Book Review - James Patterson / Dolly Parton - Run Rose Run

 

An audio version of this is now out on the July 2022 book review Podcast – Reading in Bed. Available on all of the usual networks.

Blurb:

From America’s most beloved superstar and its greatest storyteller—a thriller about a young singer/songwriter on the rise and on the run, and determined to do whatever it takes to survive.

Every song tells a story.
She’s a star on the rise, singing about the hard life behind her.
She’s also on the run. Find a future, lose a past.

Nashville is where she’s come to claim her destiny. It’s also where the darkness she’s fled might find her. And destroy her.

Run, Rose, Run is a novel glittering with danger and desire—a story that only America’s #1 most beloved entertainer and its #1 bestselling author could have created.

Strengths:

Well, this is certainly a surprising story and From the live book launch event they did it was revealed James Patterson had the initial idea and Dolly provided the Nashville details then wrote an album of music to go along with it. Apparently in the audio book version, Dolly voices one of the characters which sounds like she clearly had a large hand in this.

First of all, the book starts with the flash forward kind of sign where we meet the main character, AnnieLee about to end things shall we say and we spent the next six months leading up to that moment where she comes into Nashville and eventually meets the handsome and charming Ethan Blake and the retired Ruthanna.

The book I found was a bit of a slow burner I have to be honest, and perhaps took too long before we found out what AnnieLee’s big secret was which then seemed to finish way too quickly, but I didn’t mind too be honest as the book was so charming with Annie Lee’s character. Sure, she held back too long with her big secret but I found myself rooting for her to make it big almost right from the beginning and the critical nature of Nashville I also found surprising but showed Dolly’s input into the book and perhaps gave it’s heart.

Respect also to Ruthanna and Ethan who I think as the major backing cast also added a lot to the book becoming like a family by the end of the book and did make smile loads also with their kindness towards a frightened girl and all helped each other heal from traumas in all of their life.

Weaknesses:

Like I said, I would have preferred AnnieLee’s secret to be told a bit quicker and also the big reveal while shocking seemed rushed too quickly.

I think also she should have seen more of AnnieLee’s two younger sisters too who appeared in the finale of the book but the final chapter I think made sense however and I guess also in a way left things open for a possible sequel which I guess isn’t a bad thing but could also be left alone.

Dolly Parton’s songs you could argue printed in full towards the end of the book were un-needed but they were that strong who cares. The album’s great too.

A really unexpected treat. One of my books of the year without doubt. I believe there is lots of people narrating the audio version of the book too and it looks like a film version is on the way too.

9/10