“Equally heartwarming and heartbreaking.”
Scout Montgomery has made a career out of searching for her missing brother. Helping runaways gives meaning to her otherwise meaningless life. She hasn’t spoken to her father in nearly two decades, and her crush on her sexy co-worker is going nowhere. She’s stuck in a time warp. In order to move on, she must find closure. An unexpected trip home to Alabama provides an opportunity to conduct a fresh search with mature eyes. Will she discover the missing link to her brother’s disappearance? Or will she uncover a secret that places them all in danger?
June Montgomery is married to a prominent politician, owns a magazine-worthy home, and leads an active social life. But she lives in constant fear the past will come back to haunt her. She has mixed emotions about her daughter’s sudden reappearance in their lives. Scout has the power to heal their family . . . and unravel the seams of June’s intricately crafted lies.
A homecoming sparks old resentments between childhood friends and leads to the revelation of decades-old secrets. Southern family drama and dysfunction. A moving story of friendship, hope, and second chances.
Fun Fact About the Novel . . .
Scent of Magnolia is technically my first novel. I learned the craft of writing while working on the originally titled Legend of a Rock Star. (The rock star being the brother who vanishes into the night on Christmas Eve.) I wrote this novel from every point of view and verb tense imaginable. At the time, I lacked the experience to make the many moving plot components work. So I abandoned the project and moved on to write Saving Ben. When these beloved characters recently resurfaced in my imagination, I revisited the project. I searched all my hard drives for the original files but came up empty. Starting over allowed me the fresh perspective the project needed to come to fruition.
Because I already knew these characters so well from previous time spent with them, I was able to dive deeper into their motivations. They led me down different paths, which resulted in plot changes that make the story much stronger. I have poured my heart into the Montgomery family drama. Fasten your seatbelts. You’re in for a wild ride.
I loved this dysfunctional family drama. It was equally heartbreaking and heartwarming to see the characters figure things out for themselves and how to get through this life in their own ways.
Looks can be deceiving behind closed doors. The mother is the glue to her children and neighboring children without moms of their own. When a friend dies, all the children come home for the funeral and the secrets begin to emerge. A lot of players with different lives reuniting in a small home town and the healing that takes place is heart warming.
This novel will take you on an emotional rollercoaster that delves into a dysfunctional family, abandonment, depraved hearts, misplaced love, and alcoholism. Farley is never afraid to dig deep to make readers feel her stories.
I could see, feel, and smell that small town of Langford, AL. The characters are an extraordinary mix and the way the story is told perfection. There are twists and turns I never expected and kept me reading until the book was finished. I fell in love and wanted more even as the story ended.
This is a fantastic, emotional story that I could not stop reading! The Montgomery family have lots of secrets that have been buried for years. However, it is not until three friends reunite in their small southern hometown for their friend's funeral that the drama begins to unfold! It sure does! This book stirred all my emotions- from tears to anger, from fear to horror at different times!
