whitneydaniell

by: Wanda M. Morris
published: June 18, 2024
genre: Mystery, Thriller
384 Pages, E-Book
GoodReads | Amazon

You don’t just deal with one bad thing at a time. Life throws a stream of adversities at you with no break in between.

Synopsis

After a painful divorce and the loss of her mother, former Atlanta lawyer Deena Woods returns to her coastal Georgia hometown seeking refuge. But when she stumbles across a mysterious man on a secluded plot of land—only to find him gone days later and the land suddenly up for sale—Deena’s gut tells her something isn’t right. What starts as curiosity quickly spirals into a gripping mystery rooted in heirs property laws, land theft, and generational injustice. As Deena investigates, she uncovers secrets buried deep in her community—and within her own family—that force her to confront grief, legacy, and what it means to truly come home.

My Final Thoughts

Deena Woods is smack in the middle of a storm—life throwing hits left and right—and she’s too tired to dodge and too beat down to catch them. So there she is, stuck in a downpour with no umbrella.

Once a lawyer in Atlanta, Deena had plans—none of which involved moving back to Brunswick, Georgia, and crashing in her childhood bedroom at thirty-nine. But life had other ideas. After her cheating husband booted her out (from a condo that wasn’t even in her name) and she lost her job, Deena had no choice but to return home, still grieving both the death of her mother and the collapse of her marriage.

Now back under her father’s roof, she’s working a job she hates at an engineering firm called Medallion. She can barely drag herself to the office, much less care about the work. One day, in desperate need of a mental break, she drives out to a quiet plot of beachside land—and runs into a man with a shotgun. Naturally, she’s freaked out, but something about him lingers in her mind. He’s firm about not selling his land, and she can’t quite shake the whole encounter.

So when she returns to the spot a week later and sees the man, his dog, and his trailer all gone—vanished without a trace—and in their place, a “For Sale” sign and a shiny new fence, she knows something’s off. That gut feeling? It grabs her and won’t let go.

Here I go again, reading another novel that brings light to heirs property laws—just like Long After We Are Gone. I won’t hop back on that soapbox about getting our elders and younger folks prepared for death (y’all already know where I stand if you’ve read that review).

But unlike that book, What You Leave Behind leans more into mystery than historical fiction. In this story, we don’t know from the jump who’s pulling the strings to snatch up millions of dollars’ worth of land from Black and brown families. It’s a slow unraveling, and I was here for it. The pacing? On point. I read it in one sitting because I couldn’t stop turning the pages.

Deena is a solid, relatable character. She’s doing her best to manage her grief while trying to rebuild a life she didn’t expect to be living. She’s back in her childhood home, but everything feels different now. Her mom is gone, her dad has remarried, and she’s trying to find her footing in this new version of “home.” The grief thread is woven tightly through every chapter—her longing to hear her mother’s voice again, the morals her mom instilled in her, the struggle to forgive her father for moving on, and herself for not welcoming her stepmother with open arms.

I loved Uncle Duke—he reminded me so much of my own uncles. Protective, no-nonsense, and full of that old-school, ride-or-die family loyalty. And even though her dad, Jimmie, isn’t who he once was, I appreciated that he still showed up for Deena when it counted. I was torn, though. He’s grieving, too, and had every right to be mad at her for stirring up danger—but deep down, I think he wanted her to push forward. He needed answers about Delilah, too.

Now, I saw through a few things early on—no real big reveals for me. Let’s be real, a sweet seventy-seven-year-old white woman being that nice to a Black woman in low country Georgia? I wasn’t buying it. And don’t get me started on the police—do something, anything. At least fake it better.

I did enjoy Rae’s character, though. Their connection added a softness to the story without falling into cliché—no hidden baby, no messy affair, thank God.

All in all? A quick, engaging read. I’d love to see Deena’s work continue with the Georgia Heirs Property Law Center. Let her and Sarah Wheeler save some more families’ land. And if Rae goes to culinary school? I want that update too.

Read this one.