No one ever said going home would be easy...
A former model leading a charmed life in New York City, Shey Darcy was shocked when her handsome photographer husband announced he’d fallen in love with someone else. Left to pick up the pieces of her once happy world, Shey decides to move back to Texas with her three teenage sons. But life on the family ranch brings a new host of dramas, starting with differences of opinion with her staunch Southern Baptist mother and rugged but overprotective brothers, and ending with daily battles with her three sons, who are also struggling to find themselves. Add to the mix Shey’s ex-crush, Dane Kelly, a national bull-riding champ, and she’s got her hands full. It’s not long before Shey realizes that to reinvent herself she must let go of a broken past and an uncertain future, if she is to find happiness- and maybe love- in the present.
My Review
This book has captivated me drawn me in and didn’t let go. It’s such a well written book that you can’t help but get lost in it.
It’s such an inspiring novel, Shey Darcy returning to her Texas lifestyle with three teenage sons after her 17 year marriage falls apart when her husband decides he is ready to come out of the closet.
It’s hard for her because she never knew or even had the slightest clue that he might be gay. She can’t hate him because they did have a good marriage and he was her best friend. She wishes that it HAD been another woman that he had chosen, so she could AT LEAST be mad at that. But she’s left to wonder how he could feel this way after being married to her and having 3 sons.
Throw in three teenage boys who are also fighting within themselves to discover who they are and where they belong in a little town in the boondocks after going to prestigious schools in New York. One son battling depression and being bullied at school. Another son wanting to become a bull rider, after knowing his father doesn’t approve. Shey is fighting to give her kids what is best for them and what makes them happy.
Shey’s Mother is overbearing and is always asking her if she is going to church. She is a busy-body and thinks that Shey desperately needs help raising her boys and if she doesn’t get a grip on things and makes her mom think she’s having a great time, her mom just might move in with her and cause more problems.
Shey’s older brothers Brick and Blue are overprotective and think they know what’s best for her, but it’s best for her if she breaks the spell and tells them that she doesn’t need to be treated like the little sister any longer.
And then also throw in Dane Kelley who is Sheys’ ex-flame. The ever so handsome bull riding ex best friend of her brother who she has adored since she could walk. The charisma and familiarity of his gaze gets her every time.
She is fighting all this and still remains humble to her past. She is battling this mixed up life and trying to stay strong and sane so that her mother doesn’t up and move in with her and so her brothers will stop thinking she needs to be bailed out everytime one of her sons has a problem or issue.
I love this book and will definitely read more of Jane Porter’s books. She is mystical, magical, and brilliant with her wording. She has created a page turner that keeps you interested and wanting to know more. I couldn’t put it down. I definitely think this is one of the best books I have read all year.
I would definitely recommend this book to you guys, it isn’t and won’t be a disappointment.
♥Jess
She’s Gone Country was written by Jane Porter.
About Jane Porter:
“I’m a mom and a writer, in that order. I love being a mother, too, particularly a mother of sons, as it’s made me look at men differently. I’ve always been drawn to strong men-the classic alpha hero-but the process of turning little boys into men is bittersweet and sometimes downright painful.
Men enter this world as babies-helpless infants, gorgeous infants- and mothers dote on their babies, kissing and cuddling and cradling. Our beloved babies become toddlers and the toddlers become boys and with each new phase and stage, our boys learn new life lessons. Hard life lessons. Lessons about what being male means and how real boys don’t cry and aren’t sensitive and don’t go running to mommy for comfort.
I’ve watched the confusion in my boys’ faces as they’ve been told to 'suck it up" and “take it” and “deal with it.” I’ve seen their expressions as they glance at me and then turn away, having finally internalized that they cannot continue to come to me. To become a man they must break away. Must shoulder life and responsibility and pain on their own.
“And now I have a new baby, a third son, and we start the process all over again even as my oldest son enters his sophomore year of high school and my middle son begins middle school.”
“It’s a tricky thing being a mother, a series of balancing acts and risks and challenges, but it’s also the best and greatest thing I’ve ever done. Not every woman needs to be a mother. Not every woman should be a mother. But I wouldn’t be me without my boys.
My favorite author when I was growing up was Louisa May Alcott and my favorite Alcott novels were Little Men and Jo’s Boys-novels about raising boys. My mother said I was destined to be a mother of boys, and she was right. My boys are my heart. They own it completely even as they wrestle and tussle their way into adulthood.
I realize now it was inevitable that I’d write a novel about raising boys, and I loved Shey’s busy, complicated life made even more challenging due to her three sons, three brothers, and first love, Dane Kelly. But strong Texas men aren’t fictional. My grandfather was a Texan, a cattleman, and a very handsome man. He died the year I was born but his portrait dominated my grandmother’s family room as did the paintings of the ranches he once owned. After he died my grandmother sold off the cattle and two of the three ranches but kept his favorite, the one closest to where we all lived. Growing up, I spent every Easter on that ranch, and during Easter week we rode horses, played in the corral, picked wildflowers, and generally ran wild.
I love that my family raised me to love the land and fields and big sky. I love that they gave me confidence and taught me courage and pushed me to succeed. And maybe that’s what’s important. Not that we have boys or girls, but that we make sure we raise confident children who aren’t afraid to take risks and are encouraged to dream.”
♥Jane
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