Tea & Read: Talk of the Town

Title: Talk of the Town
Author: Lisa Wingate

Rating: Two Cups of Tea

For some reason, I hit a serious cowboy/Texas run of books (see The Inheritance and A Claim of Her Own), so Talk of the Town fit right in.

Talk of the Town is Hollywood meets Smalltown story. American Megastar associate producer, Mandalay Florentio, has been tasked by her boss to plan the hometown episode of Amber Amberson, a finalist on the show. The problem is that Mandalay has no idea how fast news spreads in small town. When she shows up, the town is already buzzing with the news.

I really enjoyed this book. I love the creativity of Wingate in using multiple first person points of view. I particularly loved the Imagene Doll character and her dealings with loss and grief. Wingate gives a refreshing perspective on the classic story of Country Mouse and City Mouse, and the interactions between the two makes for great laughs and moving moments.

Wingate created believable characters, which I appreciate. Annoying characters is something that I think plagues Christian fiction too much. When characters are being ridiculous about their flaws, it makes it harder to connect with them. Mandalay and Imagene are real characters with depth and flaws without being annoying.

This is a great book and I am looking forward to reading more Lisa Wingate books.