I am quite happy that I was given the opportunity to read Sere Prince Halverson’s debut novel, The Underside of Joy. This book takes the reader on a journey through Ella’s raw emotions after the sudden and tragic death of her husband, Joe, as she uncovers that maybe things weren’t quite as they seemed and all families have secrets. It was hard to put down this book as I needed to know what happened to Ella and the children she had raised like her own since the time they were young and their mother seemingly walked out on them. I knew from the beginning that there was more to the story than what this woman always believed. There was certain instances where this book was predictable, however, because it was so well written that wasn’t a big issue. With it’s descriptive nature, I was drawn into the setting of this book and ended up caring just as much about the fate of Joe’s family business as that of his children.

Easy to read with characters that are easy to relate to, I’d say this is a wonderful debut novel and I look forward to reading more from this author. To find out more visit the Blogher Book Club page for this book and join in on the discussions!