Next Stop, Chancey

By: Kay Dew Shostak

Narrated by: Suzanne Barbetta

Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

Looking in your teenage daughter's purse is never a good idea.

After all, it ended up with Carolina Jessup opening a bed & breakfast for railroad fanatics in a tiny Georgia mountain town. Carolina knows all about, and hates, small towns. How did she end up leaving her wonderful Atlanta suburbs behind while making her husband's dreams come true?

The town bully (who wears a lavender skirt and white gloves), an endless parade of teenagers through her house, and everybody's talk about a ghost have Carolina looking for an escape, or at least a way to move back home. Instead, she's front and center for all of Chancey's small town gossip.

Unlike back home in the suburbs with privacy fences and automatic garage doors, everybody in Chancey thinks your business is their business and they all love the newest Chancey business. The B&B hosts a Senate candidate, a tea for the county fair beauty contestants, and railroad nuts who sit out by the tracks and record the sound of a train going by. Yet, nobody believes Carolina prefers the 'burbs.

Oh, yeah, and if you just ignore a ghost, will it go away?

©2015 Kay Dew Shostak (P)2016 Kay Dew Shostak

Loved This!

Any additional comments?

Having been born in a small town, then living in the suburbs and now a large city, I can attest to the uniqueness of small town living. Next Stop, Chancey perfectly captured the advantages and drawbacks with characters that were quintessentially small town. With great writing and humor, I was drawn in to the story of Caroline and her family. Being a long listen, pacing is important to keep the listener engaged and the narrator did a great job both with moving the story along and bringing the characters to life. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable experience and I would highly recommend Next Stop, Chancey. Now grab a sweet tea and have a listen for yourself.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator. This review is my honest opinion.

3 people found this helpful

Small town, big gossip

It is far too seldom that I foray into genres that don’t belong to my main fare, and I’m glad I did for this book. The synopsis intrigued me, as I grew up in a small town — more or less unaware of the gossip — then lived in a big city for more than 30 years, and now I’ve returned to my home town. I wondered: is there a huge difference between people in rural North America and people in rural Germany?

Well, yes and no. But maybe that’s because my town seems comparatively large in comparison with Chancey. Or maybe I just don’t go out enough, or I don’t go the correct places. I know from a friend that there is a lot of gossip going on here, but the only gossip I ever hear is from my friend, and that isn’t a lot.

So far, I haven’t been cajoled into anything. I do believe that’s because nobody is interested in me, although my mum does her best to tell all and sundry that I’m back in town.

But to the novel: I absolutely LOVED it. The characters are so life-like, it felt as if I was there, listening in to the conversations. There’s even a ghost, but he is not of the scary kind, and somehow quite believable.

There are certainly characters that weren’t my favourites, but I can’t say that I completely disliked even one of them — well,maybe for one exception.

As I’ve come to expect from audio books promoted by The Audiobookworm, the sound quality was impeccable. Narrator Suzanne Barbetta did an absolutely marvellous job at bringing all the characters to life! She gives them depth and variety; I never had any difficulties to know who was talking, and her male and female voices are great. If I had a written list of favourite narrators, this list would now be longer by one. I’ve seen that there are four more books in this series, alas, no further sequel is available in audio. I hope there will be, because my reading time is so sparse, but I’d love to know more about this particular family and community! So, Kay, if you read this, please consider making the sequels available in audio (and do hire Suzanne)!

For all who love to read/listen to a good tale that contains everything you can ask of a good yarn, I recommend you listen to Next Stop, Chancey. I’m sure you won’t regret it.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Suzanne Barbetta. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

2 people found this helpful

A Wonderful Delight!

I really enjoyed this book! I love the small town atmosphere and can relate to noisy neighbors! Overall it was just fun being a part of Carolina's journey into a new home in a small town and the struggle of finding where she fits in! Narrator is absolutely perfect giving the words of the book that much more character!

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

2 people found this helpful

Hilarious

One of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in a long time. It makes you take a look at yourself while you laugh at others. A good book to read to escape from the craziness of today’s society.

1 person found this helpful

Entertaining small town story

Would you consider the audio edition of Next Stop, Chancey to be better than the print version?

I enjoyed listening to the audiobook, because of a very good narrator, who made the characters come alive.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I think that my favorite character was the 'ghost', who played the role of Caroline's therapeutic sounding board in her efforts to adjust to her new, small town life.

