Sweet Vidalia by Lisa Sandlin is a story set in Texas during the 1960's. The female protagonist, Eliza, must adjust to changing circumstances after the unexpected death of her husband.

I listened to the audiobook and thought the narration by Janet Metzger was an excellent fit for the characters. Metzger's voice and pacing embraced the story in a seamless way. New chapters were introduced in a clear and easy to follow fashion. Great job!

Sweet Vidalia is a good book for fans of historical fiction with a female protagonist. As a middle-aged woman, I appreciated reading a story about a women near my age, and how she faced the struggles surfacing in her life. Overall, the book has a lot of promise. At times, however, I felt the writing was over-descriptive, which was a distraction and a bit laborious to hear. Audience engagement seemed to improve for me when the story more concisely balanced description with plot progression.

Overall, I would rate this book a 3.5--rounded up to 4. Readers that appreciate a relatively mellow plot will find comfort in Sweet Vidalia and its lessons in resilience.

Sweet Vidalia is set in the 1960's in Texas with Eliza losing her husband but there is so much more she will have to overcome. I enjoyed this novel as it falls into a new category of books I have been reading; historical fiction with strong female main characters who do not fit the mold of their time. They are trail blazers who do not accept society's expectations of them. Although, the story is slower paced, the beginning of the story sets the stage and kept me engaged. I would give this 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you Net Galley, Lisa Sandlin and Hachette Audio for the opportunity to preview this audiobook. The opinions shared are my own.

Sweet Vidalia is expected to be released Dec. 3 just in time for the holidays.

Wow, wow, and wow. The first was so heart-wrenching. The rest was a testament of strength and will. What a beautifully written story of an invisible life. Well done.

Texas 1964- Eliza sits stunned at her husbands funeral with her two adult children. Robert died suddenly , leading to a lot of secrets he had hidden being unveiled in rapid succession.
At 57, Eliza becomes aware the life she was living is no longer possible and she has to start over completely. With no real job experience or qualifications, no money, her children living their own lives , Eliza has to find a new path.

This was a pleasant read. All the shocking revelations take place at the beginning of the book and although I didn’t yet know or care for the characters, I was immediately drawn into the book. In fact the strongest part of the whole book , for me, was when Eliza is driving her dying husband to the hospital in the opening chapter. When all is revealed and the book switches to Eliza starting over in life , the plot and pacing slows right down and meanders along as we follow Eliza moving to a hotel, starting classes and meeting people along the way.
She’s a good character, I was invested in her story and enjoyed reading her about her efforts to find her new path in life. A non taxing , gentle read.
3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
I enjoyed the narration, the narrators accent and tone matched the pace of the novel, beautifully.

Eliza is rushing her husband to hospital with a suspected heart attack and is stopped by the police for going too fast. In the confusion that follows, Robert dies. This is the start of Eliza’s problems. She finds out he hasn’t been doing extra shifts at work but has another wife and has been living a double life.
Eliza has her two grown up children, their home and dog. But suddenly her world is turned upside down, Robert took out a mortgage on the house to buy a house for his new wife, Eliza doesn’t want to inflict herself of her children, so she moves into Sweet Vidalia - a motel. She sells many of her possessions and starts to rebuild her life, including going back to studying and learning bookkeeping.
Quite a sad story, but shows hope and resilience in the face of tragedy.
Well read, easy to listen to.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest review. Janet Metzger does a great job narrating this story. I highly recommend the audiobook!

Its 1964 in Texas and Eliza's husband has just died from a heart attack. Despite the sudden loss, Eliza is further devastated to learn that her husband is a bigamist. Navigating her new life, Eliza learns very quickly how to adjust and survive. A large part of that is her life at her new home, the Sweet Vidalia Motel where Eliza starts over and rediscovers who she is.

Overall, this is a well written domestic drama about a woman worn down by life and how she survives. I did enjoy this story and admired Eliza's strength. Definitely an enjoyable read!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this book!!

What a great book!! It had me hooked from page one! I couldn’t put this down. I finished it in one sitting. I enjoyed the storyline and the characters. This was a first for me by this author but it will not be my last!!

I really enjoyed “Sweet Vidalia” by Lisa Sandlin. This is a haunting and thought-provoking novel about a woman who has to suddenly reinvent her life in 1960s Texas; this will stay with me a long time. I appreciated the themes of redemption and reinvention as well as the main character Eliza’s ability to meet others where they are at. She is a resilient and quietly fierce character. Parts of the book are laugh-out-loud funny as well. I can understand the comparison of the writer to Elizabeth Strout and Anne Tyler. However, I didn’t understand why some characters disappeared without their storylines being resolved. Overall, I really enjoyed the book. Great narration by Janet Metzger which also really fit with the main character. Thanks to Hachette Audio and NetGalley for the eARC.

Sweet Vidalia by Lisa Sandlin
This is a novel of strength and resilience.
Eliza is my hero!
In 1964, Eliza loses more than she ever imagined when her husband dies suddenly. In the pit of complete despair, Eliza finds deceit and lies. Her whole world is upended in ways she never imagined.
As Eliza struggles to rise from the wreckage that her life has become, she rebuilds herself, taking classes and finding a new direction on her own. She discovers friends all around her and faces things where most people would have given up. She is a force of courage and kindness. This was an awesome story!
The narrator, Janet Metzger, did an awesome job in bringing Eliza to life using her voice. It was just so real with her tone of voice and connection with the characters.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the opportunity to review this audiobook.
4/5⭐️

I listened to an audiobook and the narration was absolutely awful and ruined the entire story for me. A printed version might sit better.

If you love a comeback story and a middle age woman whose husband’s secret rocks her world as she knows it.
This was just so fabulous on audio and I highly recommend it. Eliza is the character you will root for with her spunk, her never quit spirit and her compassionate heart.

This book will quietly make you think… what would you do?

You know, I don't usually like this kind of thing. (What kind of thing? Well, historical fiction, coming of [middle] age, slow burn, kind of thing.) But this really worked.



Review copy provided by publisher.

Oh this was good Lisa! I was so not sure what to expect with the story, and WOW! It was so good. I could not put it down. It was wonderfully written story,