This books gives off Ginny and Georgia vibes. It came be cheesy but overall it’s a really sweet story of friendship, and how far we would go for the ones we love. It’s definitely a slow burn and about 100 pages too long, in my opinion, but it’s a great light summer read.

“We had to do what we had to do, yes, but that’s only because women know that men always get away with this shit, and we’re tired of it.”

What started as a novelization of The Chicks song Goodbye Earl, turned out to be a poignant tale of corruption in a small town. While slow to start, mainly because there are so many characters, it did pick up around the halfway point.

I was thoroughly enjoying the references to the song, that I wasn’t expecting it to become more. I won’t say much for fear of spoiling, but it was really well done. Told in dual timelines following a group of friends during their last year of high school and then fifteen years later, there’s more than meets the eye in their small, southern town.

I really loved it, and my only critique would be that there were so many characters with backstories of their own, that they didn’t all feel fleshed out. It would’ve felt more cohesive if the story had focused on one MC. But other than that I loved it and would highly recommend. The best kind of book is one that takes me by surprise, and this one did that.

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

This book was pretty depressing so be warned. I feel like this book had so much potential could It didn’t reach. The story of four women and their friendships and personal journeys through their life and also a revenge plot. The pacing of this book made it very difficult to read. It had dual timelines that went back-and-forth without much rhyme or reason, and then the book added some weird formatting and ends up just feeling too long. I think if some of the structural issues were different. I would’ve enjoyed it more.

It feels like Leesa Cross-Smith can write any genre. Short stories? Check. Romance? Check. Revenge? Absolutely. This was a nostalgic early 2000s fever dream full of heart, humor and -- yep -- murder.

And we reviewed it for the podcast! https://pod.link/1630865152/episode/a5ed090b4fda11ecf570fa533675ae7d

DNF at 18%. With four main characters and two timelines for each - there’s a lot of jumping around. As soon as I’m feeling really into a story, we cut to a different time or a different character. It also feels like it’s taking a long time to get going because of all the jumps. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review.

See full review on "Atlanta Journal-Constitution" website:

It isn’t necessary to cue up The Chicks’ 1999 bluegrass anthem “Goodbye Earl” before reading Kentucky author Leesa Cross-Smith’s new work of fiction by the same name. But rocking out with The Chicks is a rousing way to set the mood for this rollicking summer beach read — a “revenge novel” that digs into the vigilante-justice response to domestic violence while shining a light on the powerful bonds of female friendship.

“Goodbye Earl” opens in 2019 when four best friends reunite after a tragedy following their 2004 high school graduation prompted one of their foursome to flee. Kasey Fritz vowed never to return to the fictional Southern town of Goldie, but after 15 years she’s summoned back for a wedding and is dismayed to discover Goldie has transformed into the kind of town that’s replaced its KFC with a hotel selling $30 platters of fried chicken...

https://www.ajc.com/things-to-do/book-review-leesa-cross-smiths-goodbye-earl-bring-the-chicks-song-to-life/KUBE5OVCXNEFNN4TK43WBMF6MY/

This one had a hard time gripping my attention. I sadly felt bored and didn’t feel any plot forming until midway point.

The title reminded me of the song from years ago so I had to read it. I was not disappointed at all. Kasey has come home after being gone for years and this has brought back memories of why she left to begin with. Slowly the story is revealed to her friends who make up her pack, Rosemarie, Ada, & Caroline. Together these four are thick as thieves as they say and as she tells her story you the reader are pulled in as well. Won’t go into it but I liked the characters and I could see this for my wife still has three friends like this for well over forty years. Overall I liked the book a good story.

This book was not what I thought it was going to be...⁣
⁣
Based on the title and the cover, I thought this book was going to be full of shenanigans, a Finlay Donovan type of a book. It wasn't, at least not until around 50 PERCENT.⁣
⁣
Summary⁣
Four women take fate into their own hands in this big-hearted story of friendship, resilience and revenge on monstrous men. Taking inspiration from the infamous, empowering song, GOODBYE EARL follows four best friends through two unforgettable summers, 15 years apart.⁣
⁣
Sounds fun, right? Well, I almost DNF'd my netgalley because it was just not keeping me engaged BUT luck would have it that I was able to get the audio the next day and managed to finish it that way. The audio was fun and the shenangians do get going around the halfway mark. I think the most fun part of reading/listening to this book was listening to the two Dixie Chicks albums that came out around the time I graduated high school -- I remembered ALL (shockingly) of the words and had an absolute ball belting out the extremely fun songs from those two albums.⁣
⁣
Thank you @netgalley for this free copy for review!⁣
⁣
What songs from high school (and what class? I'm Class of '99! 🙌) do you remember all the words?

I started our really enjoying this book, but I struggled to stay with it. It is well written, but I think it just is not my type of story line. I loved learning about the relationships between the women and how they connected in their childhood. Maybe there was too much jumping back and forth for me. I would have to think about what timeline I am reading about and what story line. I will try to read it again at a later time and maybe my mood will change.

I just could not get into this one. I so wanted to but it was just too predictable. I love that someone wrote a book based on this song but it just felt like there was something missing.

Wow! This book has it all. Dual timelines, small town setting, with strong female friendships taking on the patriarchy! This song (and the Chicks in general) was my high school favorite so I grabbed up this book based on the title alone. But the writing was so good, the women were REAL and had real past/current traumas that any wife/mother can identify with. Additionally, I applaud the author for how she portrayed the domestic violence plot lines with care and accuracy. Some parts were difficult to read, but it was powerful to watch the women support each other. I highly recommend this book to lovers of women’s fiction!

