Sarah Creech

Jo(anne) Lover is a successful country music artist--a talented singer and fiddler--who is making music her own way. She's well-known as a down-home singer from Virginia who writes her own songs and loves the music she makes. Jo plays to packed crowds across the U.S. who love her more traditional style of music, her fiery spirit, and her patented red cowboy boots. But when the popular country band J.D. Gunn and the Empty Shells joins Jo's label, Asphalt Records (who just happens to be run by show more her future father-in-law), things change. J.D. Gunn and Jo grew up together, and along with their friend, Rob, were in a band as children. But Jo is now in a very different place from her childhood friend. J.D. has embraced modern country music (and it he). He sings songs about girls and pickup trucks--none of which he writes himself anymore. And he's made a lot of money doing so. But Jo can't quite adopt what modern country radio embodies: her heroines are Dolly and Loretta and her music reflects that. Still, J.D. and Jo have a storied past together, one that Jo increasingly cannot forget the more time they spend together.

This is a really interesting story of three linked artists: Jo, J.D., and Denver, who plays in a band with an African American singer, Alan. It's told in a conversational style from their various viewpoints, covering the present day as well giving us more background when the characters think back on the past. It's a very effective technique.

I cannot remember exactly why I requested this ARC, but I'm glad I did. This book is basically tailor-made for me: I'm a gigantic country music fan (from Virginia), who adores 90s country music and a lot of Jo's various heroines. As a child, my idol was Mary Chapin Carpenter, I was obsessed with cataloguing every country song I heard on the radio, and I wanted to be a country music singer/songerwriter (slight problem: I can't carry a tune). Needless to say, I loved Jo immediately.

Creech's novel presents a realistic take on modern country music, especially its stance toward African Americans and women. Her portrayal of the old country versus new country dichotomy is spot-on, but could potentially offend those who do love their songs about girls in pickup trucks sung by a revolving door of carbon copy male singers. You probably have to appreciate older country music for this book to work best.

But, don't fear if you aren't a country music fan. At its core, this is a love story, and while it's sometimes predictable and things tend to resolve themselves a bit too easily, it's really a fun one. It's a story of falling in love over music, as well as love of music. It's a strong story, but also captures the essence of what makes music special and magical. It portrays how music can be a business, or music can be a salve for your soul. Jo and J.D. are interesting characters and the supporting cast is intriguing and fun. Along with J.D.'s bandmates, we have Jo's assistant, Marie, and Denver's bandmate, Alan. There's also Jo's fiance, Nick, who is no stock character. While it has most of the earmarks of a typical romance-type novel, there are plenty of surprises along the way. It's also surprisingly profound for a soap opera tale. I enjoyed how it was a saga of music and love, but also a story of changing times and a look into what is fake and what is real. Jo and J.D.'s stage personas and the images they create for the world versus their real selves is pretty fascinating. It's sort of a backstage pass into country music, which is fun.

Overall, this may be a 3.5 - 3.75 star book, but I'm rounding up to 4 stars because I enjoyed the plot so much and because it's one of Creech's earlier books. The plot was fun without being silly and it just offered a good escape. Honestly, I would love it if there was another book picking up where this one left off.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Edelweiss (thank you!); it is available everywhere as of 06/06/2017.

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Season of the Dragonflies: A Novel by Sarah Creech arrived this morning. Very timely, since I had just finished and closed the covers of the book I had been reading. I opened the package, and then the book. This one took a few chapters to draw me in, but once it had, I read until I was finished.

Magical realism and romance, great reading for a summer day, sitting in a rocker on the porch with my dog. The story of the Lenore family began in the late 1920's with a young woman named Serena and show more the man she fell in love with at first sight. Serena was eighteen years old the night she met Dr. Alex Danner.

Serena's father had made a match for her with a man named Chase, a man that she knew she could never love. She was feeling hopeless until her eyes met those of Alex, across the dinner table, the vvery night that her engagement was announced. Serena and Alex made their plans quietly, in secret and departed from the harbor in New York, on their way to Borneo, where Alex, Dr Danner was going to study the healing properties of plants.

Several years and two daughters later, Alex and Serena were coming back to the states. Taking one last walk before they departed what had become their home, the family came upon a circle of woman who seemed to participating in a sort of ritual around a plant, a flower that neither Serena, nor Alex had seen before. Serena felt compelled to enter the circle of women, and further, to enter the center of their circle. She reached out to touch the unusual flower, and it seemed to reach out to her, as well. The story goes, that she pulled the flowering plant from the earth, hid it in her hair, and carried it back to the United States

Serena called her plant Gardenia potentiae, and it had the most beautiful fragrance of any flower she had ever seen. The family crossed the ocean to the states and the decided to settle in a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a place called Quartz Hollow. I was here that she established her family, and created what was to become the business that sustained the entire town, for many years, and many generations to come.

Moving forward in time we meet Willow, Serena's granddaughter and Willow's two daughter, Mya and Lucia. Willow is the person in charge of the fragrance company that distilled what was considered to be one of the most intoxicating fragrances available anywhere. It seemed to have a magical quality that propelled the user to success in her chosen field. Mya worked with her mother, and Lucia had left the town to try her hand at acting. She seemed to have something to prove, to her family, and perhaps most of all to herself. This book Season of the Dragonflies is their story. The story of love, prosperity, magic and betrayal. It is a story of magic, death and mostly life and love.

Recommended for fans of Sarah Addison Allen, an anyone who likes a good story of several generations of strong and wise, or not so wise, women. I will look for more books by this author in the future. show less

Mix Practical Magic and Chocolat together and have it set in the Blue Ridge Mountains and you'll have a good idea what this book is about. Generations of women in the Lenore family have bottled the most alluring perfume that enables the wearers to succeed at anything they put their mind to. Senators, lawyers, musicians, doctors, and celebrities are just a few of the powerful jobs that women have obtained with the power of this perfume. Behind the powerful scent is a secret flower, a family show more of strong women, and just a hint of magic. After a divorce and failed career, Lucia moves back to the family home and business in the Blue Ridge Mountains. While there she discovers that her sister, Mya and her mother are facing troubles with some tricky clients and their beloved flower crop might be dying. Can they put aside all their differences and work together to save the family business from crumbling? A captivating read with enough intrigue to keep readers turning the pages. While the ending leaves a bit to be desired, the plot is unique and magical enough to almost make up for it. show less

I simply love when a book surprises me, when it takes twists and turns I didn't see coming, when it builds in such a way that without realizing it slowly is far more then I'd anticipated. The Whole Way Home, by Sarah Creech, fits this description. I was really thrilled to have been selected by Library Thing and William Morrow as an Early Reviewer and I'd like to thank them for the opportunity.
Jo Lover is a rising star of the Nashville country music world when her label merges with the label show more of her first love, JD Gunn. Seeing an opportunity the label reunites them. Sarah Creech is a master story teller and she really shines in this genre, the messy relationships, heartache, history, love and loss, moments that can haunt us, baggage we carry. She excels at relating real life, the human experience we all can relate to. Clearly, I'm a fan. There are elements of all of these as we learn why these two didn't make it, what happened so long ago, how it made them who they are now, and if they can reconcile that in present day to find a way together.
I throughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend to anyone who loves romance, stories that present location as key element, country music, and relationships. There is a plot element that may be triggering to those that are highly sensitive to sexual violence. It is short, not extreme, but it does exists. If this is a concern be aware. show less