STEALING HOME Sweet Magnolias, Book 1

Small-town goings-on in Serenity, South Carolina, take on new life with narrator Stina Nielsen. She introduces listeners to Maddie Townsend, whose husband, Bill, has left her for his 24-year-old pregnant girlfriend. Nielsen gives Maddie a wistful, sincere voice that will elicit approval of her determination to start fresh. As Maddie starts a business with her two best friends, the "Sweet Magnolias," she deals with her son's baseball tribulations and her attraction to his coach. Nielsen uses a Southern twang for some of the secondary characters and creates age-appropriate voices for Maddie's three kids. Overall, her narration captures the joys and constraints of small-town life. Woods's story of regret and growth unfolds in splendid measure, courtesy of Nielsen's warmhearted reading. C.A. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: OCTOBER 2020]