What does Suzanne Barbetta bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I loved her narration, she made the characters sound different, and portrayed their different personalities very well.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

My favorite moment of the book was when Caroline realized she didn't hate small town, she hated small people.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed this story about a traditional, small town in Georgia, as seen through the eyes of an outsider. It made me smile, when Caroline was trying to get used to the lack of sushi and other kind of gourmet food in a local store. The book was well written, with interesting characters and a good plot. I didn't expect fast paced action or many twists and turns, and it wasn't there. But interactions between people, different personalities and complex human relationship made it a good read.

Not much ever happens in a small town? Well, nothing except a lady in a fur coat over her nightdress walking on the sidewalk, a person chasing after a sword, an illicit affair on the side of the rail tracks, vile gossip, a secret door, and a ghost. That sounds like a sleepy, little town.


I received this audiobook at no-cost from Audiobookworm Promotions. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

1 person found this helpful

Southern comfort fiction at its best!

Any additional comments?

Now, a lot of people fantasize about living in a small town. I believe those are the people who have never lived in one—like my husband.

Once in a great while, a book smacks me right upside the head and this one did just that. Why? Because I could have been Carolina Jessup way back in my younger years. I was faced with the prospect of moving to a very small town (not for the same reason) and was horrified by the very idea of how intrusive people can be in these small towns and the way everybody knows everything about you. I found a way out of my doom but I’m pretty sure I’d feel differently about living in a small town now.

Next Stop, Chancey is one of those stories that’s entertaining but really has no plot, no particular excitement. Instead, it’s a slice of life and you might even call it Carolina’s coming of age. Moving to Chancey was a gut reaction to a family issue but also her husband’s dream. Jackson has loved trains for years and just got a new job with the railroad and the house they buy is situated perfectly by the train bridge. That bridge and the stream of trainchasers aka railfans who come to town are going to become important to all the Jessups and are the impetus for the bed and breakfast they open. Trouble is, Carolina had no intentions of doing that anytime soon but she has no backbone and lets the townsfolk run roughshod right over her. Result? The B&B opens in record time.

Some audiobook narrators (and actors, actually) can pull off a southern accent while others sound as if they’re speaking through a mouthful of molasses. Suzanne Barbetta handles it beautifully, despite her New Jersey upbringing 😉 and some of her character vocalizations were quite identifiable. A few weren’t as individualistic as I would like but that’s OK and I really appreciated her warm tones, just right for the southern setting.

Along with railfans and small town nosiness, Chancey is a hotbed of high school football fever, cheerleading, beauty pageants, gossip and, oh yes, a ghost. In other words, this is a portait of small town life in the South and I loved it even though there was a brief time when I didn’t like Carolina very much. The fifth book in the series just came out and I’ve got some catching up to do.

1 person found this helpful

Next stop, Chancey

4.5 stars!
This was a really cute, fun, sweet, and a true southern book! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. I love a good southern book and this one was just dripping with southern charm. I could almost taste the grits and sweet potato pie while listening.

Ok, I just want to say - pecan pumpkin muffins!!! Oh my gosh, I would die for one of those!

I honestly don't understand the fascination with trains and the railroad, but I guess that's just me. I did think it was neat that all the rooms in the B&B were a different train theme.

I loved this family and their new friends. Very good character development. The situations and people were very real, they just seemed like people next door. This book kind of reminded me of Steel Magnolias (one of my favorite movies!) and the TV series (that only lasted one season, but I loved it) Good Christian Bi+ches (pardon the almost swearing LOL).

Audio - The narrator did a fantastic job! I loved her. She had a great voice. It says she's from Jersey but she sure sounded southern. So if that wasn't natural she did a great job!

This is book one in a series and I would love to keep reading, or listening. My first one by this author and already I'm sold.

I voluntarily posted this review after receiving a copy of this audio book from Audiobookworm Promotions - Thank You!

1 person found this helpful

Clearly a must.

Enjoyed thoroughly...Will definitely go on to read book two. Believing of course is
The secret.

1 person found this helpful

Fun and funny

This book was a true family book that anyone could read and enjoy. if your looking for a clean book this is it

1 person found this helpful

A FUN LOOK INTO A SMALL TOWN

What made the experience of listening to Next Stop, Chancey the most enjoyable?

I received this audiobook freely from the author/narrator or publisher and am freely offering my unbiased review.. I love to believe that a small southern town would be much like the one in this book. Great story with fun characters and well worth the read.

1 person found this helpful

Warm

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I enjoyed this book. It read like a warm Southern American fiction story and it was really nice. The characters were well written and they felt real and it was a nice plot.