The Whole Way Home
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A radiant talent on the brink of making it big in Nashville must confront her small-town past and an old love she’s never forgotten in this engaging novel—a soulful ballad filled with romance, heartbreak, secrets, and scandal from the author of Season of the Dragonflies.
Playing to packed houses while her hit song rushes up the charts, country singer and fiddler Jo Lover is poised to become a one-name Nashville star like her idols, Loretta, Reba, and Dolly. To ensure her success, Jo has carefully crafted her image: a pretty, sassy, down-to-earth girl from small-town Virginia who pours her heart into her songs.
But the stage persona she’s built is threatened when her independent label merges with big-time Capitol Records, bringing Nashville heartthrob JD Gunn—her first love—back into her life. Long ago Jo played with JD’s band. But they parted ways, and took their own crooked roads to stardom. Now Jo’s excited—and terrified—to see him again.
When the label reunites them for a show, the old sparks fly, the duet they sing goes viral, and fans begin clamoring for more—igniting the media’s interest in the compelling singer. Why is a small-town girl like Jo so quiet about her past? When did she and JD first meet? What split them apart? All too soon, the painful secret she’s been hiding is uncovered, a shocking revelation that threatens to destroy her reputation and her dreams. To salvage her life and her career, Jo must finally face the past—and her feelings for JD—to become the true Nashville diva she was meant to be.
THE WHOLE WAY HOME is a well-crafted story that will take you deep inside Nashville's country music scene, while its feisty heroine illustrates universal themes of lost love, the power of family history, and the quest to be your true self.
-- Shilpi Somaya Gowda, NY Times Bestselling Author of SECRET DAUGHTER and THE GOLDEN SON
Reviews for The Whole Way Home
Fresh reviews from Kirkus and The Modern Mrs. Darcy and The Library Journal
The Library Journal
Country singer/songwriter Jo Lover’s star is about to go supernova. She’s paid her dues, and thanks to hard work and staying true to her classic country roots, she’ll reap what she’s sown. But then her record label signs her first love and turns her life upside down. JD Gunn made it big in L.A.; some say by selling out true country music for So-Cal fame and fortune. Now he’s back, brand-new contract in hand, hoping Nashville and making music with the woman he never stopped loving will make him feel complete. Like a soulful country ballad, Creech’s (Season of Dragonflies) sophomore offering is replete with regrets and second chances expertly fueled by a vividly descriptive and candid narrative gifting readers a timeless tale and well-thought-out characters. The realistic peek into the cutthroat country recording industry excels. VERDICT Fans of Karen White and Kristin Hannah will devour this new novel from a delightfully fresh voice in women’s fiction.
Kirkus Review
The dreams of up-and-coming country musicians clash with the reality of the industry in the latest novel by Creech (Season of the Dragonflies, 2014).
The Modern Mrs. Darcy
Country music singer Jo Lover is on the brink of making it big on her own strengths—but when her label acquires J. D. Gunn's Top-40 band, the two are pressed into a musical partnership because it's good business, but it's also really complicated: Jo and J. D. share the same poor Virginia town, and a history as both musical and romantic partners. When a steamy duet they sing goes viral, the collaboration deepens, and things get complicated, as Jo struggles with her feelings and with preserving devastating secrets from the past. I blew through this in an afternoon; it would make a perfect beach read for Nashville fans. (Heads up—it's a little steamy in places.) Publication date: June 6, 2017.
Season of the Dragonflies
As beguiling as the novels of Alice Hoffman, Adriana Trigiani, Aimee Bender, and Sarah Addison Allen, Season of the Dragonflies is a story of flowers, sisters, practical magic, old secrets, and new love, set in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
For generations, the Lenore women have manufactured a perfume unlike any other, and guarded the unique and mysterious ingredients. Their perfumery, hidden in the quiet rolling hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, creates one special elixir that secretly sells for millions of dollars to the world’s most powerful—movie stars, politicians, artists, and CEOs. The Lenore’s signature perfume is actually the key to their success.
Willow, the coolly elegant Lenore family matriarch, is the brains behind the company. Her gorgeous, golden-haired daughter Mya is its heart. Like her foremothers, she can “read” scents and envision their power. Willow’s younger daughter, dark-haired, soulful Lucia, claims no magical touch, nor does she want any part of the family business. She left the mountains years ago to make her own way. But trouble is brewing. Willow is experiencing strange spells of forgetfulness. Mya is plotting a coup. A client is threatening blackmail. And most ominously, the unique flowers used in their perfume are dying.
Whoever can save the company will inherit it. Though Mya is the obvious choice, Lucia has begun showing signs of her own special abilities. And her return to the mountains—heralded by a swarm of blue dragonflies—may be the answer they all need.
“Season of the Dragonflies is a magical, romantic, and riveting novel. You won’t be able to put it down, and as soon as you finish reading, you’ll begin waiting for Sarah Creech’s next book. What a dazzling new talent!”— NINA DE GRAMONT, AUTHOR OF MEET ME AT THE RIVER
"Like the remarkable perfume at the heart of this story, Season of theDragonflies is an intoxicating blend, mixing strong women, magicalflowers, sentient insects, corporate intrigue and family loyalty intoa novel that's not easily put down. Sarah Creech has concocted a headyand exuberant debut."—MICHAEL KNIGHT, AUTHOR OF THE TYPIST
