Read it or Weep

Rhett Smith was raised by her late father and grandmother on their family farm, Pioneer Hill, in New Hampshire and has been estranged from her university dean/mother Margaret ever since she left them for academia. Instead of college, much to her mother’s disapproval, Rhett chooses to travel the world, seeking adventure and a nomadic lifestyle that doesn’t tie her down. Despite thinking she’ll never live up to her mother’s standards, on Instagram, under the name “Modern Pioneer Girl,” Rhett has garnered quite a following. As her alter-ego, or MPG, Rhett translates her diverse skill-set into a fearless, can-do attitude that inspires other young women to question their own life choices, learn how to fix their own flat tires, attempt to drive a pedicab in Thailand, or be unafraid to work odd jobs to get by. In fact, Rhett has written a successful, best-selling book about it all under a pseudonym – a book that is outselling her own mother’s book of parental advice.

When Rhett’s beloved grandmother dies, a now 40-year-old Rhett decides it is time to stop her wanderings and return to the farm and run it full-time. She is shocked to discover that she has inherited it jointly with Margaret who wants to sell it to her university. As if that weren’t bad enough, when Rhett is asked to be on the Today Show to promote her book, she chickens out and forces her best friend Jasmine to go in her place. Now the world believes that Jasmine is the Modern Pioneer Girl, and Rhett looks like an unemployed failure to her mom, once again. How will plain old Rhett ever convince her mother not to sell her half of the farm?

Pick up In Her Boots by K. J. Dell’Antonia if you are looking for a novel that is full of heart and humor. This book is perfect for fans of women’s fiction and books about friendship, family, second chances and a little bit of romance. I read this delightful novel in a single sitting.

-Carol