This is a case of me choosing a book based on a cover and thinking it would be something that it wasn't. It just didn't work for me.

This story have me all the good feels and put a smile on my face! I very much enjoyed the writing style and the characters. The setting was great with the plotlines. I definitely would recommend this feel-good novel!

Growing up in the midwest I looked forward to reading this book about escaping the big city to return to the main character's roots in the midwest. While the plot seemed promising, the book itself was not. I skipped around a log just to get through it. It's never good when a book takes a long time to grab my interest.

I'm from the Midwest, so the book spoke to me rather quickly. Jane Willow is a former Corn Queen, home after a family tragedy. Her old hometown is the same but different, just like Jane after time in LA. I really liked all the movie references.

The Lost Queen of Crocker County was such a fun read. I love a main character that is feisty in nature. This book kept me entertained from the first page to the very last. Loved it!

This story made me smile! I loved the writing style of the author and the setting-the Midwest. Looking for a feel good story, this is it! Thanks to Net Galley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this story.

3.8 - really enjoyed the beginning (first half) more than the second half; Jane was a rather well-developed character, but many of the others were very one-dimensional

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By: Leigh Davis | July 26, 2018 12:00 am
So little time — so many books! This month we have double coverage of women’s fiction recommendations with both June and July books. So let’s dive in!
Little Big Love by Katy Regan
What it’s about:
Ten-year-old Zac Hutchinson collects facts: Octopuses have three hearts, Usain Bolt is the fastest man on earth.But no one will tell him the one thing he wants to know most: who his father is and where he went.
When Zac’s mother, Juliet, inadvertently admits that his dad is the only man she’s ever loved, Zac decides he is going to find him and deliver his mom the happily ever after she deserves.
But Liam Jones left for a reason, and as Zac searches for clues of his father, Juliet begins to rebuild what shattered on the day that was at once the happiest and most heartbreaking of her life.
Told through the eyes of Zac, Juliet, and grandfather Mick, Little Big Love is a layered, heartfelt, utterly satisfying story about family, love, and the secrets that can define who we are.
The right stuff: Zac is adorable! Complex family relationship is compelling, and point of view creates an ideal story. A winner!
The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland
What it’s about:
Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are some things Loveday will never, ever show you.
Into her hiding place – the bookstore where she works — come a poet, a lover, and three suspicious deliveries.
Someone has found out about her mysterious past. Will Loveday survive her own heartbreaking secrets?
The right stuff: Marketed as a bibliophile delight, and it is true! Loveday will capture your heart as you become engrossed in the story of her guarding her own heart — from disappointment and betrayal. Wonderful backdrop romance as her Prince Charming helps break down the walls.
The Lido by Libby Page
What it’s about:
Rosemary Peterson has lived in Brixton, London, all her life but everything is changing.
The library where she used to work has closed. The family grocery store has become a trendy bar. And now the lido, an outdoor pool where she’s swum daily since its opening, is threatened with closure by a local housing developer. It was at the lido that Rosemary escaped the devastation of World War II; here she fell in love with her husband, George; here she found community during her marriage and since George’s death.
Twentysomething Kate Matthews has moved to Brixton and feels desperately alone. A once promising writer, she now covers forgettable stories for her local paper. That is, until she’s assigned to write about the lido’s closing. Soon Kate’s portrait of the pool focuses on a singular woman: Rosemary. And as Rosemary slowly opens up to Kate, both women are nourished and transformed in ways they never thought possible.
The right stuff: This book has been compared to Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove because of its heartwarming theme of multigenerational relationships. It’s a marvelous flashback romance and features a developing one. There’s also a Goliath theme — a little guy against big business.
Ain’t She a Peach by Molly Harper
What it’s about:
An Atlanta ex-cop comes to sleepy Lake Sackett, Georgia, seeking peace and quiet—but he hasn’t bargained on falling for Frankie, the cutest coroner he’s ever met.
Frankie McCready talks to dead people. Not like a ghost whisperer or anything—but it seems rude to embalm them and not at least say hello.
Fortunately, at the McCready Family Funeral Home & Bait Shop, Frankie’s eccentricities fit right in. Lake Sackett’s embalmer and county coroner, Frankie’s goth styling and passion for nerd culture mean she’s not your typical Southern girl, but the McCreadys are hardly your typical Southern family.
The right stuff: The funeral home and bait shop combo is pure quirkiness, and it works! Frankie’s eccentricity is too droll. Plenty of romance. Southern idiosyncrasies at their most amusing.
The Late Bloomers’ Club by Louise Miller
What it’s about:
Nora, the owner of the Miss Guthrie Diner, is perfectly happy serving up apple cider donuts, coffee, and eggs-any-way-you-like-em to her regulars, and she takes great pleasure in knowing exactly what’s “the usual.” But her life is soon shaken when she discovers she and her free-spirited, younger sister Kit stand to inherit the home and land of the town’s beloved cake lady, Peggy Johnson.
Kit, an aspiring—and broke—filmmaker thinks her problems are solved when she and Nora find out Peggy was in the process of selling the land to a big-box developer before her death. The people of Guthrie are divided—some want the opportunities the development will bring, while others are staunchly against any change—and they aren’t afraid to leave their opinions with their tips.
