‘Sonoma Rose’ characters have an edge
I started reading Jennifer Chiaverini’s new Elm Creek Quilts novel, “Sonoma Rose” last night and couldn’t put it down.
I plowed through half of the book before I decided I absolutely had to go to bed if I was going to be of any use today. Part of what has me so enthralled in Chiaverini’s 19th novel is the main characters have more of an edge than the ones in her previous novels.
Sure there were a few bad guys, but they were minor characters. The main players in “Sonoma Rose” are an abusive husband who moonlights as a bootlegger and has ties to the mob, and a pair of adulterers on the run, one of whom is a recovering alcoholic and the other has been raising two of her lover’s children as her husband’s.
Let’s just say that there hasn’t been this much intrigue and suspense in Chiaverini’s plot lines since “The Lost Quilter,” which was the first Elm Creek Quilts novel I read and my favorite to date. Although it may be my second favorite once I finish “Sonoma Rose.”
“Sonoma Rose” is available on Feb. 21. I’m interviewing Chiaverini on Wednesday, so if you have questions you’d like me to ask her, please post them in the comment section by the end of today.