Cancel the Wedding by Carolyn T Digman {Book Review}

Title:  Cancel the Wedding
Author:  Carolyn T Digman
Genre:  Contemporary
Pages:  416
Published:  August 2014
Publisher:  Harper
Source:  TLC Book Tours

Synopsis:

A heartfelt fiction debut that will appeal to fans of Emily Giffin’s Southern charm and Jennifer Weiner’s compelling, emotionally resonant novels about the frustrations of blood ties, Cancel the Wedding follows one woman’s journey to discover the secrets of her mother’s hidden past—and confront her own uncertain future.

On the surface, Olivia has it all: a high-powered career, a loving family, and a handsome fiancé. She even seems to be coming to terms with her mother Jane’s premature death from cancer. But when Jane’s final wish is revealed, Olivia and her elder sister Georgia are mystified. Their mother rarely spoke of her rural Southern hometown, and never went back to visit—so why does she want them to return to Huntley, Georgia, to scatter her ashes?

Jane’s request offers Olivia a temporary escape from the reality she’s long been denying: she hates her “dream” job, and she’s not really sure she wants to marry her groom-to-be. With her 14-year-old niece, Logan, riding shotgun, she heads South on a summer road trip looking for answers about her mother.

As Olivia gets to know the town’s inhabitants, she begins to peel back the secrets of her mother’s early life—truths that force her to finally question her own future. But when Olivia is confronted with a tragedy and finds an opportunity to right a terrible wrong, will it give her the courage to accept her mother’s past—and say yes to her own desire to start over?

Olivia’s life isn’t quite as perfect as you would think.  She on the surface has the ‘dream job’ but isn’t really happy with it.  She’s engaged to a nice man, but can’t get herself to set a date for their wedding.  When her Mother passes away and stipulates she wants her ashes scattered in a place they’d never heard her talk about, she decides to go find out more about her Mother.  Tagging along with Olivia is her young niece Logan.  They find themselves in the small town in Georgia – Tillman, which isn’t at all what they expect. 

One of the things I really enjoyed about this book was the mystery of Huntley and what happened to Olivia’s Mother early on her life.  As they piece together the story from newspaper articles, the local people and exploring the area, she learns so much about who her family is and how the events shaped her Mother.  With Emory’s help she finds much more then she ever expected.

Would I recommend this book?  Most definitely, and I have!  I’ve always been a fan of mystery novels and especially ones that include family history!  This is one of those books that you can’t put down.  The story draws you in and keeps you hooked from start to finish.

Would I read more by this author?  Easily!  I can’t wait to see what stories this debut author comes up with next.  Carolyn has a great style and I thoroughly loved this book.  I eagerly await her next book!

About the Author:

Carolyn Dingman grew up as a nomadic military brat often making up stories that the adults referred to as "lies." She is now a grown-up and hardly ever lies anymore unless she's writing fiction where it is considered socially acceptable. She studied Architecture at Clemson University which in no way prepared her for a career in writing.

Her first novel is called, CANCEL THE WEDDING (HarperCollins, August 2014.)

Carolyn lives in Atlanta with her husband and two girls. She volunteers too much, eats too much chocolate, and prefers beer over wine.