Jude Deveraux is a name that lives on in infamy in my family. My grandma who died seven years ago at the ripe old age of 93, loved Jude Deveraux. She read every single one of her novels, sometimes multiple times over. Whenever my grandma would ask us what we were reading we would tell her and naturally we would ask her what she had been reading lately.
No matter what book she was reading she always prefaced it with ‘well it’s about a gal….’ and at that point we would tune her out. She was forever reading books ‘about gals’ and we could never keep them straight. As my sister and I got older, we were curious what was so exciting about these ‘about a gal’ books which for some reason became synonymous with Jude Deveraux.
Well one day, my sister and I found one of Deveraux’s novels at my grandma’s house when we were teen girls and it was evident that we were much too young to be reading it judging from the sex, but shocked that our grandma who seemed much to old to be reading her books with sex in them—loved them!
Since then we always got a nice chuckle when we saw a new Jude Deveraux book on her nightstand. After she died we continued with the ‘about a gal’ preface to any book when we ask each other what we are reading. So when this book arrived, I couldn’t help but laugh so hard because I am finally at an age where I can appreciate Deveraux and her stories about gals.
Deveraux is a prolific writer and has written so so so many stories and I am sure that all of them have their own unique appeal and little niche. Some are historical fiction while others (like this latest release) is more of a contemporary romance. It’s clear that she has a massive and long standing fan base so obviously she is doing something right!
For now I have this book on special feature but I can hear my grandma encouraging me to pick this book up and read it so be watching for a review in the coming weeks.
Summary
In small towns, no one lets the facts get in the way of juicy gossip…
Terri Rayburn is a girl with a reputation. She doesn’t deserve it, but having grown up on the outskirts of Summer Hill, Virginia, she knows how small towns work. The only way to deal with vicious gossip is to ignore it. So she keeps to herself as she runs the summer resort on Lake Kissel.
When she returns home from a short trip to find a handsome stranger living in her house, she smells a rat. Someone is trying to fix her up, and she has to admit that Nate Taggert is just her type. However, Nate is engaged to the daughter of the mayor and strictly off-limits.
Nate and Terri form an unlikely friendship while he throws himself into life at the lake. As Nate starts to hear rumors about Terri he’s confused. Knowing how smart, beautiful and strong she is, he’s determined to discover the source of the gossip. Terri doesn’t want to revisit the past, but Nate won’t stop until he discovers the truth—even if the truth might be more than either of them can handle (Summary from Goodreads)
The Lit Bitch 