This isn't really my usual genre but it's enjoyable for a pool side, lazy sunny day read. Jennie Sue returns to the small town of Bloom in Texas after her husband scarpered with their wealth and another woman. She's broke and angry. She takes a job cleaning to make ends meet and before too long she gets tongues in the sleepy town wagging. Some are happy to welcome her back, others are delighted to hear of her downfall. This was your usual chick lit read. It was predictable and exaggerated in part. I laughed occasionally and cringed at times too. It was an easy read. I give it 3 stars.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Painfully slow and painfully predictable but people like her books so we ordered a copy.

SMALL TOWN RUMORS is a slow burn contemporary story that I was pulled in to from the very first page. To be honest, I fell in love with the cover the minute I saw it. I knew I would read it anyway, because I love Carolyn Brown, but the cover really pulled me in. I loved everything about this beautiful story and I’m excited to recommend it to my reading friends. Carolyn Brown always has a way of grabbing her readers and she never lets us go. Rick is a Veteran who is scarred, both physically and emotionally. Jenny Sue grew up with a nose up in the air mother who never thought her daughter was good enough, pretty enough or smart enough to meet her standards. Her mother was never happy with her.



SMALL TOWN RUMORS really takes a turn that will have you unable to put this beautiful story down. Neither Jennie Sue or Rick are looking for a relationship, but they can’t seem to ignore their growing feelings. So here we have these two crossing paths and each time, there is a pull to see more of each other. This causes all sorts of rumors and gossip. Jennie Sue is already dealing with the fallout of her cleaning, working at a bookstore and living over the garage of her mother’s mortal enemies. It was cute watching these two dance around their feelings for each other.



SMALL TOWN RUMORS is filled with twists and turns and had me staying up way too late one night to finish! I had to know where Carolyn Brown was taking us and what would happen to Rick and Jennie Sue. I really loved how the whole community came to Jennie Sue and Rick’s aid and only wanted them to feel loved and realize that they were home. There is so much heart in Carolyn’s writing that I’m always left with a huge smile on my face and my heart very happy. I could totally see SMALL TOWN RUMORS becoming a Hallmark movie and I would love to see it. All of the characters are very interesting and believable, so much so that I felt as if I’ve known them for a long time. I would love to hang out with Nadine and Lettie . I’m sure they could teach me a thing or two and I know they would keep my laughing all day long! I love how Carolyn does that to me each and every time.



I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own and were voluntarily given.

Small Town Rumors is about Jennie Sue Baker. She has just come back to town after a nasty divorce, and boy does the gossip fly. This southern Texas town is full of the most cliched small town folks I have ever read about. They are all sassy, nosy and unable to let go of the past. Jennie is looking for a fresh start but they make it very hard on her. 

Every character is so over the top, I felt myself rolling my eyes quite a bit. There were a few that I really loved. I really liked Jennie. She was struggling with finding her happiness and she was going to work hard to find it. She wasn't afraid to stand her ground and look out for herself for a change. Also, Nadine and Lettie were the cutest little old women! They brought a fresh perspective into Jennie's life. They really helped her come into her own. 

 But then there was Jennie's mother Charlotte. Charlotte, who had spent her whole life in a loveless marriage didn't want something different for her daughter. It seemed she had never learned how to achieve true happiness in life, and she pushed that on her daughter. I could not stand her.

Overall, I did not love this book. It seemed very superficial and I was hoping there would be more to the story. I feel like this story has been done a lot before and there is not really anything that will make this one stand out. I also feel like the author tried to fit in as many stereotypes as possible, and it was over done.

I really enjoy these small town reads with some really great characters and sweet romance. I really liked the way that the romance between the two main characters built slowly through the book creating a really realistic romantic relationship.

This was a delightful book! I would just chuckle with the rumors that ran rampant in the town of Bloom, Texas. The characters were well developed and the older ladies who take Jennie Sue under their wings were a hoot.

This was a fun book and nice to see a female who stood up for herself and wasn't absorbed with wealth. Jennie Sue allows you to see life through the eyes of someone who has good values and is making a difference in the lives of the people who live in Bloom. She might even change the opinions of those who made up their minds about Jennie Sue when she was in high school.

