Book Review: The Key to Circus-Mom Highway by Allyson Rice | Guest Post by Author ~ Giveaway: Signed Copy
A book blog tour from iRead Book Tours.
Thank you to the author, publisher, & Lauren at iRead for providing me with the information for this tour. 
Book Details
The Key to Circus-Mom Highway by Allyson Rice
Published by The Total Human Press on 01/03/2023
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Women's Literature
Format: eBook, Paperback
Pages: 254
Source: iRead Book Tours, NetGalley, Received from the author or publisher for review.In an attempt to secure an unexpected inheritance—and hopefully find a few answers—two estranged sisters and their newly discovered brother embark on a comically surreal trip through the Deep South to retrace the life of the mother who abandoned them as infants.
On a Tuesday afternoon, Chicago-based sisters Jesse Chasen and Jennifer McMahon receive a phone call notifying them that their birth mother has died, leaving behind a significant inheritance. But in order to obtain it, they must follow a detailed road trip she designed for them to get to know her—and that includes finding a brother they never knew existed.
For the next week, this ill-assorted trio treks across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia to meet their mother’s old friends, from circus performers to a juke joint owner, each of whom delivers a shocking vignette into the life of a young mother traumatized by loss and abuse.
Along the way, these three siblings—Jesse, whose fiery exterior disguises a drifting musician stuck in a rut; Jennifer, whose carefully curated family life is threatened by her husband’s infidelity; and Jack, whose enigmatic Jackie, Oh! persona in the New Orleans drag queen scene helps him escape the nightmares of Afghanistan that haunt him at night—must confront their own demons (and at least one alligator). But in chasing the truth about their real mother, they may all just find their second chance.
This uproarious debut novel is a reminder that sometimes, the family you’d never have chosen may turn out to be exactly what you need.
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Purchase Links for The Key to Circus-Mom Highway
Amazon-OneLink for all countries BookShop/IndieBound
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My thoughts on The Key to Circus-Mom Highway
The Key to Circus-Mom Highway is a riotous road trip full of angst, drama, and hilarity.
Allyson Rice paints pictures with her words. I pictured every scene in this story with vivid realism. From Jesse’s tattoos to Jennifer’s buttoned-up life to Jack’s blue sequined dress, the author uses details of the tale to draw the reader in and hold their attention.
The richly descriptive text pulls readers into the Deep South of the US, where the air is sultry, and life moves to a different cadence. As the three J’s follow the clues to reach their inheritance, they begin to gel into a family unit, whether they want to or not.
I don’t believe in rehashing the book blurb or spoiling the book for anyone. So I’m focusing more on the technical aspects of the story.
The book is well-written, with no noticeable errors. The pacing is fast, driving the plot through each twist and turn toward the grand reveal. The main characters are slowly developed and have distinctive traits that in turn, grate on the nerves and warm the heart.
You can read this book as a humorous escape or study the deeper aspects of abandonment, family dynamics, maturity, and reconciliation. Just make sure you read it.
I received a copy of the book for the tour. This review is my honest, unbiased opinion.
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I love to read books through my Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscription.
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About Allyson Rice
Allyson Rice is a writer, mixed media artist, and producer currently splitting her time between Los Angeles and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. She’s a graduate of Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science in Communication.
After spending many years as an actress on stage and television, she left the business to found the company The Total Human and spent the next decade running yoga/meditation retreats, women’s retreats, and creativity retreats around the country. After that, she pivoted to focus on her own creative work. In addition to her writing and art, she’s also a photographer.
Some random bits of Allyson trivia:
1) She’s been skydiving, paragliding, bungee jumping, zip-lining through a rainforest, and scuba diving with stingrays
2) she has an extensive PEZ dispenser collection
3) she played Connor Walsh on As the World Turns for seven years
4) she’s been in the Oval Office at the White House after hours
5) she’s related to the Hatfields of the infamous Hatfield/McCoy feud
6) her comedic rap music video “Fine, I’ll Write My Own Damn Song” won numerous awards in the film festival circuit. (See YouTube link below)
She’s currently at work on her second novel, Normal is Overrated, and her fourth women’s coloring book.
Also, anyone who signs up for Allyson’s periodic author newsletter on her website will be entered in a drawing to have a character in her next novel named after them. A free book will be given away in each newsletter to a subscriber!
