Runaround Sue

About the Book

Book: Runaround Sue

Author: Jennifer Lynn Cary

Genre: Sweet and Wholesome Romance

Release Date: May 30, 2023

She gave away something precious…

…He lost a part of himself.

Can they find a way to help each other heal?

Sue is hiding out until she is sure her former reputation won’t destroy what she’s trying to rebuild. Unfortunately, that means this brilliant wordsmith turned semi-hermit is working beneath her potential and dealing with stress every time her office door opens.

The last thing she needs to do is greet some biker guy who sets her nerves to jumping just by being in the same room.

And if his hairy face isn’t enough to put her off, the mere fact that he’s male is.

So why does she keep ending up in his presence?

Mac is home from Viet Nam and if he never thinks about that place again, it will be too soon. Instead, he’s returned to his music that got him through his teen years, his exotic senior trip overseas (thanks to his Uncle Sam), and the deep wound that he brought home with him. Using his GI bill to further his music understanding has pushed him outside his comfort zone, but the leggy secretary at his professor’s office is tempting him with other ideas he thought he’d shelved for good.

Even if she gets flustered every time he runs into her.

What will it take for her to give him a chance? Or is she more wounded than he is?

Return to 1972 Kokomo, Indiana for the third installment of The Weather Girls Wedding Shoppe and Venue series—Runaround Sue—and what see happens when people discover who God has called them to be.

You will love Runaround Sue, inspired by Dion and the Belmonts’ 1960s hit song, because everyone understands about facing fears with a do-over.

 

Click here to get your copy!

  My Review: I requested to read and review this book through Celebratelit. I am not required to give a positive review, just an honest one. I requested the book because I had read Sylvia's Mother and truly enjoyed it. I enjoyed this book also, just not as much.

This book had a slower start than I expected. It took quite a while before I figured out the title of the book and how it fits in with the song. Even though it was a slow start, it was an interesting book. The story flowed slowly but well.

The editing was well done, though the use of some of the odd words was unwelcome for me. This is a Christian book though not at all preachy. The author did a good job of showing how we need to depend on God and not trust only in ourselves. 

I give this book a 4 out of five rating.

About the Author

Historical Christian Romance author, Jennifer Lynn Cary, likes to say you can take the girl out of Indiana, but you can’t take the Hoosier out of the girl. Now transplanted to the Arizona desert, this direct descendant of Davy Crockett and her husband of forty years enjoy time with family where she shares tales of her small-town heritage and family legacies with their grandchildren. She is the author of The Crockett Chronicles series, The Relentless series, and The Weather Girls trilogy as well as the stand-alone novel, Cheryl’s Going Home, her novella Tales of the Hob Nob Annex Café, and her split-time novels The Traveling Prayer Shawl and The Forgotten Gratitude Journal.

Runaround Sue is the third book of her spin-off series The Weather Girls Wedding Shoppe and Venue.

 

More from Jennifer Lynn

One of the best parts of writing this series is that I get to relive lots of fun memories from my childhood. As my bio states, I am a direct descendant of Davy Crockett. This was a big deal to my father, and he made us memorize the generations back.

 

Well, my first real friend (we met when we were four but didn’t get to play together again until we were in first grade—long, funny story) had a famous last name, famous around Kokomo at least. Haynes. She mentioned she was related to this guy who was a big deal with cars and steel. That was about all my first grade mind could fathom.

 

I was able to connect that to a little side trip I took with my dad one day. He pulled up in front of an old white building on Apperson Way in Kokomo and led me to the front door. It was obvious the building was empty and had been for some time. But on the slab porch, in front of the entrance, he pointed out a tiled mosaic of a jack rabbit. Dad explained that this had been the factory where the Apperson brothers produced their car, the Jack Rabbit. They ran their factory for about twenty-five years producing one of the first sports cars ever made.

 

By fourth grade, where we learned about Indiana history, I also got a bit more information on Elwood Haynes (my friend’s ancestor) and the Apperson brothers. Aside from a converted horse cart, their Pioneer car from 1894 is considered the first automobile made in the USA and is now housed in the Smithsonian.

 

I don’t think I fully grasped Elwood Haynes’s contributions to science and industry, however, until I moved away and became an adult. (Getting older and learning how to surf the web helped too). I was able to use what I learned about the man and share it in Runaround Sue.

 

The auto industry left Kokomo in the dust when it became evident that Detroit was easier and less expensive to deliver raw products to. However, that didn’t stop Mr. Haynes from doing his experiments. One story has it that he invented stainless steel because his wife was tired of polishing the silver. And we can thank him for finding a use for that residue that was left after cleaning the oil captured from the drilling in the Kokomo area—a little thing called gasoline.

 

I love that I’m from Kokomo, that I had a wonderful childhood there, and that there are so many cool pieces of information about the place. (BTW, actor Strother Martin and author Norman Bridwell of Clifford the Big Red Dog series are both Kokomo famous sons).

 

If you’ve ever been to Kokomo, Indiana, I hope you will respond and let me know. If you haven’t, it’s a nice place to visit. I hope you will check it out.

Blog Stops

By the Book, July 21

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, July 22

Texas Book-aholic, July 23

Connie’s History Classroom, July 24

Locks, Hooks and Books, July 25

Books I’ve Read, July 25

The Book Club Network, July 26

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, July 27

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, July 28

Blogging With Carol, July 29

For Him and My Family, July 30

A Modern Day Fairy Tale, July 31 (Author Interview)

Life on Chickadee Lane, July 31

Pause for Tales, August 1

JESUS in the EVERYDAY, August 2

Cover Lover Book Review, August 3

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Jennifer is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon card and an eBook copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/26ba3/runaround-sue-celebration-tour-giveaway 

A Beautiful Disguise (The Imposters Book #1) by Roseanna M. White

 I enjoyed this book. It was a very different storyline than any I've read. Very imaginative if not too realistic. The main couple of characters were quite well developed. I enjoyed how they were fleshed out in the story. The supporting characters were well done also, but there were some gaps. I realize they were for the next books but it was hard to understand some of it.

The editing was quite well done also. Very few errors. This is important to me as poor editing can ruin a perfectly good story. I did feel that the story ended rather poorly.

In general, I would recommend this book as it is quite unique. I give it a 4-star review. I was given this book through LibraryThing and am not required to leave a review. All thoughts are totally my own.

The All-American by Susie Finkbeiner

I really enjoyed this book. It was a look at how the threat of Communism affected people in the USA, Michigan in particular.

The story is told from the viewpoints of two sisters, one a high school teen and the other a 10-year-old elementary school girl. The story goes back and forth, one and then the other. It is well written and these two girls are pretty well fleshed out. The supporting characters vary in their depth. The story flows well. The editing was very well done. 

The two negative points I have are 1. This is sold as a Christian book by a Christian book publisher but the only thing remotely Christian is that they pray at meals and attend church. It is a clean book but for me, it's a stretch to call it Christian. 2. I did not like the ending. There was an epilogue but it did not address both sisters. I felt there were loose threads that needed attention.

Overall, I give this a 4 out of 5-star rating, even with the negatives. I was given an ARC through the Revell Reads program. I am not required to leave a positive review, only my honest opinion. This is my own, honest review, all thoughts are my own.