Book Review: "She's Gone Country" by Jane Porter

Title: She's Gone Country

Author: Jane Porter

Publisher: Hatchette/Five Spot
ISBN, PUB Date: 978-0446509411, August 23, 2010

Reviewed by: Cheryl McKeon for Author Exposure

It’s rare for me to pick a novel that could be categorized as a “romance” genre, so when I do I am pretty selective. I respect Jane Porter as a smart author. Similar to Susan Isaacs who writes smart mysteries, Jane writes romance-themed novels that offer multi-dimensional characters, substantive plot, and strong women. She’s Gone Country was a quick but satisfying read, and one I’d recommend.

Shey is a cosmopolitan New York model with a perfect life: husband, children, career, and vibrant good looks. When her husband and father of her three boys leaves her for another man, she returns to her Texas roots, which are about as opposite as possible in every way from the life she’s made for herself. The conflicts with her family back on the ranch and the efforts they all make to understand and support each other is a satisfying theme throughout the novel; the angst the boys suffer, to varying degrees, rings very true; and the quickly rekindled flame with her high school sweetheart flickers, burns, then seems to be extinguished by the complexity of her situation. But that’s not the end! In other words, it’s not a quickly realized resolution, and thus the novel feels well-developed and thoughtful, not at all trite. Shey is likable, the other characters engaging and ones we enjoy knowing, and the Texas setting vividly brought to life; the reader will be surprised to end up knowing a bit about bulls!