Red Mojo Mama by Cathy Lynn Hall

I found Red Mojo Mama to be about as addictive as my favourite chocolate and it was a wrench every time I had to put it down. With her novel, Kathy Lynn Hall has created the perfect world with the perfective cast of characters. I found myself actually longing to be a member of the community at The Springs Mobile Home Park and, by the end, I felt bereft, as though being parted from old friends. The main character is Red a feisty redhead, who is just glorious as she shakes up the small town of Nuggetville, where she has recently relocated. Her love interest is Joe and he is almost as fabulous as Red. Somehow in Joe, Hall has taken the ordinary and made it extraordinary. Joe is no action hero, he is a kind man, caring for his elderly father and working in an old folk's home and yet by the end of the book he was the man of both Red's and my dreams. Red Mojo Mama is great fun and there were times it made me laugh out loud but, it also has its fair share of tension, as Red falls foul of a group of corrupt councilmen. What did surprise me, was how in the midst of all the fun and laughter, I found myself moved as Red struggles to deal with the loss of her beloved husband, Mac. I think Hall deals with bereavement honestly and realistically. Most stories, for the sake of the plot, gloss over grief but in Red Mojo Mama, Hall acknowledges that it's a lifelong process. After three years, even as she finds herself falling in love with Joe, Red is still dealing with the aftermath of losing Mac. I really loved this book and read it in three stittings. Had I not had to work, I would have probably done it in one!