Quirky, Original, FunGirls in Trucks in the first novel for Katie Crouch. She grew up in Charleston, South Carolina, and now lives in San Francisco. It's a little bit autobiographical, but not too much and took five years to write. (source: author website)
Let me start with a confession… I was originally drawn to this book by the cover. It’s just a beautiful photo and made me think of the south. This book is not what I expected but I’m very happy I read it – a refreshing story!
While looking at reviews online I found one on BN.com that mirrors my thoughts, here it is:
Each chapter jumped from one important event in Sarah Walters life to another. From life as a debutante in South Carolina to the fast pace and stressful dating scene in New York City, you desparately hang on to every word and detail. Dresses, boys, alcohol, drugs, sex, work, family, friends, money and love! You will have read probably 100 pages in what feels like ten minutes when you realize two hours have past! Such a great read for the beach, poolside, rainy day or before bed!
It might seem like the easy way out (copying a review) but it expresses the book so well. Let me mention that when I was looking at the reviews on BN.COM, a lot of people didn’t like this book and a few didn’t finish it so it’s not for everyone.
Click here to watch a 3 minute video clip
Click here to watch a 3 minute video clip
Type: Fiction, 272 pages, trade paperback
Synopsis:
Sarah Walters is a less-than-perfect debutante. She tries hard to follow the time-honored customs of the Charleston Camellia Society, as her mother and grandmother did, standing up straight in cotillion class and attending lectures about all the things that Camellias don't do. (Like ride with boys in pickup trucks.)But Sarah can't quite ignore the barbarism just beneath all that propriety, and as soon as she can she decamps South Carolina for a life in New York City. There, she and her fellow displaced Southern friends try to make sense of city sophistication, to understand how much of their training applies to real life, and how much to the strange and rarefied world they've left behind.When life's complications become overwhelming, Sarah returns home to confront with matured eyes the motto "Once a Camellia, always a Camellia"- and to see how much fuller life can be, for good and for ill, among those who know you best.Girls in Trucks introduces an irresistable, sweet, and wise voice that heralds the arrival of an exciting new talent.
Reviews:
“GIRLS IN TRUCKS is an appealing first novel, short on romance in one sense, but steeped in yearning for it." — Chicago Tribune"With her gritty, vibrant portrait of Charleston, Crouch brings a fascinating culture to mainstream America." — Boston Globe
Sarah Walters is a less-than-perfect debutante. She tries hard to follow the time-honored customs of the Charleston Camellia Society, as her mother and grandmother did, standing up straight in cotillion class and attending lectures about all the things that Camellias don't do. (Like ride with boys in pickup trucks.)But Sarah can't quite ignore the barbarism just beneath all that propriety, and as soon as she can she decamps South Carolina for a life in New York City. There, she and her fellow displaced Southern friends try to make sense of city sophistication, to understand how much of their training applies to real life, and how much to the strange and rarefied world they've left behind.When life's complications become overwhelming, Sarah returns home to confront with matured eyes the motto "Once a Camellia, always a Camellia"- and to see how much fuller life can be, for good and for ill, among those who know you best.Girls in Trucks introduces an irresistable, sweet, and wise voice that heralds the arrival of an exciting new talent.
Reviews:
“GIRLS IN TRUCKS is an appealing first novel, short on romance in one sense, but steeped in yearning for it." — Chicago Tribune"With her gritty, vibrant portrait of Charleston, Crouch brings a fascinating culture to mainstream America." — Boston Globe