Kalan Chapman LloydRecensioni

I received an e-copy of this story for an honest review.
Once again Miss. Kalan gives us some more of that small-town, Southern Oklahoma, delicious craziness. A place where family secrets aren't always secret and everybody has an opinion on what you should and shouldn't do. And where your family, best friend, and your people always have your back.

I received an e-copy of this story for an honest review.
This story took me back to the time I lived in Oklahoma. Even though I was not a native Okie, and only lived there for 5 years, I miss those gatherings with my girls. The barbeques, the talks, the Bless her/his heart sessions. Yes, those things are real, and do happen in small towns. And, Sunday dinner is an absolute, do-not-miss-for-any-reason, event. Thank you Ms. Kalan for bringing back some good memories.

Lilly Atkins left small town Brooks, Oklahoma to be a big city lawyer in Dallas, and was quite successful at--until everything came crashing down with the discovery of her fiancé in their shared bed with his secretary. Now she's home in Brooks, setting up a local law practice.

She knows she's got trouble when her high school on-and-off boyfriend walks in the door, wanting her to handle his divorce. She just doesn't know how much trouble.

Lilly Atkins and her female family and friends take the duties and responsibilities of Southern womanhood very seriously, and that means some entertaining petty revenge when the husband of one of their number is caught cheating on her. It's a bit less clear what it means when Lilly's former boyfriend, now a doctor and running the local hospital, in addition to wanting a divorce, may also be engaged in organ smuggling.

The overall tone of this is light and humorous, and yet it really is, in part, about organ smuggling. That created a certain dissonance for me, that I wasn't happy about. Of course, it's also about small town closeness, the importance of family and friends, and remembering where you came from, and the light humor is far more appropriate for that.

I do rather like Lilly.

Enjoyable, if you're only looking for a light distraction sort of read.

I bought this audiobook.

The publisher's blurb gives hints but makes it sound boring. So not true! There's lots of gigglesnorts here when the girlfriends get together to help each other out with problems some are having with ratfink boyfriends. Ah, the good parts of small town life! Not going to recap the story because that's just silly, so I'll just go with read it yourself. But not with a cup of hot caffeine!
I read the audio, and it's narrated by the author! Can't ever go wrong with that, and not to worry, the drawl is kind to Northern ears.

I'm an eclectic reader. I will read almost anything, even the back of cereal boxes if there's nothing else. One component that really rocks my library is when an author has a sense of humor. I go along with Reader's Digest on this: Laughter is the best medicine. (A quick net search doesn't yield who originally coined the phrase but one of the closest is a quote by Henry Ward Beecher: Mirth is God’s medicine, so I'll stick with good old Reader's Digest on this one.) Anyway, that's certainly a digression, but it leads me to Home Is Where Your Boots Are by Kalan Chapman Lloyd.

Home Is Where Your Boots Are is funny. While the formula of a small town with lovable eccentric characters and a feisty heroine has been done before, Chapman Lloyd gives it her own touch, Oklahoma style. The heroine, Lilly Atkins, left Brooks, Oklahoma to go to college. She then became a lawyer and then became engaged to wealthy Van Payton Ehlers the third of the Dallas Ehlers. When Lilly discovers her fiance boinking another woman, Lilly hears home calling and returns to her support system in Brooks.cover82764-medium

But Lilly isn't really licking her wounds. Deep down she suspected that Ehlers wasn't right for her and the fact that she isn't more upset doesn't surprise her. It becomes even more apparent when Lilly encounters Cash, her old boyfriend.

Lilly's feelings toward Cash are complicated. She acknowledges this. Her level of self-understanding is one thing I really like about this character. After reading so many books where the heroine is self-deluded or defiantly tough, it was the clichéd breath-of-fresh-air to meet Lilly Atkins. She has faults--an acknowledged weak stomach and a weakness for Cash; she has strengths--she's smart and loyal; and she comes across as someone you really might meet, and even like.

As the community welcomes Lilly home, she decides that this is really what she needs and wants and decides to set up lawyering shop in Brooks. Immediately she gets embroiled in a mystery. And then there's an encounter with the "hot" mysterious Yankee Spencer Locke.

The story is pretty satisfying as is the quirky world that Chapman Lloyd has built. There are some wickedly funny lines and some philosophizing. For categorization, I would almost place this under the sub-genre of cozy mystery except that there is a touch of profanity, which is typically absent from those mysteries.

The narrative tone is conversational and sometimes on the verbose-side, a little paring down for comprehension-sake would not be unwanted. With that said, this novel definitely deserves sequels, which I hope are as good as this debut, which was first published in 2010 and then republished in 2015.

This was based on a RC from NetGalley for an honest review.

