Title: Nowhere but Home Author: Liza Palmer
Published: April 2, 2013
Genre(s): Realistic/Contemporary
Page Count: 384
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Queenie Wake, a country girl from North Star, Texas, has just been fired from her job as a chef for not allowing a customer to use ketchup. Again. Now the only place she has to go is home to North Star. She can hope, maybe things will be different. Maybe her family's reputation as those Wake women will have been forgotten. It's been years since her mother-notorious for stealing your man, your car, and your rent money-was killed. And her sister, who as a teenager was branded as a gold-digging harlot after having a baby with local golden boy Wes McKay, is now the mother of the captain of the high school football team. It can't be that bad…
Who knew that people in small town Texas had such long memories? And of course Queenie wishes that her memory were a little spottier when feelings for her high school love, Everett Coburn, resurface. He broke her heart and made her leave town-can she risk her heart again?
At least she has a new job-sure it's cooking last meals for death row inmates but at least they don't complain!
But when secrets from the past emerge, will Queenie be able to stick by her family or will she leave home again? A fun-filled, touching story of food, football, and fooling around.
The hype for this book is simply overwhelming. The blogosphere universally adores Liza Palmer and Nowhere But Home, even Goodreads was pushing this on me at every possible chance. And, it turns out, not without good reason. Though not my typical reading, this book is simply adorable and happy-making in every way. I didn’t wholeheartedly adore this, but it was a close call.
In a sentence, this book is about homecoming and making peace with the past. Protagonist Queenie Wake ran away from her home town, North Star, to get away from the suffocating shame and hurt that happened throughout her growing-up years. Coming back, even if on a “temporary” basis, means she has to confront those same issues all over again. Her mother’s death, the derision of the town, her one true love, her career, her place in this world. Nowhere But Home deals with Queenie’s process of finding closure (a clichéd word she hates) and moving on into her future. It’s a very authentic, if melodramatic at times, journey, with a hugely rewarding payoff.
Liza Palmer really sold everything about this book, to be honest. Some fluffy tale of closure and small towns and drama doesn’t immediately appeal to me. But real characters and a genuine atmosphere really went a long way to set this book up. I mean, I still found the small town drama to be a bit much at times, but that is literally the only issue I had with the entire book. Otherwise, Nowhere But Home is just pure, heartwarming feelings all around. I defy anyone not to read the final paragraph with a huge smile on their face—it simply can’t be done.
In terms of characterization, Queenie and everyone else in this book was perfect, if perhaps viewed through rose-tinted glasses. Even the so-called “mean girls” were given a (deserved) happy ending. Everything in this book was just so happy, and I loved it. The gossipy town setting was also characterized to perfection. There were times that the way Queenie was treated made me so sad and helpless, knowing that other peoples’ opinions shouldn’t matter, but they do. Palmer fully grasps and portrays humanity in this book, and it’s perfection.
In many ways, this reminded me of Sarah Addison Allen’s novels, minus the magical realism. The Southern charm, the less-than-popular woman protagonist, the understated romance, family secrets, cute and oh-so-satisfying conclusion. Nowhere But Home is like chicken soup in book form. It makes everything better, and you feel so amazing when you’ve finished. I can definitely envision this book becoming one of my go-to comfort reads in the future.
