Customer Reviews

Sweet Home Carolina: A Novel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Sweet Home Carolina" is T. Lynn Ocean's second novel, and it's even better than the first, which was excellent, especially for a debut novel. Jaxie Parker is a young career woman who thrives on the big city life from her ad agency perch in Atlanta. She's into shoe shopping, latte-sipping and a love 'em and dump 'em lifestyle. But then, her boss sends her to his slowly dying smalltown hometown of Rumton, S.C., and orders her to bring the town back to life as a pro bono venture. Jaxie is crestfallen and wonders how she will spend her time in Podunkville.

She manages just fine, makes lots of new friends (eccentrics seem to abound in Rumton,but isn't that about right?) and develops an appreciation for a different kind of lifestyle. It's not all about Jaxie, though. There's a sunken ship, ghosts, family secrets, a murder, romance and intrigue, even a five-star hurricane. An investor arrives in Rumton in the nick of time to buy up the townspeople's land -- but can he be trusted to do what he says? Jaxie thinks not, and goes to work debunking his promises. After all, the town's future is in her hands.

"Sweet Home Carolina" is an entertaining romp of a read with lots of Southern sassiness and charm and even a Chat 'n' Chew where you serve yourself about half the time. Who could ask for more? Read this book -- you won't be disappointed. And, if you live nearby, the author might come visit your book club!

We have 14 women in our book club and everyone agreed that this novel was a delightful selection. Sometimes you just want to buy a book where you can escape into the story, enjoy the characters, and finish the final chapter with a smile on your face. Ocean's second book is exactly that type of read and most anyone will thoroughly enjoy it. The southern characters are quirky, but real and people you'd actually want to meet in person. The plot is a mystery with some intriguing pirate lore, but one that won't give you a headache trying to keep up.

I just met Tracy Lynn at a book festival in Columbia, SC, and she was as warm and funny in person as I'd imagined her to be.

If you are going on vacation, you want something fun for a rainy day, or your book club needs a break from depressing drama--then Sweet Home Carolina is the perfect choice. I think we'll see her on the bestseller list in a few more years. Kudos to this author and my book club is eagerly awaiting the next one, which she said will be titled Southern Fatality.

Of course I'm giving it lots of stars, since I wrote it! But please note that professional reviewers overwhelmingly agree.

BOOKLIST says, "Readers will cheer for these likeable characters as they rally to save their town," and ROMANTIC TIMES calls this book, "delightful and entertaining." Several newspapers have taken notice and given their endorsement, such as Charleston's POST AND COURIER, who calls the book, "charming" and Wilmington's STAR-NEWS, who says, "...this novel hit's the bull's-eye for an amusing read."

Even some of your favorite authors such as Cassandra King, Carolyn Hart, and Mary Jane Clark read an advance copy and gave SWEET HOME CAROLINA an excellent blurb.

I write to entertain, and here's the recipe for SWEET HOME CAROLINA: take a successful career woman who loves everything metropolitan, add a small quirky town that doesn't have dry martinis or day spas, mix in a murder, a treasure and some spicy pirate history. Laugh often and enjoy your visit to Rumton, South Carolina!


Tracy
T. Lynn Ocean

Here it is Tracy. I am reviewing your book.
Our book club said 50/50. Half loved have cute.
It is a entertaining read if you like like lite reading.
I personal like a little meat in the book. But I had to read it because the author was coming. But it wasn't bad for a a entertaining night. If you like lite reading you will like this especially if you are from the Grand Strand you will appreciate the local. Good Luck, with your next book.

Jaxie Parker is a hard-driving, good-looking, superficial publicist living in Atlanta. She loves the urban life-style, avoids long-term relationships, and enjoys office gossip with her pal, Sheila. Jaxie is horrified when her boss sends her on a pro bono assignment to his former home-town, Rumton, near the South Carolina coast on highway 17. The town is definitely dying, populated by a handful of oldsters. Jaxie's (supposed) assignment is to launch a revitalization project to save the town, and to do it within the next couple of weeks.

Needless to say, there's more to this than meets the eye. Lots of colorful quirky characters quietly win Jaxie over with their understated warmth. An out-of-town investor shows up, before Jaxie can really get started, with his own plans for a different kind of revitalization, maybe not good for the town at all. And a fellow worker, Justin, who was always annoying to Jaxie may have some unrecognized masculine potential.

So, will Jaxie save the town? Will she get together with Justin? Will I tell you about the pet raccoon? Or the pirates? Or the ghost? Probably not. You'll just have to read it for yourself. You'll enjoy it.