As an attorney, I have a love-hate relationship with "legal" fiction or books that feature lawyer characters. The hate part comes from my proclivity to pick apart the legal aspect, or get annoyed when something improper is done, or get annoyed when something is done differently from how I would have done it. Because I know best, right? I know, my ego knows no bounds. The love part comes from the fact that I love to envision myself as the lead character... and with a character in my profession, that is one step closer to letting me live out the fictional fantasy. But because of the hate part, I usually find that I rate legal fiction on the lower end of the spectrum or give up and stop reading the book altogether. I am happy to report that I have found my solution and it comes in the form of [a:Kalan Chapman Lloyd|13931857|Kalan Chapman Lloyd|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1433251401p2/13931857.jpg]!

My friends are just like yours. Only prettier. And scarier. Like a hormonal, big-haired, pistol-packing gang.

Why, you ask? Well this requires some explanation. I am an attorney who has been nicknamed Bambi, and referred to as the "dumbest smart person you ever met." My life seem a bit ridiculous sometimes... so I was absolutely delighted to find a kindred spirit in the heroine of this book, Lilly Atkins. Lilly would totally be in my girl posse if she jumped off the pages of this book.

So even though I've been raised a Southern belle, I am at least a quarter redneck from my Nonnie's side (don't tell her I found out in a genealogy search).

Lilly is not just an attorney... she is a curly-haired dynamo, part southern belle and part redneck, and has questionable taste in men. It was like looking in a mirror, I swear. She loves clothes and shoes and handbags and boots. A woman after my own heart.

...slipping off my heels to get into the car. You don't drive in heels, especially if they're expensive. That's how accidents happen, but more importantly, that's how heel scuffs occur.

Lilly has taken up residence as one of the few attorneys in a small podunk town - something that I think could be very fun for me after I retire. It's a thought (a scary thought).

I used to be a snooty real estate lawyer in Dallas, but after I caught my gutless wonder of a fiance cheating on me, I hauled my heart and my bags back to my mama and daddy. I set up shop to practice small town law and got involved in some seemingly big city stuff. My ex-boyfriend tried to enlist me to divorce his wife (I'm not proud to say I accepted the retainer before I came to my senses)...

Lilly is like Stephanie Plum, if Stephanie Plum were a southern debutante lawyer. If you are a fan of the Stephanie Plum Series by [a:Janet Evanovich|2384|Janet Evanovich|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1385051483p2/2384.jpg] - then I predict that you will be a fan of the MisAdventures of Miss Lilly by [a:Kalan Chapman Lloyd|13931857|Kalan Chapman Lloyd|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1433251401p2/13931857.jpg]. No, these are not copycat books or any nonsense like that. But they are Stephanie Plum for southerners. The characters have similar family dynamics, a hip and hilarious grandma, and a penchant for getting into impossible situations. These series may not enrich you in a literary sense or impart some vast knowledge, but they are damn funny. Lloyd has created a great campy comedy that is unapologetically southern and certain put a smile on your face.

You're just embarrassed because your redneck came out while he was watching.

What's unapologetically southern you ask? Grandmas that go by Nonnie or Memaw, sisters named Talula Belle, daddies with a Magnum P.I. mustache, cowboy boots, big hair, moe-rons, and decorating that is Better Homes and Garden meets Guns and Ammo. And great southernisms like He could wait me out better than an opening day hunter in a tree stand.

There is kind of a love interest triangle at play... note that I said love interest. There is no real romance, yet. But the path is definitely paved for the future. We have Cash Stetson, the ex-boyfriend gambling addict doctor/conman, versus Spencer Locke, the yankee former FBI now attorney. Lilly is attracted to Spencer Locke but he also irritates the hell out of her. Then there is also the little problem of his heritage, which started above the Mason-Dixon line.

...I was the belle of the ball, and he wore Yankee gray, so it would be hard for us to ever understand each other.

You're such a Yankee. I don't know why people like you.

Now this book is not the first in the series, and I didn't realize that until after I started reading. Normally I hate when that happens, particularly when a series is following the same main character. It just bothers my OCD reading tendencies. But it wasn't too bad here. Lloyd did an excellent job of referencing and summarizing what happened in [b:Home Is Where Your Boots Are|25499039|Home Is Where Your Boots Are (MisAdventures of Miss Lilly, #1)|Kalan L. Chapman|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1432720020s/25499039.jpg|45275372]. But now that I have read and enjoyed this book so much, I will definitely be reading the rest of the series.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 Stars / 0 Flames.

This is the sequel to Home Is Where Your Boots Are, which is reference so much, that it becomes distracting. The story would be much tighter if the events of the first book were referenced only when necessary.