Sloth Goes Places - Georgia

 

Sloth Goes Places is a feature where I share books I have tracked from previous Literary Escapes reading challenge hosted by Escape With Dollycas Into a Good Book.

Today we are looking at books set in ....

Georgia

Georgia was a big drive through state for me when I lived in Florida. Jacksonville is in North Florida, not too far from Georgia. I have caught connecting flights there too, at the Atlanta airport. Has anyone been there? I remember, my daughter was a baby, and I thought I would have plenty of time to feed her before my connecting flight. When I asked how to get to my gate, they told me I had to take the train!!! It's the plane train which is needed because the airport is SO BIG! It's no joke getting around that airport. 

I have read a lot of books set in Georgia, and it is never difficult to find one I like for my reading challenge. I like this list I made because the settings are all quite different - a big city, a college town, and a rural area. I have found some variety in Georgia settings, but Atlanta continues to be very popular. 

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Before I Go by Colleen Oakley
Published by Gallery Books on January 6, 2015
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Fiction

Goodreads

A heart-wrenching debut novel in the bestselling tradition of P.S. I Love You about a young woman with breast cancer who undertakes a mission to find a new wife for her husband before she passes away.

Twenty-seven-year-old Daisy already beat breast cancer three years ago. How can this be happening to her again?

On the eve of what was supposed to be a triumphant “Cancerversary” with her husband Jack to celebrate three years of being cancer-free, Daisy suffers a devastating blow: her doctor tells her that the cancer is back, but this time it’s an aggressive stage four diagnosis. She may have as few as four months left to live. Death is a frightening prospect—but not because she’s afraid for herself. She’s terrified of what will happen to her brilliant but otherwise charmingly helpless husband when she’s no longer there to take care of him. It’s this fear that keeps her up at night, until she stumbles on the solution: she has to find him another wife.

With a singular determination, Daisy scouts local parks and coffee shops and online dating sites looking for Jack’s perfect match. But the further she gets on her quest, the more she questions the sanity of her plan. As the thought of her husband with another woman becomes all too real, Daisy’s forced to decide what’s more important in the short amount of time she has left: her husband’s happiness—or her own?

I fell in love with Oakley via Tanner & Marie and have been enjoying working my way through her backlist. This one was heartbreaking, and I ugly cried for this woman. The synopsis makes it sound like some fun look-for-a-wife-for-my-husband sort of story, but for me, it was about Daisy coming to terms with her terminal diagnosis. Both Daisy and her husband are students (masters/PHD), and the story is set in the college town of Athens. A bit of change from most of the Georgia books I read that were set in Atlanta. 

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The Break-Up Book Club by Wendy Wax
Published by Berkely on May 18, 2021
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Fiction

Goodreads

Breakups, like book clubs, come in many shapes and sizes and can take us on unexpected journeys as four women discover in this funny and heartwarming exploration of friendship from the USA Today bestselling author of Ten Beach Road and My Ex-Best Friend's Wedding.

On paper, Jazmine, Judith, Erin and Sara have little in common - they're very different people leading very different lives. And yet at book club meetings in an historic carriage house turned bookstore, they bond over a shared love of reading (and more than a little wine) as well as the growing realization that their lives are not turning out like they expected.

Former tennis star Jazmine is a top sports agent balancing a career and single motherhood. Judith is an empty nester questioning her marriage and the supporting role she chose. Erin's high school sweetheart and fiance develops a bad case of cold feet, and Sara's husband takes a job out of town saddling Sara with a difficult mother-in-law who believes her son could have done better - not exactly the roommate most women dream of.

With the help of books, laughter, and the joy of ever evolving friendships, Jazmine, Judith, Erin and Sara find the courage to navigate new and surprising chapters of their lives as they seek their own versions of happily-ever-after.

I am pretty sure this book did take place in Atlanta, but the star of this story was the wonderful, multi-generational book club. All these women were dealing with something terrible in their lives, but they had the support of each other. I love women-helping-woman and stories of female friendship, and it was done so well in this book. 

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The Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen
Published by St. Martin's Press on January 21, 2014
Age/Genres: Adult, Enchanted Realism

Goodreads

The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a picture postcard. Just an old photo and a few words on a small square of heavy stock, but when she saw it, she knew she was seeing her future.

That was half a life ago. Now Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby's past. Her husband George is long passed. Most of her demanding extended family are gone. All that's left is a once-charming collection of lakeside cabins succumbing to the Southern Georgia heat and damp, and an assortment of faithful misfits drawn back to Lost Lake year after year by their own unspoken dreams and desires.

It's a lot, but not enough to keep Eby from relinquishing Lost Lake to a developer with cash in hand, and calling this her final summer at the lake. Until one last chance at family knocks on her door.

Lost Lake is where Kate Pheris spent her last best summer at the age of twelve, before she learned of loneliness, and heartbreak, and loss. Now she's all too familiar with those things, but she knows about hope too, thanks to her resilient daughter Devin, and her own willingness to start moving forward. Perhaps at Lost Lake her little girl can cling to her own childhood for just a little longer... and maybe Kate herself can rediscover something that slipped through her fingers so long ago.

One after another, people find their way to Lost Lake, looking for something that they weren't sure they needed in the first place: love, closure, a second chance, peace, a mystery solved, a heart mended. Can they find what they need before it's too late?

At once atmospheric and enchanting, Lost Lake shows Sarah Addison Allen at her finest, illuminating the secret longings and the everyday magic that wait to be discovered in the unlikeliest of places.

Lost Lake took me lakeside to Suley, Georgia. The lake community was a quirky and wonderful one who were there to bid goodbye to this resort. Kate's visit was an important one because there, she would begin healing from her husband's death. Warm and wonderful, like all of Allen's books with touches of magic to make it even better. 

Have you read any books set in Georgia?
Let us know in the comments!