When Things Go South

In this novel, a young woman comes of age as she encounters love and loss over and over again.

Small-town Kentuckian Riley Blair is no stranger to life’s curveballs. With a seven-times-married Momma and a five-times-wed Daddy, she knows how hard it is to find love and to keep it: “Broken marriages with broken homes were just as common to me as the sun setting and rising.” Riley grows up determined not to follow in her parents’ footsteps, but an accidental pregnancy at the age of 16 starts her on a similar path. Married young to a bad boy with a drug problem, Riley ends up a widow with a baby soon after. A new chance at love comes along, but it’s a turbulent marriage. Tragedy strikes again when her beloved, alcoholic second husband dies, leaving her widowed and a heartbroken mess with two children to bring up alone. Her unerring faith in God, inherited from her grandparents, who taught her not to question his plan, is the only thing keeping her from collapsing under the weight of so much grief while enduring these and other misfortunes. And if sometimes Riley thinks that her penchant for troubled guys who need her help will inevitably bring her more sorrow, she loves men too much not to be open to another relationship. And maybe next time she will get the fairy-tale ending she has always dreamed of. Hogan’s quiet, reflective novel features a relatable protagonist, earnest characters, and a poignant story full of ups and downs and romance and tragedy. There is a certain old-fashioned but self-assured feel to Riley’s recurring musings about her life, especially her relationships with men: “I am a strong woman, but I’m a woman, and I like having a man around.” Riley’s voice allows for an easygoing narrative. But the prose is sometimes patchy, full of telling, not showing, and in need of a strong editor’s eagle eye to catch the head-scratching present tense to past tense shifts.

An intriguing but uneven tale that explores a woman’s struggles and her faith in God.