Also available from Allyson is her line of women’s coloring books (The Color of Joy, Dancing with Life, and Wonderland) and The Creative Prosperity PlayDeck, an inspirational card deck about unlocking and utilizing your creative energy in the world. They’re available on her website.
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Guest Post by Allyson Rice
When Writing a Flawed Protagonist… Use Humor
When writing protagonists, you want them to be flawed. You want your protagonist to be human, and since none of us humans are perfect, the fact that your protagonist isn’t perfect either makes her relatable. You want your reader to feel for your character and her struggles and root for her throughout your book.
In the case of Jesse, one of the three siblings in my recently released novel The Key to Circus-Mom Highway, I wanted to add another wrinkle. One of the themes within the book is how we often make snap judgments of others based on the way they look, or speak, or act, and they’re not always accurate assessments of the person. They’re usually more about our own preconceptions. It takes getting to know them a little before we see beyond what made us initially judge them.
Personally, I love the character of Jesse. I think she’s hilarious. But… she starts as a bartender in a strip club, has arms covered in tattoos, she swears a lot, and presents herself in “an aging tough-girl, you-wouldn’t-hire-her-to-babysit-your-kids kind of way. Like if Joan Jett and Reese Witherspoon had a love child…”
I knew the tattoos and particularly the swearing were going to be off-putting and make some readers judge her negatively. (The strip club job she quits right away with relief once she receives the call from the lawyer about her deceased birth mom and the inheritance). I knew that the process of making readers root for her was especially important since among the three siblings, Jesse is the one that leads the action.
There are two ways I attempted to do this. First, little by little I let the reader in on Jesse’s backstory–the difficult things that have happened to her that have made her act the way she does. Since we’ve all had difficult things we’ve been through in our lives, how can you not respond compassionately to someone else once you know the struggles they’ve been through? Second, and this was key for me with Jesse’s character, was to use humor. She’s smart, funny, and sarcastic at times. As I wrote dialogue for her, it often made me laugh out loud. She has no filter. It felt like the lines were coming from her, the character, and not me, the author.
When the BookLife review in Publisher’s Weekly came out and said of Jesse, “Refreshing in her underdog melancholy and snarky repartee, she’ll have readers cheering as she gains wisdom along the back roads of the American South. Her irreverent humor lightens her anger at her birth mother, even as she faces new family challenges,” I felt like I had been successful!
If you get a chance to read the book at some point, drop me a line through my website and let me know your thoughts. I’d love to hear whether your views about Jesse (and her two siblings, Jennifer and Jack) changed along the way.
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Purchase The Key to Circus-Mom Highway online from a local bookstore.
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Easy Amazon Links
Amazon-OneLink for all countries
If the above link does not take you to your country, here are a few more:
Amazon – Canada
Amazon – France
Amazon – Germany
Amazon – United Kingdom
Please send me a note if your country isn’t listed and you would like to purchase using my links. Using my link does not change the price you pay. Amazon pays me a minimal amount out of their share.
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Giveaway!
Win a signed copy of The Key to Circus-Mom Highway by Allyson Rice (one winner) (USA only) (ends Feb 24)
Please visit more stops on the tour for extra chances to win!
Official Tour Page for The Key to Circus-Mom Highway
Full Tour Schedule:
Jan 30 – Stephanie Jane
Jan 30 – Cover Lover Book Review
Jan 31 – fundinmental
Feb 1 – Olio by Marilyn
Feb 1 – Olio by Marilyn
Feb 2 – Deborah-Zenha Adams
Feb 3 – Book Corner News and Reviews
Feb 3 – Welcome To MLM Opinion’s Reviews
Feb 6 – Diana’s Book Journal
Feb 6 – Books for Books
Feb 6 – Lamon Reviews
Feb 7 – Locks, Hooks and Books
Feb 8 – Gina Rae Mitchell
Feb 9 – Jazzy Book Reviews
Feb 10 – Pick A Good Book
Feb 13 – Books for Books
Feb 14 – Celticlady’s Reviews
Feb 14 – Leanne bookstagram
Feb 15 – @bookqueenbee
Feb 15 – FUONLYKNEW
Feb 16 – @enjoyingbooksagain
Feb 17 – Liese’s Blog
Feb 17 – Authors on iTours: Let’s Talk Books
Feb 17 – Books and Games
The Key to Circus-Mom Highway by Allyson Rice Book Tour Giveaway
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Thank you so much for hosting today’s tour stop, Gina. And thank you for the wonderful review! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
–Allyson