Author T. Lynn Ocean writes in a light-hearted breezy way, and the story moves right along. It's mostly fluff, but well-written fluff and very entertaining. You soon find yourself caring about these improbable characters and their improbable, quirky town. I was a little disturbed by the local dialect--not very South Carolina or even southern. But hey--who cares? Enjoy the book but watch the calories. I recommend it. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

Snooze. One writer said this was fluff, but to say that would be unfair to the marshmallow cream Fluff that goes by that name. There are plenty of Southern writers out there who understand the terrain and can tell a good story. Um, she is not one of them. Not yet, anyway. Maybe if she sticks with it.

Shine Advertising and Public Relations senior accountant executive Jaxie Parker loves being single and working in Atlanta. Her focus is on her career with no interest beyond a casual date with the opposite sex. The firm's owner Aaron Ackworth assigns Jaxie to provide one month gratis PR work on his hometown's revitalization operation.

Reluctantly Jaxie journeys to decaying Rumton, South Carolina where the ocean is near, but nothing else is. Jaxie learns that the local hang out is the Chat 'N Chew where she meets elderly widower "Pompous" Pop, who allows her to stay in his place for free. Of course her roommate is Pop's best friend Bandit the raccoon. From her Atlanta agency Vice President of Market Research and a former town resident Justin Connor arrives to assist Jaxie who he is very attracted to even though she seems unavailable. At the same time developer Lester Smoak and Mayor Riley work a deal to build a casino until someone kills the public official with an ex-con as the prime suspect. Jaxie believes otherwise and with Justin's help tries to prove otherwise even as a hurricane is coming.

SWEET HOME CAROLINA is an interesting look at a town in trouble with the cavalry being sent by a successful former resident that in some way to the townies seem like invaders. The story line emphasis that it takes a village to nurture families, but it takes people doing the little things to nurture a village. Though Jaxie can act the snob with "little" things like her shoe selection, fans of sweet inspirational contemporary character studies will appreciate this upbeat cozy.

Harriet Klausner

I enjoyed this novel over all. Some of the characters were great -- Pop was very well written and likable; Jaxie changed and grew and was believable. Some of the characters were ridiculous -- Justin goes from being a bore to being a hunk in Jaxie's eyes and I have no idea why; Lester was the bad guy wrapped up in the mob - oh, puhleese!

But, as a whole, the book was fun to read. The ending of the hurricane and how Lester was caught was so silly it disappointed me that the author couldn't come up with something better. But, up until that point, I really did like the book.

Quick, easy, lite read.

Jaxie Parker loves her high-profile life. Young, sexy, and successful, the advertising executive adores the suits, sounds, and vibrancy of Atlanta. She's not interested in commitment, but is a love 'em and dump 'em kinda gal who can barely operate a microwave. She is stunned when she receives her new project from her boss, Aaron Ackworth, at Shine Advertising and Public Relations--a pro bono project to save a tiny South Carolina coastal town. How can she be expected to survive in a place with no shopping, no bars, no restaurants, and no men?

But she loves her job, so off she goes. Instead of staying with her boss's Aunt Millie, she takes up residence with one of the town's leading citizens, Pop and his pets, Bandit the raccoon and Flush the dog. That part of the plot seems a bit contrived because Jaxie is too savvy to move in with a man she has never met before. But staying with Aaron's Aunt Millie and her twenty-three cats is completely out of the question because Jaxie is highly allergic to cats. And, Rumton's economy is so depressed there isn't even a small hotel she can call home for a few weeks.

Jaxie digs in with gusto, not out of a need to save Rumton from blight, but a need to get back to her real life in Atlanta. As she gets to know the handful of townspeople, they turn out to be quite the eccentric bunch, but the fact that there are more hunky men hanging around than she ever thought possible, makes this a great project for a single woman with her penchant for flirting.

Just about the time Jaxie comes up with a little bit of pirate history and an idea to connect Rumton back to the ocean, a no-good land developer swoops in and starts purchasing options on what seems to be useless tracts of land. And when the town's mayor turns up dead of an apparent heart attack, Jaxie gets her dander up and sets out to learn whom the scallywag is and what he's up to.

Overall, Sweet Home Carolina is a good read. The plot is rather predictable once Jaxie tosses her pretty head the first time, and the evil land developer drops in, just when the action starts to take a nosedive.

Armchair Interviews says: It's a fun, light-hearted, and easy read.