Reviewed by
an Amazon user,
2003-05-02
The fifth of her line, Hush McGillen Thackery believes people are born to be whoever they want to be. It is all in how they tell their story. Hush spins a tale of true love, of the perfect Harvard son and of a successful apple farm. But love was rotten to the core with a man who did not live up to revered image, but whose presence made it acceptable for a business woman to succeed. Now secrets from the past threaten to bring down Hush's idealist image and destroy all she holds dear when her son Davis brings the world's scrutiny because he brings home his secret bride--the president's daughter.
The president and his wife are convinced that Hush has ulterior motives and that the marriage between their daughter Hush's son was somehow coerced. They vastly underestimate this Appalachian queen who rules her home, farm and county. When they send the president's cousin Nicholas Jacobek to bring the situation under control, Hush meets the only man in her life who can match her skill at charming bees. But Jacob's dark past conceals a man of kindness and of mercilessness who will do anything to protect family, even kill.
Author Deborah Smith succinctly captures the flavor of the south and of powerful matriarchs in SWEET HUSH. Readers will find it impossible to forget these rich characterizations and mesmerizing prose. Hush is blunt, fierce and determined, deserving of a hard man like Jacob. The president's wife Edwina would be easy to hate except Smith carefully reveals her vulnerabilities, devotion and motivation in a way that not only makes her understandable, but likeable despite her bitchy ways. Readers will delight in the image of Hush and Edwina throwing rotten apples at each other in the White House. Easily followed shifting points of view provide interior views of complex motives and tantalizing possibilities. In all, three love stories wind their way around the reader's heart, resulting in a must read tale reader's won't want to miss. SWEET HUSH earns the WordWeaving Award for Excellence.