What I Remember Most Cathy Lamb

What I Remember Most
Cathy Lamb
Published: Kensington
Date: 2014
Format: Paperback
Pages: 486
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: Own book

Grenadine Scotch Wild has only vague memories of the parents she last saw when she was six years old. But she's never forgotten their final, panicked words to her, urging Grenadine to run. The mystery of their disappearance is just one more frayed strand in a life that has lately begun to unravel completely. One year into her rocky marriage to Covey, a well known investor, he's arrested for fraud and embezzlement. And Grenadine, now a successful collage artist and painter, is facing jail time despite her innocence.

What I Remember Most by Cathy Lamb was a great read.  I sat and read it during the day and into the night until I had finished it. I can't remember when I did that with a book.  Maybe I was in the mood for a good read and this book just slotted right in there.

It is told in the first person, so we only have Grenadine's side of the story.  However Cathy Lamb also adds in reports from child welfare officers, teachers and police officers and small slots of a creepy guy's thoughts.  In this way the life history of Grenadine is slowly built up.  Let's just say her past is on the whole horrific.  Yet what a wonderful woman has emerged.

When her creepy, slime ball husband tries to prove that Grenadine is a part of his whole investment scandal, she takes refuge in a small town in Oregon and fends for herself.  There she fights her way into jobs and eventually a place to call home.  She is a very hard worker and a gifted artist, it is not long before the people of the town recognise her talents and abilities.

When she takes up work at Hutchinson's Furniture she meets a whole raft of women, some providing fun and humour, others tears and sadness. Friendships and bonds form.  Then there is Kade - a tough looking reformed gang leader from LA.  What a group of people, and of course there is a delightful little one - Cleo who wins Grenadine's heart in unexpected ways.

This book didn't quite have the humour in it that I have met in Cathy Lamb's other books, but it did have some!  I chuckled and shed tears at times.  I cheered Grenadine on and was relieved when she made it through each challenge. 

Love the cover and for once it fit right in to a page of the book wonderfully well. Thumbs up from me on this one.