After loving The Half-Blown Rose, I was so excited to get approved for this ARC. However, I quickly realized these books were WAY different from one another. I loved the idea of life-long friends, female empowerment & revenge but I think the actual book setup didn't quite work for me. There were multiple POVs and two timelines. Just when I started to get invested in a character & their backstory, the next chapter would shift. It was hard to keep everyone straight at times and at about halfway through the book is when I really lost interest. I skimmed the second half and really just wasn't surprised by anything in this book. Unfortunately it wasn't for me.

Four friends meet up again, in their hometown, 15 years after high school graduation and their last unforgettable summer. The past and the present will start to intermingle and will force them to make some tough decisions that may have been the result of choices made in the past as well.

In this compelling story, based on The Chicks song by the same name, you will get a roller coaster of emotions. All while twists and turns are being thrown at you from every side.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing & NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book

✨ Review ✨ Goodbye Earl by Leesa Cross-Smith

I had previously read and loved Half-Blown Rose by Cross-Smith, and this was a total change of course from that book. Based in the Chicks' song Goodbye Earl, the book follows four friends in their senior year of college and fifteen year later when they're all together again in their hometown Goldie for a wedding.

The book alternates between the POVs for these four friends in the past and in the present, chronicling their loves, their lost loves, and their abusers. The book considers what it means for friends and a whole town of women to stand together to prevent abusive men from harming women in their midst. I enjoyed the last third of the book best as the plots resolved and we saw the women of Goldie unite.

The pacing was a little slow for me -- I was feeling the slog around the halfway point, and waiting for the audio to come available (and the audio made it fly by at a better pace for me). The writing also lacked some of the lyricism and magic I was expecting from Cross-Smith, but at the same time it was far more readable than Half-Blown Rose.

The book brings together the sweetness of slow summer days with your best friends and first loves when you're 17 and 18 with the baggage of relationships, sickness, loss, family struggles, etc. that comes across one's life. The book felt very bittersweet with a lots of peaks and valleys along the way.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5-3.75)
Genre: general fiction
Setting: Goldie (small town in the South)
Reminds me of: Goodbye Earl the song
Pub Date: out now!

Read this if you like:
⭕️ Goodbye Earl and the feminist empowerment of songs by The Chicks
⭕️ women getting revenge
⭕️ small town South - biscuits and pies and slow summer days

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and #netgalley for an advanced e-copy of this book!

So I didn’t love this book but I didn’t hate it. I just think this author is hit or miss for me. Leesa’s writing is too beautiful to have mediocre story lines. After reading HALF-BLOWN ROSE and giving it 3 stars, I was apprehensive of this one also. At first, I was intrigued with why one of the girls hadn’t been back to town after so many years. You almost knew something bad happened when they were younger but to what extent. What I didn’t expect was 4 different POV’s between past and present. At first it was a bit confusing learning all of the girls and story lines. Towards the middle I started to become disinterested and then at the 43% mark is when it picks up! I thoroughly enjoyed the second half. A bit cliché (women getting revenge) but it held my attention between the revenge plot and incidents. I thought it truly represented the good and ugly of friendship. There seemed to be some filler pages in between chapter (police reports/transcripts) but I didn’t mind it. I think it gave the appeal of small town culture. Overall, a good read and just push through if you’re beginning to feel it drag. It is a warm ending ❤.

A story of four women, friends since before they could walk, two with difficult lives and not enough money. One from a hippie music making family. And one from a more traditional solidly ok middle class family. Rosemarie, Ada, Caro and Kasey: RACK. Goodbye Earl riffs of the song made famous by The Chicks involving old high school friends murdering one's husband after he beat her so badly she ended up in intensive care. I thought at first that the characters would be shallow, but they are not. The novel switches back and forth between 2019, when Kasey returns to their little southern town of Goldie for the first time since her mother died and 2004, the year the members of RACK graduated from high school. Domestic violence plays a central role in this book, as it must. Kasey grew up in a household with a violent stepfather. She's engaged now, living in New York and now, back in Goldie, she is instantly swept up into her friends' lives, spending time with a high school love, and finding out that someone they all know is in danger from a violent partner.

I enjoyed reading Goodbye Earl. It was a fast read. A good nod to the song's story of devoted friends standing up for one another. A great portrait of the town of Goldie. A nice dive into good and bad relationships/marriages. A poignant story of loss. For me, one of the most engaging parts involved the women of the town getting involved in a police investigation and each o their statements offered about what a jerk a man in town was, all his life, and that he came from several generations of jerks. So, it's also a story about stepping up and no longer accepting what has always been swept under the rug. Definitely recommend if the kind of book is appealing to you.

DNF this at 14%
There's a lot going on and I feel like too many unnecessary details for me to be able to understand the story.

Stick with it! The first 45% is slow but then it REALLY picked up. And if you’re looking for a girl-power, sisterhood, boys-be-damned read for the summer, this gives the same vibes as The Chicks song of the same title. The Chicks songs also provide the soundtrack as we watch Rosemarie, Caroline, Ada, and Kasey lives change over the course of two summers.

Thank you to the author, publisher and @NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Each of the four women in this story were unique, captivating, and someone to root for. This was nuanced and interesting and a feminist tale I really, really enjoyed!