Why read: Picked up a copy at BEA

What impressed me: The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls completely took me by surprise. It was both fun, serious and even occasionally a bit scandalous. I loved the was the perspectives shifted between the women, Ruby in the past, Jill both past and present and Fee totally in the now. The mystery element really threw me through a loop in the best possible way. Mose than anything else, The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls is a touching, secret filled story of three women finding their way in a judgemental world. I loved every word.

What disappointed me: Absolutely nothing. Just perfect.

Recommended: Highly. The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls is women's fiction, with some romance and a bit of mystery peppered in. It's engaging and very hard to put down. ( )

Reviewed by JoAnne
Book provided by Berkley Books

This is a novel with family at its center and was a very enjoyable and easy book to get into. The McCloud family makes up the main characters with the Frasers coming in right behind as secondary characters. The story crosses three generations of The McClouds with lots of twists and turns. There is romance, lots of angst, anxiety, problems, secrets and mystery that have to be dealt with along with a few laughs and some tears. Their family home was once a place that unmarried girls could come to have their babies and not be disgraced. Now it's a bed and breakfast with its own stories to tell. There is unrequited love for Jill McCloud and Keith Fraser and it takes them until the end of the story to admit they still love each other and want to be together. Of course getting to that point was not a straight line and we learned of their history throughout the book. She gave background story initially and then went back and forth between the past and the present to give further details that readers needed to piece the story together. This helped to enrich the story for the readers by layering the details and specifics of the plot. This is the first adult novel written by Delsol although she had previously authored two books for youth. I would definitely read other adult books she writes and hope they are as good as this one!

Favorite Quote: "He patted the spot on the couch next to him. Jill took a deep breath and shuffled across the room. Had he really come to find her? Had he really held her and said he loved her? She eased herself onto the sofa. He pulled her hand into his lap. The cotton of his faded Levi's was warm and smooth. ( )

The McCloud women have a brave legacy of helping and supporting women from every walk of life in need of assistance as unwed mothers. In the absence of their husband and father though it becomes difficult to move forward especially when a looming controversy could ruin their entire family after his death. As time passes Jill and Jocelyn are able to move on with their lives one in their hometown and the other across the country. When the death of their mother’s rival brings back old flames and uncovered mysteries they may no longer be able to hide from their shared pasts.

This was truly an enjoyable book to read. Despite my misgivings about certain aspects of the story I thoroughly enjoyed the lives of the McCloud women and the bed & breakfast their childhood home was turned into. Initially I was interested in picking it up because of the author Wendy Delsol, I’ve read the first book in her YA series Stork and really enjoyed it and so when I saw she had a new women’s fiction novel I was eager to get my hands on it. Also, I was interested in the concept of the home itself having been a place for unwed mother’s to escape ridicule from the outside world as well as the novels potential for a “Southern” feeling. It definitely had both of those aspects, though there wasn’t a huge emphasis on the home itself until later in the book. As a whole though, I loved the characters and the mystery behind who actually fathered Jill’s daughter Fee as well as the potential romance between Jill and Keith.

Having said all of those positive aspects I’ve unfortunately got to share the negatives now. The story is told primarily from Jill’s point of view with occasional glimpses into the past through Ruby (Jill’s mother) and an additional viewpoint with Jill’s daughter Fee. What I had a huge problem with was Fee’s viewpoint, I simply couldn’t understand why it was in the book at all. I thought her conflict and suspicion about who her father was was definitely interesting, but I didn’t see the need to “hear” that from her directly. In a lot of cases I felt it broke up the pacing quite a bit. I had a little bit of a difficult time getting started with the book and then to be thrown into Fee’s viewpoint for two to four pages often completely threw me. If not for this I think I could have enjoyed the book a great deal more because I think the main stories of Jill and Ruby could have been deepened in Fee’s absence.

Overall I’d absolutely recommend The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls by Wendy Delsol to fans of Southern women’s fiction. This is a wonderful story about forgiveness and being aware how our choices affect those around us. I’m definitely interested to read more of Delsol’s writing as I thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters (with the exception of Fee) and have loved her YA writing.

My original review was posted at Chick Lit Reviews and News. ( )