Julie's Review: Grounded

Summary: New York City flight attendant Annie Taylor is grounded, putting a halt to weekends in Rome and her jet-setting lifestyle. Soon her noncommittal boyfriends true nature is revealed, and to top it all off, she loses her apartment. With nowhere else to go, Annie leaves the city for the family farm in Kentucky, a place shes avoided for years. She finds a shotgun-wielding grandmother, a farm in disrepair, and a suspicious stranger renting the old stone house. The country quiet haunts Annie with reminders of a past that cant be changed. She tries persuading her grandmother to sell the farm, but is met with stubborn refusal? Yet in the midst of her crashing life, Annie sees a glimmer of hope for a second chance. Jake Wilder is contemplating jumping off the corporate ladder to follow his passion for sustainable farming. Hes almost ready to propose to Camille, a girl who wants more, not less. Annie believes Jake is about to make a terrible mistake, but does she have the right to tell him? As the summer heats up, so do Annie's unexpected feelings for Jake and her interest in the land. When a sudden phone call comes from New York, Annie is forced to choose between coming to terms with her past or leaving it all behind. ~powells.com

Review: What I really enjoyed about Grounded is that it showed me that while you might think you want something different than what you grew up with, you end up finding out that most of the time, you don't. This is what happens to Annie on her journey of discovery. Annie is easy to like. She's level-headed, has great friends and makes bad choices in men. This is what makes her identifiable to the reader. We've all been there and done that at some point.

As Annie joins her Grandmother back in Kentucky at the family farm, she realizes that she doesn't mind the hard work and that she's actually pretty good at it.  While helping her Grandmother recover from knee surgery, Annie finds that she and her Grandmother have a lot in common and don't need the buffer of her grandfather to get along.

I wish that Ms. Correll had spent more time on how sustainable living works. I like the concept and wanted to hear more about how Jake was going to make it work. I think all of us could contribute a little even if it's just by visiting and buying from your local farmers market. My mom is great at doing this, but I need to get better.

I think it's fair to also say that if you don't like any kind of religion in your reading, then Grounded may not be the novel for you. Personally, I think it fit well into the novel and wasn't preachy. It went along with what Ms. Correll was trying to convey in the novel, which is sometimes faith, family and a simple life are all you truly need in life.

I enjoyed Grounded and thought it might have been more "chick-lit" than it ended up being.

Final Take:  3.75/5

Thanks to Amy Bromberg for sending me a copy of this novel.

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