Book Club: May - Where the Locals Go

Okay, so, I'm not supposed to be experiencing these book club books as a writer. The whole point with these book club readings is to read them from a reader's point of view. But this time, I just couldn't do it. Every chapter I read of Where the Locals Go just brought me back to the memory of when I was there in that town and when I was writing about the towns. So... for this month, I'll be reviewing Where the Locals Go from an author's pov, with a bit of reader experience thrown in.

Where the Locals Go is my first travel memoir. I cover nine towns in this book, all of which are within a few hours of where I live. In the book, I travel to a town -- generally as a day trip -- and then I write about that experience, including facts that matter to each town, and including photos taken on my trips.

This book is special because it was the first travel book, so it included moments from my life from the present and the past. For example, in the chapter about Peachland, you will find photos of my children when they were little since we used to camp in Peachland. There is a photo of my youngest eating a giant blue ice cream cone, and a group photo from the days when my boys had hair almost as long as mine. The instant I see those photos, I lose all objectivity as a reader. Cuties.

When the book came out, though, it received very enthusiastic reviews. As I read through it, even being distracted by the fact that this was my own story, I could understand why. There are lots of entertaining stories, and the facts are interesting. At least, they are to me. Writing this book let me take the opportunity to research answers to some questions I have had for a long time. For example, what do farmers do in the winter? Why do settlements grow where they do? How did Peachland get its name?

One of the sketchier moments from these travels happened in Grand Forks, where I was taking night photos of a building, and suddenly a dark shadow rose from the base of the building. I hadn't even noticed someone was there, and I still don't want to think too much about what they were up to while inadvertently captured by my lens. As to favourite moments? There were many. Travelling to Naksup with my daughter to go to the hot springs -- only for her to tell me she doesn't like the heat. Flirting with the round-cheeked Asian boy at the Blind Angler in Peachland after I gave up my table for the family. Watching the boxer dog splashing at the beach in Chase. There were many great moments and memories.

There are things about this book that only I know, as the author, such as the photo from Armstrong that had to be removed when the subject objected. The photo was of a barrel racer, so it was unfortunate that I needed to take that image out. You would have loved it. Of course, there are other horse photos in the book. In fact, there are images of horses in Enderby that I took while on a date, actually, that even became the cover of one of my novels - Rock Bottom Ranch.

Generally speaking, I highly recommend Where the Locals Go. It was a great book club book. I will say that as my first travel book, I was still learning what worked and what didn't for text and images in the templates used to add the photos to the books. That means, there are spots where the text is a bit difficult to read. In my future travel books, When the Locals Travel and Blink and You Miss it Small Towns of BC (available June 21, 20205), learned from this first book. Even so, you will love this read. The images just enhance the story, and as I already mentioned, one of these images is also a book cover. Plus, one of the images in this book hangs in my office, one hangs in my bedroom, and four of them were turned into tiles that are now featured in my bathroom.

So, I hope you take the time to read Where the Locals Go and let me know what you think!

For June, join us for The Heart of Things - Book One in the Lakeland Series!