Thursday, October 3, 2013

Cathleen Armstrong

Dear Readers,
 
Welcome to Last Chance is Cathleen Armstrong’s first book.  She won the 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Genesis award and once you read it you understand why.  It is kind of like stepping on to the streets of Mayberry only set in the middle of the desert of New Mexico. 
 
Last Chance is a special little town with wonderful and quirky characters that will make you wish you knew them all as your neighbors.  They care for each other, they have their noses in each others' business and they have each other’s back when something happens.
 
When Lainie’s boyfriend start selling drugs she decides to leave town.  Her battered old Mustang only gets her as far as Last Chance, New Mexico.  Everyone she meets in town are just to eager to help.  She just wants to fix her car and continue on to El Paso to start a new life.  Who would want to live in a little town in the middle of nowhere, anyway?   But when she ends up with a job in town she starts to see the appeal of this special place.
 
To be completely honest, this book is not a great mystery when you read it.  It is plain and simply a feel good story about people who are good people.  I think in some ways most of us long for the days of Mayberry where the kids could go out to play and not have to worry about who would grab them.  Where the pace was a little slower and holidays and celebrations were a town-wide event. 
 
Happy Reading

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