Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

In Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, CeeCee's life has not been ideal for a twelve-year-old girl, up until now. However, it may be about to change. When her mentally ill mother dies, her father is unwilling or unable to care for her, so he decides to pack CeeCee off to live with Aunt Tootie in Savannah. Not a great situation as far as CeeCee is concerned. She doesn't know this Aunt Tootie and doesn't know what to expect. She remains scared and apprehensive about the move, but doesn't have any choice. What she doesn't know is that this could be the best thing that's ever happened to her.

This is the best feel-good book I've read in a long time. Set in simpler times, it warmed my heart with its charm, humour and Southern ways. The characters were quaint, strong and fun to read about. The whole story was delightful and I especially loved all of the stories the characters had to tell.

All of the characters, most of which were women and good solid role models, were great, but my favourites were CeeCee and Oletta. CeeCee was wise beyond her years and really needed someone to love and accept her. Oletta gave some really good advice. I think she needed CeeCee as much as CeeCee needed her.

My one little complaint is that at times, CeeCee felt like vehicle to introduce some of the other characters. We got to know CeeCee along the way, but a few times the story seemed to go from meeting one new character to another without a lot happening in between.

There was a notable shift in the story towards the end that I quite enjoyed. I don't want to give too much away, but it had to do with story-telling.

Favourite quotes:

Don't go wastin' all them bright tomorrows you ain't even seen by hangin' on to what happened yesterday.(page 290)

She wore her sadness on the outside, like a heavy winter coat. (page 114)

Momma had been gone for only three days, and already I was facing the single biggest lesson of my life: death changes everything.(page 36)

Want to read other reviews? Check out these from other bloggers: Jo-Jo Loves to Read, Pudgy Penguin Perusals and The Book Chick.

Highly recommended.

For more information about this book, please visit the Penguin website.

For more information about the author and other cool stuff, please visit Beth Hoffman's website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at Penguin Canada for this review copy.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt: A Novel by Beth Hoffman, Viking (Penguin), ©2010. ISBN 9780670021390(Hardcover), 306p.