An Airplane Read: The Secret Life of Cee Cee Wilkes (Chamberlain)

I confess....I did not take it well when the only suggestion the doctor made was "try ice."  I've gone from walking six miles a day to being all but bed-ridden.  I need more constructive help that ice.

Anyway....this book is the monthly book club pick over at Julie's website, Peanut Butter Fingers (insert little trademark symbol here, congrats Julie!).  It would be a weird fit with my next book and I'm not sure I'll finish that in time so it gets its own review post.

• The Secret Life of Cee Cee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain

I read a few reviews that told too much of this story and I want to avoid that so I'm going to try to only tell stuff you learn in the early going.  Cee Cee is a sixteen year old girl who is living on her own after losing her mom at age eleven and being moved out of foster care since she graduated high school early.  She is vulnerable and in need of love so she falls for a sweet-talking guy who ultimately convinces her to assist him in kidnapping the governor's wife, a move he suggests will save his sister who is on death row.  The plan goes awry and Cee Cee goes into hiding where she becomes Eve.  From the preview-style present day prologue, the reader knows her adult daughter learns her mother has held secrets when Eve steps forward nearly thirty years later after her former boyfriend is accused of murder.

I sat at a three and a half stars through most of this book.  It held my attention and was an enjoyable read but I wasn't overly wrapped up in it....I didn't look forward to reading it each night but I wasn't anxious for it to be over either.  Most of the book focuses on Eve as she builds a life with her past a secret to everyone.  Eve interested me and she showed a lot of growth from the teenager she'd been.  The last third focused on her daughter and that's where the book dropped off for me.  I didn't like Corrine, which isn't always a deal-breaker for me but became one since she simply didn't ring true to me.  I didn't believe in her phobias, her falling out with her family (evident from the preview so not a spoiler), or her relationship with her boyfriend.  It took the book down to three stars.

This might be a decent airplane book....it passed the time and held my interest but didn't command my full, undivided attention and I'd have no problem putting it away if the plane landed mid-chapter.