This is the second book I've read by Carolyn Brown and has encouraged me to read more by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

SMALL TOWN RUMORS by Carolyn Brown is an interesting look at how rumors have affected the life of several generations living in this small town. Surprisingly the citizens are truly reluctant to leave their home town and ultimately wind up returning and what is really very revealing is the uptake that they are all really happy to be back home.
You could say with complete sincerity that some children don’t match their parents. I’m not talking about looks or smarts but personality and sensibilities. That’s absolutely the case in SMALL TOWN RUMORS to the nth degree.
Jennie Sue couldn’t be more different than either of her parents in too many ways to try to mention. She does not match – well except for DNA of course.
There’s something to be said about doing the right thing versus what you want to do. Now that’s not to suggest you would be choosing the wrong thing. Quite the contrary. As an adult you’re charged with the responsibility of making tons of choices. Big question is whom are you going to please – yourself or others.
When Jennie Sue woke up to her new normal – new reality she didn’t feel as though she had any choices or viable options. She had left behind that “good” life. Yes I did do the quote thing because it fits here. Jennie Sue had strived to be the good daughter and good wife and in the end no one was happy. Jennie Sue had no choice but to turn her back on her old life and find peace with her new one.
Charlotte – Jennie Sue’s mother was hyper critical of everything she did. Her father loved her but stayed pretty much in the background overshadowed as it were by his wife. Charlotte was a force to reckon with and it seemed Jennie Sue and her dad shared the desire to stay out of that force-field when possible.
But life and circumstances change and you have to follow suit.
So SMALL TOWN RUMORS is about making a new start with many obstacles facing you. Some of your making but most caused by incessant rumors about you and your family. Everyone is interested in Jenny Sue’s return and most feel that it is due to failures on her part. But Jennie Sue doesn’t drown herself in past mistakes. Instead she is reaching out for a new normal of her own – emphasis on her own. She is making her mother really unhappy but so be it. That is certainly nothing new. Upon returning Jennie Sue has also captured the eye of someone who absolutely hates her. And then Jennie Sue finds some amazing new friends that seem to welcome her with open arms. Big question is whether they too have an ulterior motive.
Two crazy old ladies – they would not be offended with that description – Lettie and Nadine become a sort of catalyst for Jennie Sue’s reintroduction to Bloom Texas. They also provide their fair share of humor. But the character with the sassiest voice is Jennie Sue. Without a doubt she will have you laughing out loud.

what an amazing book. Loved it from beginning to end
I loved the authors style of writing and will be looking for other books by this author.
I would recommend this book to friends and family

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake Romance publishers for a copy of this book

While I liked this book in many ways, it was not at all what I thought it would be. It seemed to drag a lot and I hate that. I honestly wanted to love it so much. I found it impossible that Jennie Sue could do all the things that this book said. Like having three jobs. She was more of a spoiled rich girl in my opinion. I hated her mother by the way. She was not a pleasant person at all. He ex was to hung up on his sister, not in a dirty way. Her father was to afraid of her mother. It was not a book that I truly enjoyed reading. I didn’t feel it at all.

I truly tried to love this one but it fell short.

I've enjoyed books by this author in the past, but this one didn't have the same impact on me. It was very predictable and painfully slow at times, but I loved Nadine and Lettie!

If there's one thing that Carolyn Brown excels at, it's novels set in small towns, and Small Town Rumors is a perfect example of just how good a writer she is. As someone who was born in NYC, moved to a small New England town, and opened a bookstore, this story certainly resonated with me, and the cast of characters in this novel was memorable, charming, funny, warm (not all of them), and charming. It gets 4.5 stars from this reader, who was sorry to see it end.

Jenny Sue is returning to her small hometown of Bloom, Texas, by bus. She's the daughter of one of Bloom's premier families, and the fact that she's returned by bus from NYC, is scandalous enough, so scandalous in fact, that her high school nemesis, Cricket, who works as a waitress in the local cafe, is practically glued to the window, snapping photos of this scandalous event. Why is she back in town? Why didn't her rich, oilman father fly her home in his private plane? Why isn't her rich, diamond dealing husband with her? Why is she sitting on her one lone suitcase, wearing ratty jeans, an old tee shirt, no makeup or perfect hairdo, just waiting? When her snooty, rich, socialite mother arrives and practically drags Jenny Sue into her Cadillac, and burns rubber on her way out of town, the rumor mill picks up speed, and Cricket is only too happy to let everyone in town know what she just saw, and she now has the photos to back up her story.

