Keep Me Posted

By: Lisa Beazley
Publisher: New American Library
Publication Date: April 2016
ISBN: 9781101989869
Reviewed by: Diane Lunsford
Review Date: March 30, 2016

Lisa Beazley’s debut novel, Keep Me Posted, is a whimsical story of how two sisters’ brilliant scheme to reconnect backfires and ultimately changes the course of their lives going forward.

Sisters Cassie and Sid Sunday ventured out into polar opposite lives. Cassie is a city dweller and loves the Manhattan life she and husband Leo and their twin boys have built together...for the most part. Manhattan was beyond perfect when it was just Leo and Cassie. Once they welcomed their twin boys Quinn and Joey, and they became increasingly mobile, their tiny NY walk-up wasn’t quite as romantic and convenient as it had once been.

Sid, on the other hand, had it all under control. She and husband Adrian had perfected the expatriate lifestyle. They lived continents away in Singapore with their sweet baby girl Lulu and Sid’s (pre-Adrian) teen son River. Okay, maybe Sid’s life wasn’t as perfect as it seemed. Granted she had a nanny and could want for nothing thanks to her ‘devoted’ husband Adrian—devoted, that is to say when he found time away from work to spend with family.

The holiday season is upon them and it’s time for another Christmas at Grandpa Joe and Grandma Margie’s. This year would be bittersweet as it would be the last year they would host the festivities at their house. They were getting too old and it was time somebody else step up and own the task. When Sid arrives with baby Lulu and son River, it’s no surprise Adrian isn’t with them. Indeed, ‘work’ intervened once again. No matter. It didn’t take long for Cassie and Sid to settle into the familiarity of what sisters do best: reconnect and continue forward as though time had not intervened. It is when the reality of the disconnect of the distance between them becomes more than an elephant in the room that Cassie and Sid hatch the scheme to continue the connection once the holidays have passed. Cassie is woefully tethered to her iPhone. However, Sid manages to extract a promise from her that, for the next year, they will stay connected in a more traditional manner. They are not permitted to use the impersonal conveniences of email or texting. Rather, they must volley handwritten letters back and forth across the ocean to each other. Off to a fantastic start once the first round of letters has been delivered, the sisters settle into the process with positive expectations toward the year of separation ahead. Great plan until Cassie comes up with the brilliant idea of saving all the letters on her blog. When she realizes after the fact she should have checked the privacy settings, damage control was the least of her worries after she hit ‘save.’

Lisa Beazley has a familiar story-teller’s quality to her style that entices the reader to sit back and listen as he or she savors the shenanigans of two grown sisters bound by sisterly love. I personally enjoyed this story as I have two sisters and there were times when I could relate to the dynamics that played out among the fictitious characters. It’s not easy standing in the shadows of the sister you idolize and Beazley seizes opportune moments to portray the insecurities of one sister against the confidences of the other. The premise breathes a strong sense of credibility to this work of fiction. The dialogue flows nicely and the pace moves along at a nice clip. This read is definitely worthy of tagging along on a weekend getaway. Great effort Ms. Beazley. I look forward to your next book.

Quill says: Keep Me Posted is a delightful and supportive homage to the art of letter writing as the ultimate way to reconnect with the one you love.