This Is Where It Ends by Cindy K. Sproles is about an old woman who is coming to terms with nearing the end of her life and a secret that makes her question everything she holds dear. Minerva Jane Jenkins married when she was just 14 years old. She loved her husband, Stately Jenkins, very much. So much, that when he moved her to an isolated part of the mountains, she didn’t have any objections. She went along with his plans like she believed a good wife should.
When Stately Jenkins passed away fifty years later, he made her promise that she wouldn’t tell anyone about the small box he kept hidden. He told her it was filled with gold and that’s all Minerva knew about it. She promised Stately that she wouldn’t tell a single soul about the box and the treasure within.
Minerva is now ninety four years old and she feels that she is nearing the end of her life. She feels happy that she is going to die because she leads a lonely existence. She is proud that she managed to keep Stately’s promise of keeping the box a secret, which proved to be harder when a journalist showed up to her door.
Del Rankin is a reporter and wants to know about her story and Stately’s involvement in the gold that went missing. He promises Minerva that he is only interested in the people involved in the story. Del’s friend, Colton, made it obvious that he is only interested in finding the location of the gold by any means necessary. Both men think that Minvera is a pushover and would tell them what they need to know, but little did they know Minvera is a firecracker and will stop at nothing to protect her promise to Stately.
The book took a bit for me to get into. Minerva narrates the book in her Appalachian dialect and I had a hard time understanding what she was saying at times. A few times, I would have to go back and reread the same sentence over and over again. The story was slow and plodded along without much happening. However, there were a few heartwarming moments between Minvera and Del that caused me to tear up. The book did have a few surprises and twists towards the middle and end of the book. It also had some humor sprinkled throughout the book. I am glad that I decided to stick it out and not give up halfway through like I originally planned on doing. If you like Christian fiction that takes place in the Appalachian mountains, then you might enjoy this one.
