Mary Schramski What to Keep

What to Keep

Mary Schramski

Harlequin Next, Aug 2005, $5.50, 296 pp.

ISBN: 0373880588

In 2000, forty year old, married and divorced three times, Vegas Golden Nugget blackjack dealer Juliette Carleton with two digits in her bank account learns from North Carolina state appointed executor Ron Tanner that she inherited the estate of her late Uncle Grey Alexander. She had not seen him since she was a child and neither stayed in touch so she is surprised that she is the recipient of his house, car, and not much else. Not long afterward, Juliette adds unemployment to her r sum as she is fired when her beer fuzzed brain calls her womanizing pit boss an a-hole.

Juliette heads to North Carolina with plans to sell the antebellum home Magnolia Hall until she begins hearing tales about her great aunt who lived there before the Civil War as she begins to explore beneath the southern layers of dust into her ancestry. She also wonders who the housekeeper Tildy Butler is and why she remains in this dilapidated mausoleum. Finally there is the kind lawyer who attracts her so much she wants to forget her vow of no more men.

Though readers will know early on who's who, fans will enjoy this fine contemporary tale focused on a woman needing to renew her life so filled with failure. Juliette initially comes to North Carolina to sell Magnolia House, but is quickly caught in a desire to learn about her family tree. Flashbacks to her great aunt provides a wonderful look back at the pre Civil War Tarheel State while also blending nicely with the heroine's need to know. Mary Schramski writes a solid character study tale that wonderfully contrasts the past and the present leaving the future with possibilities.

Harriet Klausner