Readers Welcome!
Grab a glass of wine and meet up with Lissa, Caroline, and Hunter in Taking the Long Way Home.
About the Novel
Lissa always considered herself a true Texas girl. She loves Willie Nelson, weekends on a ranch, Texas-style BBQ and Longhorn football. But, as she grows up, Lissa's path leads her far from her home state and things start to get ... complicated. She and her friends drift to the East Coast and her career as a Democratic politico takes off. But her mother, a quintessential Dallas housewife, cannot understand her views, and their relationship fractures over an issue with immense personal and political significance.
Lissa isn't able to reconcile with her mother, Kathy, before she passes away. So, when her father receives a terminal cancer diagnosis, she's determined to mend this rift in her family. She packs up her two kids and heads back to Texas. Caring for her dad over the course of a hot Dallas summer, Lissa relives the path that took her so far from home. Supported by her best girlfriends, her family, and a surprising stranger, Lissa comes to better understand both her mother and herself and makes peace with her father's passing.
A work of women's fiction, Taking the Long Way Home takes its cues from Steel Magnolias and Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood; readers will no doubt laugh and cry. Partially an expat's love letter to the American South in these hyper-political times, Taking the Long Way Home also provides a warmhearted meditation on devoted girlfriends, parents' end of life, the importance of family, and the true meaning of home.
Read it.
Taking the Long Way Home is available in paperback and on Kindle via Amazon. There is also an interactive and immersive version available on this website for “members only” — subscribers who want more content, more backstory, or just more!
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Live it.
On the membership page, you will find Taking the Long Way Home in a new kind of reading format. Yes, you are reading a novel but its more than that. You also get custom illustrations and playlists; you can peruse mentioned restaurant reviews; and access research and additional articles that informed the writing.
Love it.
The membership site also has other exclusive content like a reader’s guide, posts about how the book was written, where ideas came from, and hints about Caroline and Hunter’s stories which are still being written. There is also a place to ask your own questions or share your own feedback on the book. Conversation encouraged!
“It’s soo good! I feel like it’s the Texas version of Devine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood [Becky Wells] and Prep [Curtis Sittenfeld] all rolled into one. ”
“I’m sure whatever you write is brilliant.”
“Taking the Long Way Home is a novel with a lot of emotional depth and believable characters. Need I say it again, I love Hunter! ”
Questions about “memberships”?
Answers are below!
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Your $20 “membership” gives you access to the online novel plus additional content. The novel is presented in Chapters, easily read via a tablet or phone, and each Chapter has unique illustrations, playlists, recipes, links to mentioned restaurants or attractions, and/or links to additional related articles. Kindle or other i-readers wouldn’t be able to support these hyperlinks and illustrations so consider this an experiment with a more immersive reading experience.
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Yes…and more! In the Membership Section I have also posted “behind the scenes” articles that explain where some of the ideas for the book came from, research I completed and condensed, some deleted scenes I still love and can’t part with. I also hope to engage readers in polite and respectful conversation so if you have specific questions or wonderings, you can share that in the membership section as well.
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That would be a bummer but it could happen. If you don’t like it, I would consider thinking of it like I do the books on my bedside table that I will never ever finish. They were investments in another person’s creative endeavors. In other words, no refunds. Sorry!
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That would be delightful! I hope you do! But please, no sharing of accounts or passwords. It’s just $20, people. Encourage your friends and family to buy their own membership.
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Good question. Part of your purchase goes to boring but necessary things like transaction and webhosting fees. Part of your purchase will go towards supporting my livelihood so I can hopefully finish Caroline and Hunter’s books. And 10% of your purchase will go to philanthropic organizations with similar values or focus as the book’s characters. Think organizations that support cancer and dementia research, girls’ education and leadership development, voting access, etc.
Read Taking the Long Way Home
$20 one-time charge for access