Where The Heart Is by Billie Letts

Do you have this too?
Sometimes I’m searching for a new book to start reading, and I’ll scan one; read the jacket flaps of another… But they don’t quite appeal. Then suddenly you see one and you just know that’s the book you will spend the next few days or weeks with.

Where The Heart Is by Billie Letts is a fantastic (summer) read. I liked the cover, the short content sounded just right and once I start, I could not put this book down. Amazing that this is a first novel!
I loved everything about it: the premise of a teen pregnancy, the girl dumped by her boyfriend at Walmart; the way her life unfolds; the support characters; the realistic dialogue. I was ‘there’ with her all the way. And reluctant to let go when I finished the last page.

And now, when I just googled the author’s name to see what else she write, I am shocked to find out that she passed away 3 days ago… just while I was engrossed in her story. What a shame. But I will go to my library to look for the three other novels she published, including “The Honk and Holler Opening Soon” (1998) and “Shoot the Moon” (2004). Her husband, it turns out, wrote ‘August: Osage County‘.