When We Were Worthy

She Reads announced yesterday that When We Were Worthy by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen is the September Book Club Selection. 

I was a little busy having surgery yesterday but I definitely wanted to add my own thoughts about this latest novel from Whalen.

From the cover :

A win brought them together, but loss may tear them apart.

When the sound of sirens cuts through a cool fall night, the small town of Worthy, Georgia, hurtles from triumph to tragedy. Just hours before, they’d watched the Wildcats score a winning touchdown. Now, they’re faced with the deaths of three cheerleaders—their promising lives cut short in a fatal crash. And the boy in the other car—the only one to survive—is believed to be at fault. As rumors begin to fly and accusations spin, allegiances form and long-kept secrets emerge.

At the center of the whirlwind are four women, each grappling with loss, regret, shame, and lies: Marglyn, a grieving mother; Darcy, whose son had been behind the wheel; Ava, a substitute teacher with a scandalous secret; and Leah, a cheerleader who should have been in the car with her friends, but wasn’t. If the truth comes out, will it bring redemption—or will it be their downfall?

My thoughts :

The novel is set in a small town not much unlike the small town that I recently moved to. Everyone knows each other and the social scene revolves around the high school athletics. Whalen does a very good job at examining how much of ourselves we really share with each other and the secrets that we keep. 

When We Were Worthy is a smartly written and engaging. While it is a mystery, it focuses primarily on the characters. The reactions of the characters in the situation are so real that it's almost painful to read about their struggle to understand what happened and who is ultimately to blame. Can they forgive? Can they find peace? Can they survive? All of these questions are answered by Whalen in an emotional, sometimes witty, novel that kept me reading late into the night.

When We Were Worthy by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen is published by Lake Union Publishing and released on September 12, 2017.

**I received a complimentary copy of the book though the She Reads Blog Network. All opinions are my own. No compensation was received.**