Time is running out, and the sisters need to make a decision soon. But Nora isn’t quite ready to let go of the land, complete with a charming farmhouse, an ancient apple orchard and the clues to a secret life that no one knew Peggy had. Troubled by the conflicting needs of the town, and confused by her growing feelings towards Elliot, the big-box developer’s rep, Nora throws herself into solving the one problem that everyone in town can agree on—finding Peggy’s missing dog, Freckles.
The right stuff: Miller does a wonderful job of showcasing the complex relationships we have with our siblings and how to lose the judgment and accept differences. Great sense of community, too!
The Lost Queen of Crocker County by Elizabeth Leiknes
What it’s about:
Crocker County crowns a new Corn Queen every year, but Jane Willow’s the one you would remember. She can’t forget Iowa, either. Even though she fled to LA to become a film critic years ago, home was always there behind her.
But when a family tragedy happens, she’s forced to drive back to Crocker County. The rolling farmlands can’t much hide the things she left behind: the best friend she abandoned who now runs a meatloaf hotline, the childhood front porch that sits hauntingly empty, and that fiasco of a Corn Fest that spun her life in a different direction.
Before Jane can escape her past a second time, disaster strikes, and she will have to find a way to right her mistakes and save herself from her regrets. An unflinchingly love letter to the Midwest that unfolds through a celebration of movies, this ferociously endearing novel brings home the saving grace of second chances.
The right stuff: Pure delight for film buffs. Riveting story of small-town girl transformed into mocking, skeptical sophisticate until she returns home and finds the courage to forgive herself and “make it right.” Strong multifaceted heroine. Wonderful “Believe So” theme.
All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin
What it’s about:
Nina Browning is living the good life after marrying into Nashville’s elite. More recently, her husband made a fortune selling his tech business, and their adored son has been accepted to Princeton.
Yet sometimes the middle-class small-town girl in Nina wonders if she’s strayed from the person she once was.
Tom Volpe is a single dad working multiple jobs while struggling to raise his headstrong daughter, Lyla. His road has been lonely, long, and hard, but he finally starts to relax after Lyla earns a scholarship to Windsor Academy, Nashville’s most prestigious private school.
Amid so much wealth and privilege, Lyla doesn’t always fit in—and her overprotective father doesn’t help—but in most ways, she’s a typical teenaged girl, happy and thriving.
Then, one photograph, snapped in a drunken moment at a party, changes everything. As the image spreads like wildfire, the Windsor community is instantly polarized, buzzing with controversy and assigning blame.
At the heart of the lies and scandal, Tom, Nina, and Lyla are forced together—all questioning their closest relationships, asking themselves who they really are, and searching for the courage to live a life of true meaning.
The right stuff: Giffin combines today’s relevant themes of boys will be boys, the impact of social media and the MeToo movement into a compelling read.
Dreams of Falling by Karen White
What it’s about:
On the banks of the North Santee River stands a moss-draped oak that was once entrusted with the dreams of three young girls. Into the tree’s trunk, they placed their greatest hopes, written on ribbons, for safekeeping—including the most important one: Friends forever, come what may.
But life can waylay the best of intentions….
Nine years ago, a humiliated Larkin Lanier fled Georgetown, South Carolina, knowing she could never go back. But when she finds out that her mother has disappeared, she realizes she has no choice but to return to the place she both loves and dreads—and to the family and friends who never stopped wishing for her to come home.
Ivy, Larkin’s mother, is discovered badly injured and unconscious in the burned-out wreckage of her ancestral plantation home. No one knows why Ivy was there, but as Larkin digs for answers, she uncovers secrets kept for nearly fifty years—whispers of love, sacrifice, and betrayal—that lead back to three girls on the brink of womanhood who found their friendship tested in the most heartbreaking ways.
The right stuff: This one is everything you’ve come to expect from a Karen White book. Strong female friendships, a second chance at love and a great family mystery! (See an excerpt on HEA from Dreams of Falling.)
The Life Lucy Knew by Karma Brown
What it’s about:
After hitting her head, Lucy Sparks awakens in the hospital to a shocking revelation: the man she’s known and loved for years—the man she recently married—is not actually her husband. In fact, they haven’t even spoken since their breakup four years earlier. The happily-ever-after she remembers in vivid detail—right down to the dress she wore to their wedding—is only one example of what her doctors call a false memory: recollections Lucy’s mind made up to fill in the blanks from the coma.
Her psychologist explains the condition as honest lying, because while Lucy’s memories are false, they still feel incredibly real. Now she has no idea which memories she can trust—a devastating experience not only for Lucy, but also for her family, friends and especially her devoted boyfriend, Matt, whom Lucy remembers merely as a work colleague.
When the life Lucy believes she had slams against the reality she’s been living for the past four years, she must make a difficult choice about which life she wants to lead, and who she really is.
The right stuff: An imaginative (and horrifying) plot of memories that are not truly memories. Strong romance and a true happy ending!
Leigh Davis is a former contributor to Heroes and Heartbreakers. When she is not reading, she’s usually outside throwing balls to her insatiable dogs. She loves hearing and talking about great books. You can connect with her on Twitter and Goodreads.
MORE ON HEA: See more posts by Leigh
Elizabeth Leiknes, Emily Giffin, Karen White, Karma Brown, Kate Regan, Libby Page, Louise Miller, Molly Harper, Stephanie Butland, women's fiction, Recommended reads, Top stories

