Review: Tassy Morgan's Bluff by Jim Stinson

Title: Tassy Morgan's Bluff
Author: Jim Stinson
Genre/Audience: Fiction, adult
Publication: 2011
Source: Library

Unfortunately, Tassy Morgan's Bluff fell really flat for me. I loved the sound of it on the back - small town, quirky inhabitants - but it wasn't what I was expecting. I love small town feel in novels and wish I lived in a small town (think Stars Hollow from the Gilmore Girls), but that feeling didn't come through in this book. See, what I like about small towns is the connectedness and the sense of community, everyone knowing everyone, and general friendliness, but that was lacking here. A lot of people didn't know each other, and most of them were quite mean and petty.

But let me back up a little. Tassy Morgan, a recently divorced and rather lonely painter, is the main character and she lives on a bluff overlooking a beach. The bluff is weakening and her home is in serious danger of falling apart - it's already tilting because of the crumbling bluff. She wants to knock it down and rebuild. However, Margaret Nam, her arch nemesis (for mostly unknown reasons), is part of the town board, and disputes Tassy's plans. During Tassy's battle with the town board, she meets her new neighbor, ex-lawyer, Linc, with whom she begins a romantic relationship. So, there isn't really a whole lotta plot here, and that's okay usually, because I LOVE character driven novels... buuuut, I didn't like the characters nor did I think they grew in any way. There was one character, Orson, a gay owner of an art gallery, who I really liked, but he wasn't featured enough. The other characters I either didn't like, or just didn't care for or about at all.

So yes, this book was, for the most part, a disappointment to me and moved quite slowly. I didn't hate it, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, and if there were to be a sequel, I would probably give it a pass.

My Rating: 2/5