No sooner does Jenny Sue buckle her seat belt when her mother starts in on her. How dare she sully her family's fine, upstanding reputation by showing up by bus, wearing old clothes, no makeup, and how dare she have gained 10 pounds? Dear old mom is the southern belle to end all southern belles, and appearances are everything to her. Dear old mom and her serial cheating husband actually paid Jenny Sue's husband to marry her. He then cheated on her, and deserted her when she became pregnant and she refused to have an abortion. During the nine years of their far from perfect marriage, he was verbally abusive, controlling, accepted nothing but perfection, and didn't want his arm candy, trophy wife, to get her college degree in business since he didn't want her to shame him by actually getting a job. She was tired of being her cheating husband's arm candy and no sooner did he learn of her pregnancy when he ran off with his flavor of the month, never to be heard from again. Six months after leaving her, she received his divorce papers and Jenny Sue was only too happy to sign them. She thought the divorce settlement was fair--she'd still have the house, her car, and alimony to keep her going, but when the alimony checks began to bounce, and the creditors began to show up at her door, and soon took possession of her car, her furniture, and and almost everything she owned to settle her ex-husband's debts, not only was she alone and pregnant, she was broke, and to make matters even worse, her baby was stillborn, her mother hushed up her pregnancy, and had her baby secretly buried in an unmarked grave in the family cemetery plot. With little money and no place else to go, Jenny Sue returned home, but her life and experiences had made her quite a bit different than the daughter who left her small Texas town 9 years earlier.

After listening to her mother's tirade once she arrived back at their palatial home-- the complaints about her looks, the 10 pounds she'd gained, the humiliating way she arrived in town, her divorce, and her mother's intention to turn her back into the Southern belle she expected her to be, Jenny Sue rebelled. When her father refused to hire her to work at his oil company, even though she had her degree, was qualified, and had a desire to work, Jenny Sue had had enough. She left the family home, and in short order found a tiny apartment over the garage of a house belonging to one of two hilarious, charming, gossip-loving and wonderful old biddy, spinster sisters, whose houses she'd be cleaning two days a week, and a second job as well, working part-time at the local bookstore, and fighting all of her mother's attempts to turn her into someone she didn't want to be, Jenny Sue was finally free to be herself, and she's as kind, sweet, caring, helpful, and charming a character as you could hope to find, and I absolutely loved watching her make her own decisions, and form relationships with the many town residents her parents felt themselves too important to associate with.

The secondary characters, from the dueling and feisty spinster sisters, Nadine and Lettie, who hire Jenny Sue to clean their homes and who take her under their wings, are an absolute hoot. Then there's Cricket, who has hated Jenny Sue since childhood, was jealous of her clothes, her wealth, her status, and her perceived snootiness, and who couldn't wait to see her fail, but who finally comes to realize that her first impressions of Jenny Sue couldn't have been more wrong. Then there's Rick, Cricket's scarred, wounded warrior, older brother, who finally finds acceptance and falls in love with Jenny Sue. Then there are the family maid and chauffeur, who were like grandparents to Jenny Sue, and who would do anything for her, and add to the mix every other quirky character in Bloom, Texas, who were as integral and as essential to this heartwarming story of small town life as were the primary characters.

If I have any complaints about this novel, it's one small one, and it's that I wish the author had spent a little more time on the slowly growing relationship between Jenny Sue and Rick, which, in my opinion, wasn't as fully and completely explored as I hoped it would be.

If you loved films like Steel Magnolias, Fried Green Tomatoes, and The Spitfire Grill, you're going to love this sweet, sad, funny, charming, and absolutely wonderful look at small town life in Texas as much as I did. Kudos to Carolyn Brown for this exceptionally good read.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

With characteristic charm by Brown, this romance that takes place in Bloom Texas is enchanting. Jennie Sue Baker returns home a bit beaten down, but soon finds out how to truly follow her heart.

Live your own life!

