About the Book

Book: Runaround Sue

Author: Jennifer Lynn Cary

Genre: Sweet and Wholesome Romance

Release Date: May 30, 2023

She gave away something precious…

…He lost a part of himself.

Can they find a way to help each other heal?

Sue is hiding out until she is sure her former reputation won’t destroy what she’s trying to rebuild. Unfortunately, that means this brilliant wordsmith turned semi-hermit is working beneath her potential and dealing with stress every time her office door opens.

The last thing she needs to do is greet some biker guy who sets her nerves to jumping just by being in the same room.

And if his hairy face isn’t enough to put her off, the mere fact that he’s male is.

So why does she keep ending up in his presence?

Mac is home from Viet Nam and if he never thinks about that place again, it will be too soon. Instead, he’s returned to his music that got him through his teen years, his exotic senior trip overseas (thanks to his Uncle Sam), and the deep wound that he brought home with him. Using his GI bill to further his music understanding has pushed him outside his comfort zone, but the leggy secretary at his professor’s office is tempting him with other ideas he thought he’d shelved for good.

Even if she gets flustered every time he runs into her.

What will it take for her to give him a chance? Or is she more wounded than he is?

Return to 1972 Kokomo, Indiana for the third installment of The Weather Girls Wedding Shoppe and Venue series—Runaround Sue—and what see happens when people discover who God has called them to be.

You will love Runaround Sue, inspired by Dion and the Belmonts’ 1960s hit song, because everyone understands about facing fears with a do-over.

Click here to get your copy!

My Thoughts:

This was a second chance romance for both of these characters who didn't believe they deserved a second chance with God or with anyone else. But love finds away, and it had to work a little harder where these two were concerned.

Sue is the secretary at the church office, even though she has a degree she is not using at all. She has secluded herself away and wears fake glasses to try to hide herself. What she is really hiding is her shame and she needs to let that go and forgive herself of her mistake.

Mac is a veteran of the Vietnam war and has lost his leg. He is doing alright when he doesn't think about it nor when he thinks about his former fiancé who left him at the alter for his cousin. He is certainly not ready to let anyone into his life, certainly not another woman. But there is something about Sue, and when she proves a challenge for him, he begins to rethink his concerns.

Their romance was sweet and organically evolved into a true match with a forever after hope. They just have to deal with a few issues first.

I was provided a copy of this novel from the publisher. I was not required to post a positive review and all views and opinions are my own.

About the Author

Historical Christian Romance author, Jennifer Lynn Cary, likes to say you can take the girl out of Indiana, but you can’t take the Hoosier out of the girl. Now transplanted to the Arizona desert, this direct descendant of Davy Crockett and her husband of forty years enjoy time with family where she shares tales of her small-town heritage and family legacies with their grandchildren. She is the author of The Crockett Chronicles series, The Relentless series, and The Weather Girls trilogy as well as the stand-alone novel, Cheryl’s Going Home, her novella Tales of the Hob Nob Annex Café, and her split-time novels The Traveling Prayer Shawl and The Forgotten Gratitude Journal.

Runaround Sue is the third book of her spin-off series The Weather Girls Wedding Shoppe and Venue.

More from Jennifer Lynn

One of the best parts of writing this series is that I get to relive lots of fun memories from my childhood. As my bio states, I am a direct descendant of Davy Crockett. This was a big deal to my father, and he made us memorize the generations back.

Well, my first real friend (we met when we were four but didn’t get to play together again until we were in first grade—long, funny story) had a famous last name, famous around Kokomo at least. Haynes. She mentioned she was related to this guy who was a big deal with cars and steel. That was about all my first grade mind could fathom.

I was able to connect that to a little side trip I took with my dad one day. He pulled up in front of an old white building on Apperson Way in Kokomo and led me to the front door. It was obvious the building was empty and had been for some time. But on the slab porch, in front of the entrance, he pointed out a tiled mosaic of a jack rabbit. Dad explained that this had been the factory where the Apperson brothers produced their car, the Jack Rabbit. They ran their factory for about twenty-five years producing one of the first sports cars ever made.

By fourth grade, where we learned about Indiana history, I also got a bit more information on Elwood Haynes (my friend’s ancestor) and the Apperson brothers. Aside from a converted horse cart, their Pioneer car from 1894 is considered the first automobile made in the USA and is now housed in the Smithsonian.

I don’t think I fully grasped Elwood Haynes’s contributions to science and industry, however, until I moved away and became an adult. (Getting older and learning how to surf the web helped too). I was able to use what I learned about the man and share it in Runaround Sue.

The auto industry left Kokomo in the dust when it became evident that Detroit was easier and less expensive to deliver raw products to. However, that didn’t stop Mr. Haynes from doing his experiments. One story has it that he invented stainless steel because his wife was tired of polishing the silver. And we can thank him for finding a use for that residue that was left after cleaning the oil captured from the drilling in the Kokomo area—a little thing called gasoline.

I love that I’m from Kokomo, that I had a wonderful childhood there, and that there are so many cool pieces of information about the place. (BTW, actor Strother Martin and author Norman Bridwell of Clifford the Big Red Dog series are both Kokomo famous sons).

If you’ve ever been to Kokomo, Indiana, I hope you will respond and let me know. If you haven’t, it’s a nice place to visit. I hope you will check it out.