The Family Plot

by Brea Brown

Whitney Faelhaber is a strong, independent woman. Just ask her, and she'll tell you. Over and over again. But when her favorite aunt passes away and leaves her Velvet Printing, Whitney’s strength and independence are challenged in unexpected ways.

On paper, it sounds easy—all she needs to do is spend a few weeks in a small town in Maine and put this small business in order so she can return to her career in academia in sophisticated Boston. But the print shop comes with some difficult characters and a crumbling infrastructure, and she keeps crossing paths with the socially awkward yet intriguing (and handsome) guy who works at—of all places—the funeral parlor. To make things odder, it seems he had some sort of connection to her aunt—but nobody wants to talk about exactly what it was; least of all him. And then where is the missing $50,000?

The Family Plot explores connections to work, family, love, life, death, and life again. Because maybe what changes your ability to cope with death is learning how to truly live.

378 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 17, 202

Reviews

[Tracie Banister · Rating 5 out of 5]

We meet the heroine of this novel at a funeral, where she, along with her mostly disinterested family, is paying her last respects to her favorite aunt, the quirkily named Velvet. As her aunt's only heir, Whitney now finds herself responsible for the older woman's business (a printing press), house, and geriatric cat. So, she decides to stay on in the small town of Morris, Maine to sort things out. She can always return to her life in Boston, which includes a job at the university and a music professor boyfriend, later, right? But the longer Whitney stays in Morris, the more complicated things get. It seems that Velvet left a lot of unfinished business behind and while Whitney tries to unravel all of her aunt's secrets, she falls for the rural charms of Morris, as well as those of the odd (and oddly attractive) local undertaker.

And now I'm going to gush, because I loved this book! I think it might now be my favorite of Brea Brown's, and that's saying a lot because I was sure that no story could ever topple Daydreamer from that top spot. But this book was so engrossing and it really pulled at my heartstrings. I was so invested in the characters and was really rooting for them to find peace and happiness. I actually got up a half-hour early to finish the book and was rewarded with a beautiful scene of rapprochement between two characters that first made me cry, then a couple of paragraphs later made me burst out laughing. All of the characters in this book were incredibly well-drawn (even Aunt Vel, who was dead, was a very vibrant presence), but I have to single out sweet, sensitive, and adorable Eric. SIGH I never thought I'd be crushing on a fictional guy who embalms people for a living, but I am. He's a character I won't soon forget.

I think this book defies classification, so I'll just say that if you enjoy stories about family and finding love in unexpected places, invest some time and a few bucks in this book and you'll be very glad that you did.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another amazing book by Brea Brown

I just finished this book, and I'm exhausted. That's because I was walking on the treadmill while reading it and couldn't put it down. (Thankfully I wasn't at the beginning of the story when I got on there today. ) The story, characters, number of steps on my step counter, were all great. I highly recommend reading The Family Plot.

[Heather McCoubrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Winner!

My favorite thing is finishing a book with tears in my eyes...the happy ones. This latest from Brea Brown is no different and will enter 2016 as one of my favorites of the year!