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Review: "The Wedding Gift" by Kathleen McKenna

From Goodreads:  17 year old Leeann Worthier is the perfect girl in town - or so she says.

George Willets is the heir to a booming petroleum business.

When they announce their engagement, George's controlling mother is unimpressed and Leeann absolutely refuses to live with her mother-in-law. So George gives his new wife a house as a wedding gift.

Thirty years before, the same house had hosted a grisly scene: George's uncle and cousins had all been slaughtered, his aunt Robina accused of both murder and suicide.

The house is a gorgeous, well-maintained mansion but has stood empty since the tragedy. It's intimidating, but who is Leeann to turn down a free house? When the ghost of Robina begins to haunt Leeann, she realizes she's made a huge mistake ...

 My Thoughts:  Wow, talk about "My Big Fat Redneck Wedding".  This book was slightly ridiculous.  I felt like I was inside some white trash girl's head the entire time which was incredibly obnoxious but at the same time means the author is a good writer.  Leeann was trashy and I just didn't feel sorry for her at all.  I really didn't like any of the characters except Leeann's best friend, Jessie.  She was smart and sassy and a really fun character.  I didn't care much for the whole teenage girl gets knocked up and marries a jerk aspect of the story (it was kind of lame) but the ghost story was super creepy.  I would have loved for there to have been more of that story and less of Leeann.  The whole book would have been a lot better with more of the haunted house story and different characters.  There was this huge secret revealed at the end but no real resolution; I felt like I was still left asking 'why' and I really wanted to get into certain characters heads to find out what they were thinking.  I don't want to say much more than that because I would hate to give the end away.  By the time the book was over and everyone lived happily ever after (literally), I couldn't decide if the book was supposed to be a satire or just seemed like one.  This book definitely had good parts but overall, it just didn't do it for me. 2 1/2 stars.
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