Jenny Sue is back in town and she’s arrived by bus, sans husband, with just 1 suitcase! Rumours start to fly in town! Jenny Sue has grown up due to a bad marriage, and the IRS freezing all their assets. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks about her, but she has decided to take control of herself and her life. But her mother has always worried about gossip and she’s determined to take control of the “story” of Jenny Sue’s return. She is mortified to find out that Jenny Sue is not falling in line. Jenny Sue finds herself a job as a housekeeper, and helping to run a bookstore! Momma is humiliated! She’s also found a place of her own to live! And she starts spending some time with Rick Lawson (a local farmer). She finds herself to be much happier than she’d ever been living with her Momma, or during her marriage and she has no intention of ever returning to her previous life.

This was a fun book with a live your own life message.

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely.

This book was such fun to read! Jessie Sue Baker has returned to her small town in Texas, divorced, dishonored, and discarded by her dishonest husband in NYC. Not only that, she's returned on a bus, of all things! She refuses to bow to her mother and her social circle and insists on making her own way, even if it means cleaning houses for two women who are theoretically enemies of her family, and working in a used bookstore in town, and helping brother and sister Rick and Cricket Lawson, friends from high school, on their farm. Gossip rules the town, and rumors fly within minutes. But Jessie Sue ignores most of them, and when fate gives her what most people could only imagine, she goes her own way -- and has a very satisfying HEA! I found myself looking forward to the nights I couldn't sleep just so that I could read this book -- and I almost wish it didn't end.

I received an ARC for an honest review.

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.

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**REVIEW**

Carolyn Brown has to be one of my favorite authors and every time I see she has a book out - I request it. All of her books are different but have heart. I loved this book so much that I read it twice. Rick was amazing as a hero and I felt sorry for Jennie. Everyone kind of looked down on her and that made me sort of sad. This had a couple of adult themes and wouldn't be appropriate for anyone under age 16. This was just an overall great book.

This delightful and heartwarming story examines Jenny Sue Baker’s spectacular fall from grace and her triumphant journey back to her home town where she experiences all the advantages and disadvantages of small town living where privacy no longer exists. The rumor mill in Bloom, Texas is alive and well, much to the dismay of Jenny Sue’s mother, Charlotte, who is mortified when her only child refuses the cushy life her wealthy parents can afford while cleaning other people’s houses for a living. Over the threat of her mother’s displeasure Jenny Sue is bound and determined to make her own way in the world without taking a single penny from her wealthy parents in the process. She’s a delightfully sweet girl who always tells the unvarnished truth and truly appreciates the simple pleasures of making an honest living while she makes long lasting friendships that will hold her in good stead as her life takes an unexpected turn that she could never have seen coming. Expect exceptional storytelling, a sweet and clean romance, unique and endearing characters and a heroine that truly makes the world a better place just by being in it. I really enjoyed reading this exceptional and highly entertaining book! I read a complimentary copy of this book provided by Montlake Romance through NetGalley and all opinions expressed in my voluntary review are completely my own.

Jennie Sue Baker had fallen from her socialite status. Her rich husband deserted her and divorced her. She lost her newborn baby girl, the FBI seized all assets because of her ex-husband's criminal ways and she arrived back in Bloom, Texas, on a bus. Her family was one of the most wealthy families in the state of Texas. While her family had money, she wanted to be independent and make her own way. When her daddy wouldn't give her a job with his big oil business, she found job as a part-time employee in a used bookstore and as a housekeeper for two old ladies who were enemies of her family. In exchange for rent she wasn't paid for one of her weeks of cleaning in a month.

Rick Lawson had always liked Jennie Sue but she had always been way out of his league. He had been an Army Ranger and in his last mission stepped on an IUD. His body was scarred and he felt less than a whole man. He was farmer now and had returned to Bloom to recover and take over the family farm when his daddy died. His sister, Crickett, couldn't stand Jennie Sue because she was hoity toity and thought she was better than everyone else. But, the more time Jennie Sue spent showing her independence, the more that argument didn't hold water.

Bloom, Texas had the fastest gossip mill in the world, it seemed. There appeared to be cameras or hidden people everyone because there was never a secret that could be kept from the busybodies and gossips in town.