I really, really wanted to like this book. It has such good reviews and is ranked pretty high. However, for me, there was so much about movies that I have never seen and tying them to other things that it just pretty much went over my head.

I just could not relate to the book. All the movies and name dropping. This one just wasn't for me, at all.

I gave an extra star for the beautiful cover.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Initially, I just wasn’t sure what to make of this book and I’m still not really sure how to describe it. The Lost Queen of Crocker County is quirky and funny as well as warm and touching. The main character holds her cards pretty close to her chest as she alludes to having a secret and it’s apparent that it had a substantial impact on her life. Even though I was puzzled by where it was all going, the story still kept me turning pages.

This book is a movie buff’s dream. It’s laden with references to a variety of films. The main character, Jane/Janie Willow, was intrigued with movies from a young age and is now a well-known movie critic from LA. After a long absence, Janie is forced to return to her hometown in Crocker County, Iowa by a family emergency. There we are treated to a big dose of small town life and culture in the Midwest. Secrets and relationships, past and present, slowly unfold before Jane makes the final reveal.

One of the most powerful themes of The Lost Queen… was the exploration of child-parent relationships at various stages through flashbacks. Janie’s parents are longtime pillars, or rather grain elevators {sic}, of the True City community. Her mother’s credo, “Work hard. Be nice.” represented the values to which Jane aspired. Her father was also well known throughout the community for his axiom of hope - “Believe so.” Many readers, myself included, can relate to Jane’s challenge of living up to her parents’ expectations as well as dealing with her past.

