Books Worth Your Bucks

I was invited to participate in this blog hop: Books Worth Your Bucks.

I love this idea: taking a moment to tell the world about a book you've read and considered worth the dough. You can read the details and join the blog hop here.

I'm going to tell you a bit about Overlook by Elizabeth Hein and the sequel Escape Plan. The two books make a single story if read in order, a satisfying story about revenge, justice, and finding one's true path in life. The story is complete in these two books, too. It's not the beginning of a longer series.

(And you can get both books for as little as $8 if you're a digital reader or $25 for both paperbacks)

Overlook is the premiere neighborhood in an imaginary North Carolina town in the 1970s and Stacia rules it with an iron fist inside a kid glove. Property values and family values are one and the same, and woe be to anyone who upsets the status quo with unseemly drama or tragedy in the Stepford-like lakeside community.

Things begin to change when Stacia’s best friend Kitty becomes the center of a particularly unsavory family situation in the shape of a philandering husband who fails to keep up appearances. More than one of the Lookers is revealed in a different light as Kitty’s life falls apart and Stacia decides where her loyalties lie.

Book two picks up in the immediate aftermath of the events at the end of book one. I can't tell you much without ruining it, so I'll say that there is a pretty powerful event that ends book one, and book two begins with the repercussions of that. 

Now what? is the big question. Like finding out what happens to the princess after the prince comes, the second book shows that taking action against your troubles might just land you in an entirely new pool of hot water.

I recommend these two books for readers who enjoy realistic, but dramatic stories and strong character arcs. It’s also interesting as a period piece and a commentary and the changing roles of women in the 1970s. Stacia and Kitty are great characters and the two books have a lot to say about friendship among women.