Welcome to the Blog Tour for Glory Road by Lauren K. Denton with JustRead Publicity Tours! I am happy to have Lauren on the blog today talking about Gus – the sassy grandma of Glory Road.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: Glory Road
Author: Lauren K. Denton
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Genre: Women’s Fiction/Southern Fiction
Release Date: March 19, 2019
Written in Lauren Denton’s signature Southern style, Glory Road tells the story of three generations of women navigating the uncertain pathways of their hearts during a summer that promises to bring change–whether they’re ready for it or not.
At thirty-eight, garden shop owner Jessie McBride thinks her chances for romance are years behind her and, after her failed marriage, she’s fine with that. She lives contentedly with her fiery mother and her quiet, headstrong daughter. But the unexpected arrival of two men on Glory Road make her question if she’s really happy with the status quo. Handsome, wealthy Sumner Tate asks her to arrange flowers for his daughter’s wedding, and Jessie finds herself drawn to his continued attention. And Ben Bradley, her lingering what-could-have-been from high school days who’s known her better than anyone and whom she hasn’t seen in years, moves back to the red dirt road. Jessie finds her heart being pulled in directions she never expected.
Meanwhile, Jessie’s fourteen-year-old daughter, Evan, is approaching the start of high school and trying to navigate a new world of identity and 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, increasingly finds herself forgetful and faces a potentially frightening future.
As all three women navigate the uncertain paths of their hearts and futures, one summer promises to bring change–whether they’re ready for it or not.
PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository | Christian Book |B&N
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Lauren now lives with her husband and two young 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, is USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Amazon Charts bestseller. Her second novel, Hurricane Season, released in April, 2018, and was listed on BookPage’s 2018 list of Most Anticipated Fiction.
CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR: website | facebook | twitter | instagram | pinterest
GUEST POST BY LAUREN
I’m often asked to choose my favorite of all the characters I’ve written into stories, and I always say it’s impossible to choose. I created these people, formed their personalities, put them in families, and watched how they behaved in difficult situations—suffice it to say, I like all of them! Otherwise, I wouldn’t have written them! But I also have to say this—I’ve had the most fun writing the oldest characters in my books, and that’s the case in my newest novel, Glory Road.
Glory Road focuses on three women—Jessie McBride, her fourteen-year-old daughter Evan, and her sixty-nine-year-old mother Gus. Before I even started writing the book, I knew it was going to be about three women in the same family, and I knew Gus’s name. It hit me out of the blue one day—Augusta McBride, nickname Gus—and I knew she’d be the sassy, outspoken grandmother. And as always happens, as I got farther into the story, her character developed, with new layers I didn’t know at the beginning.
Gus McBride is a rhinestone-wearing widow who has a thing for peach cobbler and Johnny Cash. With her husband long gone and no other eligible men around except Harvis Rainwater up the road who drives a truck that stinks to high heaven, the last thing Gus expects is for love to come into her life. And it just so happens to begin to bloom just as her mind starts acting up more than usual. She knows previous generations of women in her family have succumbed to Alzheimer’s, but she keeps her suspicions from her daughter, and she’s determined not to follow in her mother and grandmother’s footsteps. It isn’t until one particularly scary episode that Jessie insists her mother see a doctor, and that’s when they hear news that changes the way Gus looks at her future.
Over the years, I’ve discovered that I love writing about women of different ages. I enjoy contrasting younger women’s hope and aspirations with older women’s hard-won wisdom and rather brazen freedom of speech. With the two younger women in Glory Road approaching new stages in their life and the possibility of new friendships—or maybe even romance—I love the perspective Gus can give, having already lived, loved, and lost in her life, and yet still very much digging into life as much as she can.
TOUR GIVEAWAY
(2) winners will each win a print copy of Glory Road.
Be sure to check out each stop on the Blog and Takeover tours for more chances to win. Full tour schedule on this tour shown below. Giveaway begins at midnight March 23, 2019 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on March 30, 2019. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. Due to shipping cost, only US mailing addresses valid. For our giveaway rules and policy, click HERE.
Launch at JustRead Tours
*NOTE: This post contains affiliate links.
I just looove this cover. It makes me want to step inside!
sounds great.
Thanks so much for the chance to win this lovely book. I love the name of the book! Makes me want to know more about the book!
I really like reading Southern fiction and “Glory Road” sounds like an interesting book. Looking forward to reading it.
Glory Road sounds like a must read!
I loved this book, can’t wait to share it with my friends.
Glory Road sounds like a very interesting book. I believe reading about the changes in these three women lives will be intriguing!