Welcome to Litsy!

Well, it is Grisham, and I adore his style and plots, and as his Serbian translator and editor for years, I must be honnest and say this is not his usual masterpiece... But he is only human after all.

But worth reading for sure!

I‘m a sucker for a Grisham book, but this one was more unique in its setting and focus. Enjoyable beach reads as always.

#SavvySettings #5

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs

I hadn‘t read a Grisham novel in years, but this audio version was available while I was waiting on another so I decided to check it out. Legal thrillers aren‘t really my thing (working in law office for 28 years taints them a little) but it was entertaining and had its emotional moments, and the characters felt real. I‘ll give this one a thumbs up.

Different from Grisham‘s previous legal thrillers. Samantha, a lawyer is laid off from a NYC firm and moves to Virginia coal country to intern for a legal aide clinic until the recession passes. Grisham does well bringing to light the irresponsible, destructive mountain top removal coal mining. I‘m not so sure he did well creating a strong female character, as advertised. I think he could‘ve used some help better representing Appalachia. #MountTBR

Day 2
Lawyer protagonist gets downsized by corporate firm in NY, ends up in Virginia in the Appalachians as an intern for regional legal aid office. She‘s forced to change her outlook in an area where coal mining is big and so is addiction and lung disease. Fascinating story, with intense courtroom drama and rich characterization 👏🏻👏🏻 audio
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks
#marvellousmarchreadathon @Andrew65

John Grisham is just so easy to pick up and read. I began reading him at 11 and all these years later he still does not dissapoint.
A young New York lawyer's life gets turned upside down when she is let go at "Big Law" job. It lands her into the world of coal mining and legal aide.
Exciting, sad, and extremely well written.

Kinda boring.

Needed something easy to read and found this at home. Haven‘t read John Grisham in ages and I forgot how good his books are.

This plot was predictable- young female NYC corporate lawyer loses job during fallout of 2008 and moves to rural coal-mining Virginia for a year of unpaid legal assistance. Then can she make a difference, and will she stay or will she go. I enjoyed it, and it was an easier piece of mining fiction while I work through my mining non-fiction.

#ReadTheUSA2020 Virginia

I‘m not a big Grisham fan, but I really enjoyed this. There is a lot about strip mining, black lung, and how despicable the coal companies are. Hubby grew up in coal country, so this was sad, but not surprising. The story meanders a bit and, typically, Grisham has problems with the ending. But it‘s definitely worth reading.

The horror was in the waiting—the unknown, the insomnia, the ulcers.

Really enjoying this book.
#firstlneFridays

This was a Christmas gift from hubby, who was attracted by the coal mining town setting since he grew up in one. A bit of a change of pace for me, but here goes!

Another #momreviews @Doll8455

Good book!! Enjoyed listening to it at work.

It's another case of leave-the-big-firm-for-the-little-guy, but the protagonist was a female and there was more to it than just courtroom drama. A+!

This is a re-read (of course) but it has a special place in my heart because it's the last book my grandmother gave me. She was in the hospital at that time and we swapped paperbacks (I don't remember what I was reading). Shortly thereafter, she got her bed in a nursing home. Thanksgiving weekend last year is when we buried her, so I'm going to read it and remember her.

@Cinfhen is kindly hosting a #shelfspacegiveaway . Thank you!

If a winner, I would be interested in shelf 1. ❤️

Samantha Kofer, the protagonist, is required to intern for a year with a nonprofit to keep her seniority and health benefits at the prestigious law firm that has just laid her off. After ten rejections due to the recession, she is welcomed in coal country in Brady, Virginia. This shows the reader strip mining, black lung disease and other ugly coal mining realities. It was easy to read but i kept wanting something to happen.

This was an audio book and the reader was great. But I just didn‘t like this book. It came off as preachy instead of relying on the story to carry a message. We got to know the main character, but the other characters weren‘t very developed. The people in the town weren‘t painted in a very good light and they needed rescuing from the big city lawyer. Not my favorite Grisham novel.

Tame but interesting.

We get it -- strip mining is bad.

It's been a while since I have read a Grisham book. It's time to tackle my backlog of Kindle books so I decided on this book. I started yesterday afternoon.

So much potential, yet completely disappointing. I stopped reading Grisham several years ago because it seemed he peaked with his first four books; however, since this one is set in Appalachia, I gave him another chance. Sadly, his prose is formulaic, plot is predictable, and ploys to appeal to the reader's emotions are transparent. Giving up Grisham for good. 👎👎 #audiobooks #fiction

This story from John Grisham is an author whose stories bring court room drama. Gray Mountain is not my favorite novel of his. I did find all the information about coal industry interesting. This book had some difficulty keeping my attention so it took me weeks to finish reading it. Nevertheless, I really like John Grisham and I will continue to read his novels.

just an "okay" book rather slow and more than a little anticlimactic

Not my favourite Grisham. I would have liked more time in the courtroom, and I think it's ripe for a sequel. Fingers crossed there is at least one more book that wraps things up.

I've been having some trouble getting invested in a new book this week. Thankfully, I got this new(ish) Grisham that I somehow had not read yet and am settled in for the night. I love a good legal thriller!

Unfortunately, this was not a winner. I actually stopped reading to look at the cover and verify that John Grisham was the author. The writing felt rushed, and told instead of showed, glossing over entire scenes. The main character didn't seem to give much of a rip about anything.