High praise for Mimi Johnson’s Gathering String in this tweet:

You know you’ve read a good book when you mourn reaching the end of it. @Mimijohnson‘s Gathering String did that. Bravo on her debut novel.

— Some call me Mia (@Mia_Ria) May 3, 2012

Another review for Gathering String posted on Amazon by Iowa native “DocRoc7”:

There are many Iowa locations and descriptions that endeared this story to me, such as the Tall Corn Inn, Jay’s Drug Store, the Iowa Governor who is running for President, Swede Erickson (Mimi is from Essex a small town with a large Swedish heritage), Farragut Admirals girls basketball team and so many other little insights that most won’t recognize. With each new chapter I anticipated another mention of familiar spots that had be cleverly woven into the story, not unlike “easter eggs” that are often found in video games. It’s paced well with flashbacks, foreshadowing, romance and intrigue. … Now the challenge is to re-read the novel again through the eyes of a non-Iowan and focus more on the characters and less on the settings. As a first novel “Gathering String” shows a depth of creativity with promise of greater things to come.