TLC Book Tours Book Review: The Promise of Pierson Orchard

Author: Kate Brandes
Title: The Promise of Pierson Orchard
Publisher: Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing
Publish Date: April 22, 2017
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: Long before fracking ever came to Minden, Pennsylvania, the fissures in the Pierson family were developing into major fault lines.

Green Energy arrives, offering the rural community of Minden the dream of making more money from their land by leasing natural gas rights for drilling. But orchardist, Jack Pierson, fears his brother, Wade, who now works for Green Energy, has returned to town after a twenty-year absence so desperate to be the hero that he'll blind their hometown to the potential dangers. Jack also worries his brother will try to rekindle his relationship with LeeAnn, Jack's wife, who's recently left him. To protect his hometown and to fulfill a promise to himself, Jack seeks out his mother and environmental lawyer, Stella Brantley, who abandoned Minden--and Jack and Wade--many, many years ago.

Review: I gravitate to a book when I see that it takes place in Pennsylvania. I guess that's because I'm a PA girl, born and bred.

This is a book that you won't be able to put down. It makes you think, thanks to a the addition of the energy company and fracking, that is part of the culture in PA. Anyone that lives here has an opinion. Mine tends to go with Stella's way of thinking.

From the get go, I hated Wade. I think it was because he worked for the energy company and because he had designs on Jack's wife because they were involved in the past. As the book went on, there was no way of liking Wade. He was horrible and so very messed up. Considering the events in his life surrounding his father's death, it is understandable, but you hope that he will change.

There is so much family drama, that is added to with the help of Stella Brantley who is Jack and Wade's estranged mother. I felt bad for her, because her dysfunctional family seemed to carry forward and really made her own children's lives just as dysfunctional.

Jack is a hard worker. The keep it together type. He's the kind of man that I admire. He wants to do what's right even if it messes things up.

My heart broke for LeeAnn, who is dealing with marital struggles and her mother's illness. She's a character you feel sorry for while wanting to shake too.

I liked how the story was told in the alternating viewpoints of Jack, Wade, Stella and LeeAnn. It gives you a chance to understand each character through their eyes.

You get really invested in each characters and you really hope something good happens to these people, because well, they deserve it.

There's a lot going on here, but everything is beautifully written and the story moves along at a pace that makes you say to yourself, "one more chapter" until you realize you've read the whole thing.

This is definitely a must read for 2017

Rating: 5 flowers

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