REVIEW: Set In Stone by Ros Baxter

Set In Stone by Ros Baxter: Lou decides to go home after twenty years for a school reunion with her friend Sharni. They make a deal.

“One hour,’ she said, wishing they’d been able to get a plane out later in the evening. That would have been the safest bet. ‘In, out. Shake your impressive new booty in front of your shithead ex and then we get the hell out of there. Go find a nice meat-free Caesar salad somewhere, get an early night before we blow this popsicle stand in the morning. No excessive drinking. No dancing with dirty boys. No beef. No fighting with Shazza Maclean.”

But things fall apart at that reunion. Lou tries to stop Sharni from being with her ex, then tries to keep her from fighting, and Lou meets up with her long lost love. She then finds out her mother is dying, all in one night.

You can’t possibly believe what all goes array. Good thing Lou’s a lawyer, she ends up needing to get her dad out of a jam. 1 hour for the reunion turns into weeks in Stone Mountain.

I loved how Lou’s character final forgave herself for everything and left herself be the person she always longed to be. The journey that Lou went through was so heartbreaking at times, I kept tearing up as I was reading.

Set In Stone by Ros Baxter was a very good read and if you enjoy books that keep you guessing and tug at your heart, you will love this one.

Book Info:

Publication: June 1st 2015 by MIRA

Lou Samuels is going home for the first time in twenty years. To the mother she can never forgive, the boy she can never forget, and a rural town that needs a saviour.

Louise Samuels hasn’t been home to Stone Mountain since graduation night, twenty years ago. And she never, ever thinks about all she lost that night. So when her best friend convinces her to go back to their drought-stricken home for their school reunion they strike a deal. One hour: get in, shake your booty, get out.

Lou knows all about deals – she manages acquisitions and mergers at the biggest law firm in Sydney. But the deal gets shelved when The Boy Least Likely to Succeed, Gage Westin, brings up long-buried memories, and her estranged mother calls with an SOS. Things get even more complicated when Lou agrees to help the local council but ends up working with the coal seam gas company Gage is fighting for control of his property.

When Lou discovers her mother is dying, she starts to wonder if it’s time to face the ghosts of her past and make peace with her home. But then things heat up with Gage, the gas company and the council, and Lou is forced to make a deal with the devil to save them all.

She’s just not sure if Gage Westin, and Stone Mountain, will ever forgive her for it.