At first, I didn’t “get”… all of the movie references, why no one seemed to like the main character (including herself), how the title related to the story, what “Believe so” really meant. Fortunately, I finally "got" just enough, including the movie connections, to appreciate how the author wove all of these clues into the story. It wasn’t until Jane’s big reveal, which I should have seen coming, that I teared up and fell in love with this book.



FYI - I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Nostalgia is a unsavory notion in the world of critics. Jane had left Iowa which was home and came to LA to become a world famous film critic, the name she used was Cinegirl. Jane had been watching the final scene of a James Bond movie and her boss Sydney was banging on her door. She put the Dvd back in its case and Sydney came in he had just come back from vacation. When Jane is watching movies, talking about movies, or thinking about movies she is whole. Jane is no expert on life but she knows movies. They are sacred to her. Jane believes she has caused an accident that caused a young woman to be in a coma and hasn’t been back to Iowa ever since it has been eighteen years.Her parents come to her to visit Jane had just showed Sydney the townhouse she ahd bought for her parents so they could stay in LA area winters Sydney was like a second father t Jane. The before Jane used to believe in second chances. But she is now the after Jane linguistically tidy but caustic and jaded like an honest brazen film review. Eloquent yet unforgivable. In Jane’s assessment the most accurate breakdown of a person’s personality is finding out their favorite movie.Jane had tickets to take her parents to the Oscars she was excited about that and told Sydney. Then she gets a phone call and it is the police on the line and both her parents had been in her fathers plane and they had crashed and had passed away. Jane shuts down and memories hits her she can’t process what she has been told but she now has to go home to go to her parents funeral. She will have to see her best friend Charlotte that she had ignored all this time she is going to have to face all her secrets and demons that have kept her away from home.
I really enjoyed this book a lot. But I feel some things were left hanging and I didn’t like that. At times I chuckled and at times I choked up while reading this book. I lived the plot and the pace. I loved how movies including musicals were all through this book I enjoyed the small town setting of Jane’s home town. I also felt this was a well written book. I really loved the characters and the ups and downs of this book and I recommend.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy from Sourcebooks Landmark for my unbiased opinion of the book. This book is a story about Jane Willow who is a cutthroat movie critic who unexpectedly is called home due to her parent’s untimely death. When Jane left at 18 she vowed never to return. Once back home and stopped looking at her life and hometown through the lens of a camera, she realizes all the things she lost by staying away and what she must fight for to keep. I loved this book was so well written and not dumbed down like a lot of books are these days. That held my interest as well as the well-crafted story that does not disappoint from beginning to end!

Title: The Lost Queen of Crocker
Author: Elizabeth Leiknes
Publisher: SOURCEBOOKS Landmark
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Review:

"The Lost Queen of Crocker" by Elizabeth Leikne

My Thoughts....

This is definitely one of those reads where you will get a little bit of it all...from 'laughter, tears, annoyance, indignation, disbelief, second chances, mistakes made, secrets and in the end happiness.' The story is what will happen when Jane Willow who was a film critic[Cinegirl] living her life to its fullest in Los Angeles come back home to Iowa due to her parents tragic death? Upon coming home after eighteen years the reader gets to see how Jane will confront issues of just why she left in the first place [personal secrets]. Will Jane be able to make that incident that had happened right? I liked how this author was able to convey to the readers a story that 'alternated between time periods and how she wive movie references so well throughout the read.' I liked how this author was able to bring out this story of just how and what Jane had to contend with and come to terms with after coming home. Be ready for some funny scene and some fun characters that will have you laughing out loud!

This was definitely a good story as Jane is faced with her past as well as her future as secrets that had been kept for so long are revealed and also to finally make up with her best friend [Charlotte] who had been ignored for so long. In the end the reader will get a powerful fun read shows a 'self forgiveness and the power of a wonderful community' that will keep one turning the pages to the end.

