Book Review : Leaving Carolina

At the age of 18 Piper Wick left her hometown of Pickwick, North Carolina, with no intentions of ever returning. She's made a new life for herself in LA as a high powered public relations consultant with a new name and without her Southern drawl. Her happiness lies in her successful career and the engagement to U.S. Congressman Grant Spangler that is dangling in her near future. Nothing could change what she's worked so hard for these past twelve years.

At least that's what she thought. Then a phone call from Pickwick changes everything. Reclusive old Uncle Obadiah Pickwick has decided to change his will, leaving money to make amends for four generations’ worth of family misdeeds. But that will reveal all the Pickwicks’ secrets, including Piper’s.

Piper heads to Pickwick determined to keep the family secrets hidden but she is not prepared for the new secrets she will discover, nor is she prepared for Uncle Obadiah's secretive blue eyed gardener. Will the family secrets be revealed or hidden for another generation? And what about Piper? Will she finally make peace with the past she left behind in Carolina?


Leaving Carolina is a charming book full of humor, romance, secrets, and values. Piper is a lovable character who draws you into her predicament with her witty Southern charm. Uncle Obadiah's honesty and desire to come clean with the family secrets is an honorable wish, although terrifying to the rest of the kooky Pickwick family. Together they navigate the situation in a multitude of ways. Some take matters into their own hands, some try to make their own amends with the past, and others are just downright mean.

As Piper attempts to smooth things over down in Pickwick with her big city public relations skills she finds that what she teaches her high paying celebrity clients isn't always as easy under pressure as she tries to make it seem. Faced with her own secrets, new information about her past, the handsome gardener, and an endearing niece she never knew, Piper begins to wonder about the truth and the refreshing cleanse that it might bring to the family.

Leaving Carolina is a lively and enjoyable story that you won't be able to put down, although you won't want it to end either. If you're familiar with the South you'll enjoy the Southern jokes and Cracker Barrel references throughout the book.

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