Blooming with Books: Glory Road ~ Review

Glory Road
By Lauren K. Denton

Glory Road is a story that involves 3 generations living on Glory Road - Augusta (aka Gus), Jessie, and Evan. Three generations of women ranging from 14 years to 69 years and the bond that ties them together. Jessie is caught in the middle a life that didn't turn out the way she had hoped and dreamed it would. She married the wrong man though she got her precious daughter Evan out of the marriage. The plain and simple truth was that Jessie married the wrong man though it was partially her fault as she was playing the role she thought was expected of her and role that presented a faux Jessie. The only time she ever was herself was on Glory Road and when her marriage failed she and Evan returned to there. But change is coming and Jessie wants to ignore it as long as possible.

Evan is on the cusp of change about to enter high school and then there is the cute new neighbor down the road. But Evan likes stability where everything stays the same and nobody leaves. But a part of her wants to see what lies beyond the safe confines of Glory Road and what she knows. Life and growing up can be spectacularly confusing at times and with her BFF Ruth away for the summer she just needs someone to understand what she is feeling.

Gus has always been strong but she's done it with Southern gentility and class. She feels her mind is starting to wander and she doesn't want to be a burden on her daughter - Jessie has enough on her shoulders with running her garden shop and Evan. And Gus can tell that Jessie longs for what she feels she will never find - true love that won't abandon you when something better comes along. Her life is full helping Jessie with her shop and spending time in the kitchen baking and cooking love for her two favorite people.

But this summer is a time of change and whether we want it or not, time has a way of ushering it in. Some change though difficult and hard is worth the effort it took to achieve. While other changes are bittersweet bringing awareness of just how much we could lose as time continues on its forward march.

I really enjoyed getting to meet the McBride ladies they are real with their problems, fears, hopes, and dreams. This is a story of choices and deciding what is most important in one's life - is it what the world values or is it what is true to whom you are at your heart. This book, like Lauren's previous works, provides much to contemplate and would make it a perfect choice for a book club.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book with no expectations but that I offer my honest opinion. All thoughts expressed are my own.

About the Book:
The only thing certain is change—even in a place as steady as Perry, Alabama,

on a street as old as Glory Road.

Nearly a decade after her husband’s affair drove her back home to South Alabama, Jessie McBride has the stable life she wants—operating her garden shop, Twig, next door to her house on Glory Road, and keeping up with her teenage daughter and spunky mother. But the unexpected arrival of two men makes Jessie question whether she’s really happy with the status quo. When handsome, wealthy businessman Sumner Tate asks her to arrange flowers for his daughter’s lavish wedding, Jessie finds herself drawn to his continued attention. Then Ben Bradley, her lingering what-could-have-been from high school, moves back to the red dirt road, and she feels her heart pulled in directions she never expected.

Meanwhile, Jessie’s fourteen-year-old daughter, Evan, is approaching the start of high school and navigating a new world of emotions—particularly as they relate to the cute new guy who’s moved in just down the road. At the same time, Jessie’s mother, Gus, is suffering increasingly frequent memory lapses and faces a frightening, uncertain future. Once again, Jessie feels her protected and predictable life shifting.

In one summer, everything will change. But for these three strong Southern women, the roots they’ve planted on Glory Road will give life to the adventures waiting just around the curve.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

About Lauren K. Denton

Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Lauren now lives with her husband and two daughters in Homewood, just outside Birmingham. In addition to her fiction, she writes a monthly newspaper column about life, faith, and how funny (and hard) it is to be a parent. On any given day, she’d rather be at the beach with her family and a stack of books. Her debut novel, THE HIDEAWAY, was a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Amazon Charts bestseller. Her second novel, HURRICANE SEASON, released in spring of 2018, is a USA Today bestseller. GLORY ROAD will release in March 2019.