon says about it (and you can click over here to read other reviews):

From the next “major voice in Southern fiction” bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand) comes the first in an all-new series chronicling the journeys of three sisters and their mother—and a secret from their past that has the potential to tear them apart and reshape their very definition of what it means to be a family.  

Caroline Murphy swore she’d never set foot back in the small Southern town of Peachtree Bluff; she was a New York girl born and bred and the worst day of her life was when, in the wake of her father’s death, her mother selfishly forced her to move—during her senior year of high school, no less—back to that hick-infested rat trap where she'd spent her childhood summers. But now that her marriage to a New York high society heir has fallen apart in a very public, very embarrassing fashion, a pregnant Caroline decides to escape the gossipmongers with her nine-year-old daughter and head home to her mother, Ansley.

Ansley has always put her three daughters first, especially when she found out that her late husband, despite what he had always promised, left her with next to nothing. Now the proud owner of a charming waterfront design business and finally standing on her own two feet, Ansley welcomes Caroline and her brood back with open arms. But when her second daughter Sloane, whose military husband is overseas, and youngest daughter and successful actress Emerson join the fray, Ansley begins to feel like the piece of herself she had finally found might be slipping from her grasp. Even more discomfiting, when someone from her past reappears in Ansley's life, the secret she’s harbored from her daughters their entire lives might finally be forced into the open. Exploring the powerful bonds between sisters and mothers and daughters, this engaging novel is filled with Southern charm, emotional drama, and plenty of heart.

I won't spoil the ending for you, but I will say that if you like historical, southern, and female fiction, you'll love the novel (as do 100% of the reviewers an Amazon)

Thank you so much for the opportunity to post about your new book Kristy. You are a powerhouse my friend!!