Review: Blue Straggler by Kathy Lynn Harris

A blue straggler is a star that has an anomalous blue color and appears to be disconnected from those stars that surround it.

But this is not a story about astronomy.

Bailey Miller is “disconnected” from the cluster of her rural south Texas family. She has never quite fit in and now in her early 30s, she finds herself struggling with inner turmoil and a series of bad choices in her life.

Bailey’s drinking too much (even for a member of her family), has a penchant to eat spoonfuls of Cool Whip, works in a job that bores her beyond description and can’t keep a relationship longer than it takes for milk to expire in her fridge.

Even with the help of her two outspoken friends, Texas gal Idamarie and her quirky college pal Rudy, she’s having a hard time.

So she packs up her Honda and heads out of Texas in search of herself and answers to secrets from her great-grandmother’s past. The novel takes readers on a journey from San Antonio, Texas, to a small mountain town in Colorado and back again, as Bailey uncovers not only the secrets of her great-grandmother’s life, but also some painful secrets of her own. All while finding love along the way.

If you have ever wondered why you got stuck with the family you did, what you are doing with your job and your life, or had a sudden desire to run off to the mountains, sit back and join Bailey for this laugh-out-loud, yet poignant ride. It’s women’s fiction at it’s best!

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Kathy Lynn Harris has an amazing talent for telling a compelling story that had me hooked from beginning to end.  Her character of Bailey was an interesting one to read about.  She was oh-so-damaged and while she had a heart of gold, wanting to just find her happiness, she stumbled from one bad situation to the next.  Luckily she has two friends behind her to support her - the outspoken Idamarie, who was more of a mother to Bailey than her own mother, and her best friend, Rudy, who is quirky, nerdy, and clearly in love with Bailey.

After finding a picture of her great-grandmother and hitting a brick wall in trying to get her mother to talk about her, Bailey heads off to  Colorado to find out about this mysterious relative.  She runs into a whole new host of quirky characters, including her landlord, Adam, clearly haunted by his own demons. Relationships begin and end, secrets come out, and the meaning of friends is put to the test. This was one of those books that while I did really enjoy the lead character, I was much more interested in the story of the supporting characters.  I felt that ultimately Bailey ran away from her problems and while I understood why she made the decision she made, I was disappointed in her. Kathy Lynn Harris has a brilliant career in front of her and I can't wait to read more. (I hope that Rudy and Idamarie show up again!)