THE SECRETS OF ROSA LEE

Author: Jodi Thomas ISBN: 0778322025 8/2005 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: MIRA

Everyone assumes Rosa Lee Altman lived a life without passion. But buried secrets are meant to be revealed. And no one is prepared for what they discover beneath Rosa Lee's overgrown roses—or how her legacy will change their lives with love. The once-beautiful Altman home sits empty, its gardens overgrown, its windows boarded up—an old lady, now silent, surrounded by what passes for progress in Clifton Creek, Texas. But if some of the townsfolk have their way, this lovely reminder of times past will be sold off to the highest bidder. When a group of community members with little in common is chosen to decide the fate of "the old Altman place," they soon learn that this home is more than bricks and mortar. It's also a place that harbors a love so strong, it still has the power to change the entire town.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Turns out Rosa Lee's secrets are not all that secretive. Actually, they are pretty easy to figure out from the beginning. Now I don't claim that I knew everything right off, or I would have not bothered to finish reading it, but a lot of it I put together before the author explains it.

There are three vastly different yet connected couples involved, but no hanky-panky. If that is something you like to see in your romantic mystery books, you may want to skip this one. Their stories are all tangled together and the relationships are nicely detailed, but as most of you know, I am all about the hot books. This isn't one of them.

I have to classify this a lightweight read. Not too taxing on the brain, but enough to satisfy a craving to read something. I will say one of the mysterious parts of the book still stumps me. Who hurt one of the characters, Billy? Did the author ever really say, or did I really miss it? As for the rest, well you will have to read it for yourself.

Shannon Johnson