All the Way Home

By: Nancy Ann Healy

Narrated by: Jill Smith

Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's Summary

When two bicycles collide at the end of a driveway in 1993, three lives are changed forever.   

Katelyn (Kat) Summers’ family has just moved to Webster, Massachusetts. It’s the day before her 12th birthday, and all Katelyn wants to do is go back home to Pennsylvania. That is until a 10-year-old boy named Neil Masters crashes into her bicycle. When Katelyn looks up from her position on the ground, she finds a hand stretched out to greet her. As she’s pulled to her feet, Katelyn meets with the inquisitive gaze of Sarah Masters. Within minutes, Katelyn will never think of any other place as home again.   

Best friends from the moment they meet, Katelyn and Sarah are inseparable. Looking in, they have an idyllic life in a quaint New England community. But, life is not always as simple and charming as it seems. It’s messy. As the pair of friends grow, so do their feelings - Sarah’s for Katelyn, and Katelyn’s for Sarah’s brother, Neil.   

Sarah has spent her life loving Kat at a distance. Once her best friend, Kat has now become Sarah’s sister-in-law. While Sarah struggles to let go of Kat, Kat yearns to hold onto Sarah’s presence in her life. Through ups and downs, hopes and dreams, celebrations and disappointments, Katelyn and Sarah struggle to maintain the bond they formed in childhood.  

There are lessons in everything; in the paths taken, and the paths left behind. An unexpected fork in Kat’s road will challenge their entire family. Time has a way of revealing the truth. If you are willing to listen, and to speak it, life has a way of leading you All the Way Home.   

Nancy Ann Healy is the best-selling author of five novels in lesbian fiction. She is best known for the political thriller series featuring Alex and Cassidy. In 2015, Nancy began writing under the pen name, J.A. Armstrong. She currently writes five best-selling series as J.A. Armstrong: Off Screen, By Design, Special Delivery, First Course, and Open Tab. In addition to the series she pens, Nancy is also the author of Falling Through Shooting Stars, and the play, Spin.  

Nancy lives in Connecticut with her wife, Melissa, and three dogs, Maggie, Sydney Bristow, and a husky named Jameson. 

©2018 Bumbling Bard Creations (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

This story reminds us,

if you love someone, tell them. Not once, not twice, every day. You’re heart will tell you who to say it to. That one special person, that lives in your heart ♥️
Tell them. Nancy’s characters will show you how in this love story. I love this book, these characters and Jill does a wonderful job bringing all of them to life in her narration!

poignant

Gound it grabbed my emotions and didn't let go. Had to struggle with keeping tears out of my eyes while at work.

Let me let you in on something I wish I’d known...

While the reviews raving about this book aren’t totally unwarranted, because it is well written and especially well performed, let me advise something to any prospective listeners that I wish I’d known going in [*SPOILERS*]: this story is about 99.9% Sarah pining painfully for Kat, and 0.01% Kat pining for Sarah. Yes, Kat pines for Sarah in a “she’s my best friend and I miss her” kind of way, but throughout the entire book, there’s no indication at all that Kat could have even remotely romantic feelings for Sarah. When they do end up together, it’s incredibly sudden and there’s not even an “aha” moment for Kat that the audience gets to witness. That part is especially frustrating and overall makes for a disappointing (and dare I say it, forced?) conclusion to what feels like a marathon of pure angst.

Also, the shifting motivations in the various relationships is hard to keep up with. There is one character in particular who I found to be possibly the worst human on the planet, and while I personally had hoped this person would get some sort of comeuppance, alas, it doesn’t happen. His motivations are murkily explained away, and he’s let off the hook for all the awful things he does. Another frustrating outcome.

Jill Smith’s performance, however, is outstanding.

Its Ok...Narrater is great

This book was ok. Just a little too slow for me. A lot of repeating & a story that's a bit unrealistic in my opinion. Love the narrater & I have listen to some of her other books that I enjoyed also. This book is not bad, it just doesn't top my list.

Loved it!

Loved everything about this! Listen to it. You won’t regret spending the credit! I definitely didn’t!

Another Home Run

This had several plots that took me by surprise. This book brought tears to my eyes more than once. I had a hard time stopping the audio to eat or sleep, until the end of this book. It was another home run as are the other books you have written. Thank you once again.

Didn't enjoy

The pluses:
This was a very well written story.
The author's writing style make it a very vibrant and realistic read
The negatives:
SARAH - this character got on my nerves with her hurt; anguish; and melodramatic nature that I felt was so drawn out in the storytelling.
You knew from the beginning that Sarah and Kat would end of up together. So that happily ever after - DECADES later; didn't hit the mark.
And I feel like the character of Kat was never fully developed. Since we constantly had the narration and character development of Sarah overpowering her sections.

That was painful

Eight hours of unrelenting pain upon pain upon pain, and a few minutes of slightly happier, yet not ecstatic resolution. How can one life be so full of missed opportunities, close calls, crossed stars, and misunderstandings? I listen to audiobooks to escape my real life troubles and stresses. This was hour after hour of tightness in my chest from the unresolved unhappiness.

It was lovely writing and excellent narration. And if you are into that amount of unrelenting tension, with only the smallest, briefest, most tepid resolution at the very end, you’ll probably love it. Wasn’t my cup of tea. I stayed up late, unable to stop listening, trying to find a moment where it eased up a bit before I went to sleep. It never happened! Ugh! Wish I had known.

Not a bad book, just a very sad, lonely, heart wrenching tale.

This was my first..

This was my first LGBTQ+ novel, and I was not disappointed. It was adorable, though the reading threw me off a little at first, and eventually I was into it!

beautifully written

i really enjoyed listening to this book. it was well written and the dialogue was great. it was very detailed and helped you paint a picture in your mind. as for the story, i loved it. highly recommend!

Good Book

The story was good how the relationship went through childhood to adulthood. I think it took too long for Sarah and Kat to be together, and felt so sorry for Sarah and the pain she was in when Kat is with her brother Neil, I did not like the brother Neil at all.

The narrator did a fantastic job of the voices.

What a shame

Struggling to finish. Kind of wish i hadn't bothered.
Dull and so far away from real life.
Don't bother.