Book Review: Just Fine with Caroline by Annie England Noblin—and a Giveaway!

Just Fine with Caroline
A Cold River Novel
Annie England Noblin
William Morrow, October 2016
ISBN 978-0-06-246562-7
Trade Paperback

From the publisher—

Caroline O’Connor never dreamed she’d be back home in Cold River, Missouri, the Ozark Mountain town where everyone is ‘up your business.’…they mean well as they drive you crazy. She thought she’d left town for good, but now she’s back, helping to care for her New York born mother—struck with Alzheimer’s, and prone to saying and doing anything—and her father, the beloved local doctor frustrated he can’t cure his own wife.

As for Caroline, she’s doing ‘just fine’ coping with her parents, her brazen cousin Ava Dawn’s marital disasters, her mostly-deaf dog…and with Noah Cranwell, far-flung relative of a local family mostly infamous for running moonshine, an ex-veteran who’s come to Cold River with troubles of his own.

Caroline believes she knows everything about Cold River and the people who live in its hills and hollers … but sometimes life’s greatest surprises happen closest to home.

The choices we make can have effects long after the fact and Caroline was well aware that her life would be taking a turn when she chose to leave college to help look after her mother, in the grip of Alzheimer’s. Four years later, she’s accustomed to being back home in the small town of Cold River, finding relaxation and comfort in a bit of fishing on most days, but things are still pretty boring.

Then Caroline meets a young man named Noah, a New Jersey member of the reclusive local Cranwell family. He, too, seems to have made a choice to come to Cold River, taking possession of the abandoned family store, Cranwell Station. New Jersey is a long way from Missouri but Caroline can’t help seeing the charm in this guy.

A real friendship begins to grow between these two but, when Caroline and Noah begin to move even closer together, choices that were made years earlier come into play, changing their lives and raising serious questions about their present as well as future. Whether they can fully cope with the devastating truth and help heal their families and the town is at the core of Just Fine with Caroline; in some ways, they’ll need to make an emotional journey home.

There’s nothing earth-shattering in this story, no thrills and chills, no deep questions to be answered but it’s a story of family and love and how secrets can fester over the years until new choices must be made. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting this little town and meeting the people who are its heart.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, October 2016.

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Purchase Links:

HarperCollins // Barnes & Noble // Kobo

Amazon // Indiebound

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About the Author

Annie England Noblin lives with her son, husband, and three dogs in the Missouri Ozarks. She graduated with an M.A. in creative writing from Missouri State University and currently teaches English and communications for Arkansas State University in Mountain Home, Arkansas. She spends her free time playing make-believe, feeding stray cats, and working with animal shelters across the country to save homeless dogs.

Connect with Annie on Facebook and Twitter.

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Follow the tour:

Tuesday, October 11th: Books and Bindings

Wednesday, October 12th: Buried Under Books

Thursday, October 13th: A Chick Who Reads

Monday, October 17th: A Bookworm’s World

Tuesday, October 18th: Reading is My Super Power

Wednesday, October 19th: Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

Thursday, October 20th: Tina Says…

Monday, October 24th: BookNAround

Tuesday, October 25th: Ms. Nose in a Book

Tuesday, October 25th: Kritters Ramblings

Thursday, October 27th: View from the Birdhouse

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I’d love to send somebody my very
gently used print advance reading
copy of Just Fine with Caroline.
Leave a comment below and I’ll draw
the winning name on Friday evening,
October 14th. This drawing is open
to residents of the US & Canada.