Leaving November by Deborah Raney

The Clayburn series is not a series that has captured my attention in a good way. Leaving November basically tells the same old story we've already heard a thousand times before.
It tells the story of a man and a woman (there's something new) who grew up in the small town of Clayburn and have now returned after being unsuccessful in the world. The two of them are thrown together in a seemingly copycatish way. She owns a coffee shop; he owns an art gallery; their shops are close together; end of story.
There's nothing really interesting about this book. Nothing makes it stand out from any other book like it. The characters are average; the setting boring and unoriginal. I just don't understand what makes authors want to always copy each other and write the same old things.
But I've read better things from Raney, like Beneath a Southern Sky. I know she can do better, this just is not it.
1.5 stars

Beneath a Southern Sky by Deborah Raney

Any book that has a plot about a woman who marries a man after she thinks her husband is dead and then finds out that her husband is still alive probably belongs on the Elite list. With this type of plot, it's hard to have a bad end. But there are other things that could hinder it, like bad characters, characters used as unoriginal plot devices, and of course, a convenient end.
However, Beneath a Southern Sky has none of those. It does have good characters, better than I expected. There actually wasn't a perfect male lead (even though he did have a dog that disappeared from the plot). Not even the second husband is used as an unoriginal plot device. And of course, the end is original.
This plot is based on choices of the lead, a type of plot that needs to be written more often. What Deborah Raney did with this book was what the public wanted, only this time, it was original. This book is definitely worth a read.
4 stars

A Nest of Sparrows by Deborah Raney

Raney's specialty seems to be tenderhearted stories. A Nest of Sparrows was her attempt at a dramatic one. The only problem is that adoption and custody stories have no good ending but the predictable ones.
The story is about a woman with three young kids who divorced her abusive husband two years earlier. She is engaged to a local man, and they are planning to get married in a few months. The only problem is she dies, forcing her fiancee to take in her kids and care for them. Then the abusive husband shows up and starts a custody battle. You can see where that leads. The only consolation is a slightly unexpected ending.
The characters are developed well enough for a tenderhearted story. There's nothing wrong with it, especially if you like custody (not really that thrilling) thrillers.
2.5 stars