REVIEW of Small Town Rumors by Carolyn Brown

Genre:
Contemporary Romance

Release Date:
July 3rd, 2018

Everyone is talking about Jennie Sue Baker and the mess she made of her life in New York. The former high school queen bee—and wealthy darling of Bloom, Texas—has returned home after all these years, riding on a common bus and bearing two bounced alimony checks. In a town that thrives on gossip, Jennie’s fall from grace has shamed her mother, set the town buzzing, and caused old, jealous enemies to whisper in delight. They say she’s taken a job as a housekeeper, gotten a garage apartment, and might be crushing on Rick Lawson, a simple farmer with modest dreams.

As romance starts to bud, Jennie relishes what it means to follow her heart, find real new friends, and finally be herself—regardless of all the lying town chatter. But fate has another twist in store. Rumor has it that Jennie now stands to lose what matters most…unless she can convince Rick of one true thing—and that’s love.

My Thoughts…

Carolyn Brown wrote a book set in small town USA.   Everyone knows what everyone else is doing and they are happy to spread the gossip around the town.    The original story changes as the gossip is passed from person to person and many times it gets blown entirely out of proportion.     This is exactly how a small town is.   

Jennie Sue is a unique and strong character.   She is the daughter of the queen and king of the town and she turns up her nose to that.  I like that she knew she didn’t want to be like her mother yet she took a chance with Percy to try to live that life.   I also like that it didn’t turn out well for her, I know that sounds bad but she was so unhappy and now that she is divorced from him she is so much happier.     The town of Bloom, Texas should have turned its back on her but instead, those who are below her mamma’s station in life welcome her with almost open arms.    While those who are her momma’s friends want to make her into one of their own without seeing how that is exactly what Jennie Sue (Southern name at its best) doesn’t want. 

The characters that welcome Jennie Sue home and help to handle the twists and turns in her life now that she is home are perfect.     They are open, they are welcoming, and they are accepting.    They let Jennie Sue be who she has always wanted to be and encourage her to grow in that.    I love that and hope that if that was to happen in my town I’d be one of those welcoming people.   It gives me something to strive for.  

Everything about this book is perfect.    A perfect summer book with a wonderful small town setting, and characters that I loved that I definitely recommend.

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About the Author: Carolyn Brown

Carolyn Brown is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author and a RITA finalist. The Strawberry Hearts Diner is her eighty-fifth published book. Her books include romantic women’s fiction, historical romance, contemporary romance, cowboy romance, and country music mass-market paperbacks. She and her husband live in the small town of Davis, Oklahoma, where everyone knows what everyone else is doing—and reads the local newspaper on Wednesdays to see who got caught. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep them young. When she’s not writing, Carolyn likes to sit in her gorgeous backyard with her two cats, Chester Fat Boy and Boots Randolph Terminator Outlaw, and watch them protect their territory from all kinds of wicked varmints like crickets, locusts, and spiders. Visit her online at www.carolynbrownbooks.com.

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