The mystery in You Should Have Told Me was pretty solid but I wanted to say that I enjoy reading a book where the people aren’t just upper middle class or wealthy moms, lawyers, writers, doctors etc.

Janie is a reluctant unemployed mother and her partner is a guitar teacher with a low paying indie band background. She’s been helping out her messy lower middle parents financially for years but it’s not a THING the book is about. So often when there is diversity in income and class the “lower” class is really squalid or depressing or it is all about them being poor or struggling. It was nice to read about a woman who left her town behind to make better money in the “big city” and helps her parents out who are seemingly living paycheck to paycheck but are basically okay in a way that is more realistic to how many Americans actually live.

It is rare to see that in any book, much less genre fiction. This is present in her more recent book as well. I’ve always thought it is missing from so many books because so many authors are upper middle class or wealthy which is why they can afford to be writers and meet the kind of people who can get their books published. I don’t know the author’s background but it is nice to see something different.