This Is Where It Ends is Southern fiction - a genre that intrigues me, given our own Nashville years, but a genre I really haven't gotten into yet. I was excited when the hard copy, with its beautiful cover, landed in my mailbox.

The book blurb goes like this:

When Minerva Jane Jenkins was just 14 years old, she married a man who moved her to the mountains. He carried with him a small box, which he told her was filled with gold. And when he died 50 years later, he made her promise to keep his secret. She is to tell no one about the box or the treasure it contains.

Now 94, Minerva is nearing the end of what has sometimes been a lonely life. But she's kept that secret. Even so, rumors of hidden gold have a way of spreading, and Minerva is visited by a reporter, Del Rankin, who wants to know more of her story. His friend who joins him only wants to find the location of the gold. Neither of them knows quite who they're up against when it comes to the old woman on the mountain.

As an unlikely friendship develops, Minerva is tempted to reveal her secret to Del. After all, how long is one bound by a promise? But the truth of what's really buried in the box may be hidden even from her.

I was hooked by the first few pages and chapters of this story. I loved Minerva and her spitfire, survival attitude. I loved the rural world of Minerva's mountain farm. And I'm just always a sucker for any kind of historical fiction.

If I'd written my review at that point in the story, it would have been glowing.
 My expectations were high!

But as the pages went on, my enthusiasm diminished. Minerva talks endlessly about how she's going to die soon (not that she has a fatal illness - there's no real ticking clock - she just feels old), to the point where is starts to feel repetitive. 

There's a "big twist" with Del that you can see coming a mile away. And the big secret about the box and the treasure is so bland it's like air leaking out of a balloon. 

Sadly, I had to force myself through the final chapters of the book. I still loved the characters and the world, and some of Cindy's writing is truly beautiful. I feel this would have been really strong as a novella. There just isn't enough story to carry it through to the end.

Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.