Review: Ain’t She a Peach by Molly Harper

Title: Ain’t She a Peach by Molly Harper
Southern Eclectic Series Book Two
Publisher: Gallery Books
Genre: Contemporary, Women’s Fiction, Romance
Length: 304 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

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. Led by Great-Aunt Tootie, the gambling, boozing, dog-collecting matriarch of the family, everyone looks out for one another—which usually means getting up in everyone else’s business.

Maybe that’s why Frankie is so fascinated by new sheriff Eric Linden…a recent transplant from Atlanta, he sees a homicide in every hunting accident or boat crash, which seems a little paranoid for this sleepy tourist town. What’s he so worried about? And what kind of cop can get a job with the Atlanta PD but can’t stand to look at a dead body?

Frankie has other questions that need answering first—namely, who’s behind the recent break-in attempts at the funeral home, and how can she stop them? This one really does seem like a job for the sheriff—and as Frankie and Eric do their best Scooby-Doo impressions to catch their man, they get closer to spilling some secrets they thought were buried forever.

Review:

Ain’t She a Peach by Molly Harper is a light-hearted, humorous novel that is absolutely delightful. This second full length addition to the Southern Eclectic series can easily be read as a standalone but I highly recommend the previous installments as well.

Frankie McCready is a tad eccentric but so sassy and full of life it is easy to overlook her faults. She is twenty-eight but still lives with her over-protective parents and she is just tiny bit spoiled. Frankie is more than ready to move out on her own, but she just cannot quite force herself to have a conversation she knows will be difficult to navigate. Her profession as a mortician and coroner is unique and her habit of talking to her clients is unconventional yet endearing. Is Frankie up to the challenge of catching the sneaky vandal who is plaguing her while at the same maneuvering a tricky romantic entanglement with interim Sheriff Eric Linden?

Eric is a transplant from Atlanta who wants make his Sheriff position in Lake Sackett permanent. He left his last position in the Atlanta police department under a bit of a cloud so he takes his job very seriously. Eric and Frankie share an unexpected history that makes their inevitable encounters somewhat uncomfortable. Just as they begin to explore the chemistry between them, Frankie’s impulsivity creates a major headache for Eric.

Ain’t She a Peach by Molly Harper is a winsome novel with quirky characters, a lead protagonist who has some maturing to do and a male lead who needs to loosen up some. The combination of these elements results in a marvelously entertaining and incredibly heartwarming story. With plenty of down home charm and a slight romantic aspect, this newest addition to the Southern Eclectic series is sure to be a hit with readers who enjoy contemporary women’s fiction.