This is a rare miss for me because I can not condone Jane's actions or more accurately inaction. I have to admit that it was getting entirely too maudlin in its way as Jane grieved the death of her parents but then, well then it wasn't what she did but what she did not do that lost me. The chapters written as a script with Bliss are just weird. The way the story rolled out never regained my sympathy. There are some wonderful characters here (I liked Happy) but I wasn't sure how Iowans might feel about how Leiknes wrote about them since it was somewhere between lovingly bemused and sarcastic and slightly mean. I honestly don't know why I finished this and I'm sorry to say it's not one I recommend. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

So I’m a sucker for the books about going home to your rural county as an adult (since I left mine and haven’t gone back permanently), and since this one was about the rural Midwest instead of the South (there are lot of Southern chick lit books following this theme) I thought I would really like it.

But it just didn’t work for me. I’m giving it 3 stars, because it wasn’t terrible and I could see others liking it, just not me. I didn’t really like Jane and didn’t think she was a good person, even with what she did to try to redeem herself. I saw the plot twist coming a mile away. And I know it was paying homage to movies, and that part of it was to make Jane’s career choice believable, but it was just way too dramatic. Like over the top. Some of the lines just made me cringe.

But if this kind of drama is what you like in your chick lit books, then maybe it will work for you. It’s getting some good reviews so far, so maybe I’m just a little too curmudgeonly for this particular book.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I'm kind of at a 3.5 on this one, rounded up. I read it really quickly because I was so curious about this story, and there were so many things I really wanted to find out. What was the secret that Jane has been keeping that kept her away from home all these years? I had a lot of ideas, but the truth very nearly broke my heart. The part I struggled with in this book <spoiler>had to do with Jane's belief throughout the majority of the book that she is responsible for a car accident that has landed a young woman in a coma</spoiler>. I really hoped that things were going to turn out alright on that one, but Jane's choices around how to handle it made me really nervous! Loved all the film references, and this Midwestern girl really enjoys a story about the small towns that keep churning along despite the hardships.

I'll start with this: the story ended up in too pretty of a neatly wrapped package for my shriveled old crusty heart. But, this was a sweet, perfect beach read of a light-hearted book about movie quotes, childhood mistakes, and forgiveness. I would suggest that anyone reading this book either know or refresh themselves on musicals (specifically The Music Man) and films (Breakfast at Tiffanys, the whole catalogue of James Bond, etc) and not be allergic to corn. Because there are several references to musicals, movies, hot dishes, corn, and corn hot dishes. My only wish was that a few of the relationships were more developed and maybe there were a few hot dish recipes included in the back. Despite my knowledge of film, I appreciated that Ms. Leiknes made sure to indicate what movie was quoted. Again, a fun read that won't tax your on-vacation-brain-cells and might make you believe in the "happily ever after" of the movies.

Four stars. Thank you NetGalley for ARC. Wow! What a surprise. I thought from the title this would be an average formulaic girl leaves farm/orchard/(inset small town setting) frothy light read. Not that it would have been bad—sometimes I need that lighter fare. But this book was so much more. Beautifully writen. Great setting and very original and compelling story. Not at all what I was expecting, and as such a real treat. Great and interesting characters with the main one as a life hardened by secrets and guilt film critic surrounded by an engaging editor, family and friends. Little was predictable in this book. Highly recommend for readers of women’s fiction.

It may be said that you can't go home again, but you can. The scenery will probably be a bit different, but the people will be the same - especially in a rural area. Jane Willow fled her hometown shortly after high school, becoming a well-known film critic in L.A. A family tragedy occurs and she is forced to return to her home town for the first time in years. The story slowly unfolds, along the way providing a lovely homage to the Midwest, but especially to Iowa.
It is the story of a woman who is afraid to face her past, and the community she left behind, but must. It is the story of second chances.

Not at all what I expected, which made it even more of a delight to read. Jane Willow, born and raised in Iowa, lives and breathes movies. She moves to LA and becomes a famous if quite acerbic movie critic. 18 years later, upon the unexpected death of her parents, she must go back to Iowa and face the event in her past that drove her away and the people she abandoned there. Along the way, she discovers that everyone has secrets in their lives, everyone needs a friend, everyone needs redemption of some sort. Full of the goodness of small town America, friendship, heart, hope, witty dialogue and moving events, this was just a wonderful story. Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the e-arc! Loved it! 4+ stars!