There were times in this boo that I literally laughed out loud. I loved when one old the old sisters, Nadine or Lettie, referred to a "bug" being placed somewhere to gather the gossip. She referred to it as a roach instead of a bug. The characters were plentiful int his book and, having grown up in a small town, where everyone knows every one else's business, it felt like there were talking about my small town. There weren't descriptive sex scenes, it was more "behind closed doors" and there was an occasional swear word. For the most part, I enjoyed reading the book and it put a smile on my face.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book by NetGalley and I willinglyg offer my review.

An easy read, Carolyn Brown once again captured the essence of living in a small town and in Texas in this book. As you peruse the pages, you can almost hear the Texas twang and picture the oil barons with their ten-gallon hats. The rich ladies have big hair while the unassuming ones (though not necessarily poorer) wear their no-nonsense short hair.

The story telling is slow paced, but Carolyn Brown held it in a tight rein. Every passage counts and every page either build up the character to be three-dimensional or move the story forward.

“Small Town Rumors” is the perfect book to read on lazy summer afternoons. And with the Veranda Mojito Fizz, it just makes the experience unforgettable.

“Small Town Rumors” is Rated T for Teens. Parental guidance is advised due to some adult situations.

Lots of small towns have gossip and Bloom, Texas has more than their fair share.

Jennie Sue Baker comes back home with her tail between her legs. It seems life in the big city didn't turn out as great as she expected.

The town gossips share tales of her working as a housekeeper, looking for a man. A man, none other than Rick Lawson, farmer and the town's most eligible bachelor.

When rumors really start to fly, will Jennie Sue be able to convince Rick that the rumor mill doesn't know everything?

If someone never lived in a small town or understood just how fast rumors can crop up and spread in small towns, this is a good book for you. Jennie Sue returns home after a disastrous marriage to a despicable man to try to figure things out. Her mother and father still live in the town where her father own the biggest company around and is among the wealthiest—if not the richest. Thus, their lives are not like any of the ordinary townsfolk. Jennie Sue is unlike her mother, who, it seems, cares more about what people think and say about her than anything else. Her father is not much more than a philandering husband, though he does seem to care for Jennie Sue a bit more than her mother. In fact, Jennie Sue is closer to the housekeeper, Mabel, and her husband, Frank. than with her parents. When Jennie Sue returns to town, the town is quickly ablaze with stories about her failed life and the disastrous turn her marriage took when Jennie Sue’s husband left for places unknown, fleeing the authorities for a myriad of questionable business practices. As Jennie Sue settles in to the town after her return, she does some things that upset and alienate her mother. Having no job and wishing to be away from her always harping mother, Jennie Sue moves into a tiny garage apartment and becomes the house cleaner for two of the town’s oldest women, who, by the way, also despise Jennie Sue’s mother. In addition, Jennie Sue works in the local book store to help out the older owner, who really wants to just go about visiting old friends, attend meetings, etc., without spending time in the book store he runs. Finally, Jennie Sue ends up helping out at the local farm owned by Rick Lawson, a disabled and sometimes distraught vet, who returned to take over his family farm when his father died. Rick also has a sister, Cricket, who works at the local eatery and seems to enjoy the local gossip and does everything she can to help it along. Can Jennie Sue ever make her life doable in this small town or will other cities on the horizon beckon her away? Will she find the friendships among the towns folk she has searched for all her life? Can she ever trust a man enough to let him into her life?

This is a well written book. Of course, the gossiping was a bit overdone, but the author did make her point that way. I also sometimes found Jennie Sue’s character a bit too much “goody two shoes”, but, even so, it was well done, and I grew to like her for what she was. I figured out early on that there would be a romance between Jennie Sue and someone in the town but had to read along to see how it began, grew and came to fruition. The many characters in the town really added a lot to the overall story, and each was a colorful as the next. The author was spot on with Jennie Sue’s mother’s character, depicting a small-town queen bee “wanna-be”, willing to put up with a philandering husband while reveling in his wealth and all the things it bought, paying more attention to what people thought and said about her than to her own daughter and family. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, though I did find some things, such as the portrayal of small-town gossip, over the top. Like the rest of her books, this book is a great read. I think most will agree with me. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.