"Girls in Trucks" Katie Crouch

Let me start by saying that I couldn't put this book down. I just physically lacked the power to put it away. Luckily for me, Jay was out on Saturday night leaving me with all of the time in the world to read once the kids were in bed for the night. “Girls in Trucks” follows the life of Sarah Walters, a South Carolina debutante, from the time that she is in grade 4 learning to dance for her debutante ball to when she is 35 and living in New York City.

As a Camellia, a member of one of Charleston’s oldest debutante societies, Sarah has been taught never to chase men or buses, and never to be seen riding in a truck. Sarah manages to break both of these rules quite early in life, and we follow her as she dates unsuitable men and leaves home to go to a small liberal arts College in New York. We also follow three of the girls that she was a debutante with and we discover the different paths that life can take you in, regardless of where you grow up and whether or not you are a debutante.

That, in a nutshell, is what this book is about. When you’re young you have this vision of what your adult life will be like. Some people envision marriage or kids, others envision themselves as a successful career person, and some envision themselves with it all. Life, though, doesn’t always follow the path that you think it will. It throws you curve balls; it throws unsuitable men in your path, or money trouble, or addictive substances. Life can veer off in a random and unexpected direction and you may not end up where you think that you will. Sarah Walters chases unsuitable men, makes friends, loses friends, changes jobs and makes decisions and by 35 she finds that although her life has not turned out how she used to think it would, it is somehow better because she’s found her own way. At the conclusion of the book her path has not quite been settled on, but she's okay with that, because a person’s life is always evolving and changing as we make our decisions and are presented with new opportunities.

Thanks to the Hachette Book Group for this review copy, and look out for a chance to win 1 of 5 copies of this book coming later this week!