Ain't She a Peach

Molly Harper

Jun 2018 · Southern Eclectic Book 4 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

An Atlanta ex-cop comes to sleepy Lake Sackett, Georgia, seeking peace and quiet—but he hasn’t bargained on falling for Frankie, the cutest coroner he’s ever met.

Frankie McCready talks to dead people. Not like a ghost whisperer or anything—but it seems rude to embalm them and not at least say hello.

Fortunately, at the McCready Family Funeral Home & Bait Shop, Frankie’s eccentricities fit right in. Lake Sackett’s embalmer and county coroner, Frankie’s goth styling and passion for nerd culture mean she’s not your typical Southern girl, but the McCreadys are hardly your typical Southern family. Led by Great-Aunt Tootie, the gambling, boozing, dog-collecting matriarch of the family, everyone looks out for one another—which usually means getting up in everyone else’s business.

Maybe that’s why Frankie is so fascinated by new sheriff Eric Linden...a recent transplant from Atlanta, he sees a homicide in every hunting accident or boat crash, which seems a little paranoid for this sleepy tourist town. What’s he so worried about? And what kind of cop can get a job with the Atlanta PD but can’t stand to look at a dead body?

Frankie has other questions that need answering first—namely, who’s behind the recent break-in attempts at the funeral home, and how can she stop them? This one really does seem like a job for the sheriff—and as Frankie and Eric do their best Scooby-Doo impressions to catch their man, they get closer to spilling some secrets they thought were buried forever.

With Ain’t She a Peach, Molly Harper proves once again that she “never lets the reader down with her delightfully entertaining stories” (Single Titles).

Ratings and reviews

AIN’T SHE A PEACH is the second full-length instalment in Molly Harper’s contemporary, adult SOUTHERN ECLECTIC romance (woman’s fiction) series focusing on the McCready family of Lake Sackett, Georgia. This is Lake Sackett Sheriff Eric Linden, and mortician/coroner Frankie McCready’s story line. AIN’T SHE A PEACH can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalments is revealed where necessary. Told from several third person perspectives including Eric and Frankie AINT SHE A PEACH follows the building relationship between Lake Sackett Sheriff Eric Linden, and mortician/coroner Frankie McCready. Frankie and Eric have an acrimonious relationship in that Eric eyes every death as a potential murder forcing Frankie to go above and beyond the necessary requirements. When a local teen known to Frankie, begins terrorizing the McCready Family Funeral Home & Bait Shop, Frankie must prove to our hero that it isn’t her imagination. What ensues is the slow building romance between Frankie and Eric, and the potential fall-out as Frankie disobeys Eric’s demands, placing herself in the line of fire. Eric Linden is a former Atlanta police officer who’s hoping for a slower paced lifestyle in Lake Sackett, Georgia. From town drunks to mischief, bar fights and kittens caught in trees, the crime wave in Lake Sackett is the ideal situation for our story line hero. Frankie MCready is an only child, a little bit spoiled, but a woman determined to prove that sixteen-year old Jared Lewis is intent on doing damage to the family owned business. The relationship between Eric and Frankie is one of immediate attraction but our heroine doesn’t believe there is a happily ever after in her future. A one-night stand, with Eric, months before, found Frankie walking away without looking back. The $ex scenes are all implied. The secondary and supporting characters are colorful and fun as the town begins preparations for the annual Halloween Trunk R Treat. We are reintroduced to Frankie’s cousin Margot, and elementary school principal Kyle Archer (Sweet Tea and Sympathy #1), as well as Carl and Marianne (Save a Truck, Ride a Redneck .5). There is plenty of back and forth, snark, humor, quirky idioms, and southern charm. AIN’T SHE A PEACH is an entertaining, sweet, spirited and delightful read. Clean romance, energetic characters, and an optimistic look at life in a small town.

A Favorite! Let’s start with the easy part: this isn’t your ordinary rom com – with plenty of romance and just a little comedic relief, it’s full of laugh out loud moments, plenty of family and one feisty (if occasionally frustrating) mortician named Frankie and her ongoing feud with local spoilt-brat teenaged nuisance, the new cop in town and plenty of growth. Frankie, after a childhood battle with leukemia, is the mortician and county coroner based in the McCready Family Funeral Home and Bait Shop. Prone to wild rainbow-colored hair, speaking her mind, a collection of Funko Pop figurines and a novelty t-shirt collection that would put any self-respecting geek to shame: she’s also deeply rooted in the small town of Lake Sackett, determined to give all of her “customers’ the best treatment, including moments spent in conversation thanking them for the joy they brought in life, and how their presence will be missed. A conundrum for sure, she’s also nearing 30, still living at home with her mother and father, and uses her outrageous behavior to push limits and boundaries everywhere. Of course, if you’ve read (and why haven’t you – go get the others and start them first) earlier books in the series, you’ll know that the town has hired Eric as interim chief of police – the one remaining officer Landry is “not ready for that sort of responsibility. Maybe he should start with a nice ant farm.” Eric and Frankie shared one athletic and memorable night in Atlanta while she was on one of her weekend forays into adulting without parental or familial interference, and neither was quite prepared to see one another again, let alone work together. Especially since Eric is suspicious and sees every death as a potential murder. But, again little Lewis is determined to wreak havoc at the funeral home- and Frankie is ‘on the case’ – despite Eric’s protests. With the big “Trunk or Treat” Halloween event approaching, Frankie knows that the stakes are even higher with Lewis and his attempts to break into the mortuary, and plenty of steam arising between she and Eric despite his inability to be around death, the story is laden with mishaps, laughs and plenty of revelations for Frankie: including one large show-down for Lewis, an election for Sherriff and Lewis’ mother being in the middle of the mayhem with a write in candidate and a smear campaign, the story never stops giving. Of course, there is Aunt Tootie and her motley collection of dogs, a swear jar, Margot and her budding relationship with Kyle, the elementary school principal and his daughters, the youngest prone to exclamations in ALL CAPS, the story and the characters draw you into Lake Sackett, “working like ants on a discarded blow-pop” with their charm, heart and loyalty. A favorite as Harper’s trademark snarky humor and clever twists keep the laughs coming, but as she does with each book I’ve read from her, it’s the characters: those flawed humans that work into your heart and head, and make you want to find this little corner of Georgia to call it your home. I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

About the author

Molly Harper is the author of two popular series of paranormal romance, the Half-Moon Hollow series and the Naked Werewolf series. She also writes the Bluegrass ebook series of contemporary romance. A former humor columnist and newspaper reporter, she lives in Michigan with her family, where she is currently working on the next Southern Eclectic novel. Visit her on the web at MollyHarper.com.