5 ⭐️
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Thank you so much to NetGalley, Greenleaf Book Group, and River Grove Books for the e-ARC of this book! I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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Let me start off by saying I'm a huge fan of Sharon as an actress and I absolutely loved her first book, but it's been a long time since her last book, 'Til The Fat Girl Sings, was published in 2006 and this one was very different, felt more mature, and was very refreshing in comparison.

In her sophomore work, Drive, Wheatley recounts the adventure she went on in an RV during the early months of the Pandemic in 2020 along with her wife, kids, and pets. This is a big change from a Broadway actress used to the hustle and bustle of 8-show-weeks in Manhattan as well as a big change from the person she was when she published her first book 16 years ago. She chronicles the adventure of navigating the country while avoiding Covid-19 and keeping her family sane while also trying to have a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Peppered with stories from the road, background on her parents, and what it took to get her to this point, Drive is a testament to making even the bleakest of times into an experience that will help you grow in ways you never expected. Also, in line with the Broadway show she's known for originating a role in, the kindness of the people you meet along the way.

Wheatley describes this books as "part travelogue, part Little Miss Sunshine, and all Broadway" which is spot-on. I personally wish she'd leaned into the Broadway part a little more with the reopening of Broadway/return to work for both her and her wife Martha as well as the process of making the professional filmed version of Come From Away, but I totally understand that this was more about the personal side of the pandemic for her. Hearing about the fun parts of traveling with an RV through the country when she'd never done anything like that before was so thrilling and I almost forgot at times that it wasn't a well-constructed narrative and was actually reality. Wheatley has a very strong voice in her narration and it follows through the story seamlessly even when she has to jump back in time to give context. I truly felt her frustrations and her celebrations as she described them! And I'd love to hear this in her own voice as an audiobook.

Overall, I loved this little book. It was such a great read and I would happily pick up another one of her stories in a heartbeat. And I can't wait until I can see her on stage again!

Sort of Broadway-Covid travelogue with her parents. It was interesting to get a peek at how Covid effected Broadway. I am sort of tired of pretending that Covid is over so it seemed a little early for this book. I felt like it was supposed to be uplifting but we aren’t far off from where we were when the book started. It was fun learning more about her family, they seem like characters.

What a pleasant surprise! Drive: Stories From Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere takes place during the pandemic when COVID shut down Broadway and just about everything else. It is an uplifting story of how one family made the best of a bad situation. Rather than hunkering down at home, the Wheatley family rents an RV and undertakes the adventure of a lifetime.
The more I read the better I liked it. Every character is likeable and loveable and I rooted for them when they were sad or scared and celebrated all of the joy they found in nature, friendship, and family.
Drive reminds us of what makes America great; when the going gets tough and all that. It almost makes me want to take my own cross country adventure and that's high praise from this Westin girl and I will definitely get tickets to Come From Away the next time I am in New York.
Thanks to River Grove Books and Netgalley for providing a complimentary copy for my enjoyment and review. Drive is available now from your favorite bookstore or library.

If you have spent any time on my Twitter or this blog in general you will know that Come From Away is my favorite Broadway musical. I have seen the show eight times; the last time being in November 2019. I was all set to see it again on March 12th, 2019 to help celebrate the shows three year anniversary but then everything went dark. Broadway was shut down due to COVID-19. This is where the next adventure begins to take place for original cast member Sharon Wheatley.

Drive: Stories From Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere is the result if this unexpected adventure. Part memoir and part travelogue, this is the story of Sharon and her family leaving New York City and winding up on an cross country journey in an rv. At first the plan is just to get out of the city during the pandemic and stay in Sharon's hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. Yet as more time passes, she and her family find themselves planning a cross country road trip in a rented rv. This journey was originally documented on a specially created Instagram and now the full story is in this book.

The way that this book is written is like you having a conversation with a friend. And this friend is telling you all about a grand adventure with her wife, children, and pets. There are good times, funny times, and even some more heartbreaking times as all of this is happening in the middle of a pandemic. Right from the beginning I was hooked and wanted to read more. The reflection of the day Broadway shut down felt so personal to me. Not because I'm a Broadway performer but because I was there. I was staying just a couple blocks from where Come From Away is performed. I had just been to the lobby a few hours earlier to get my rush ticket. I had watched the female members of the cast perform on Good Morning America. And now everything was dark. It was so eerie to walk down the streets of Broadway and see them so empty during normally what would be the time the doors of the theaters were opening.

Sharon Wheatley took me back to that time with her words but also provided me a different version as someone who had just lost their livelihood for an unknown amount of time. Even as she is traveling through beautiful parks and landscapes, the worry is constantly there if she will ever be able to have a career again and perform in her dream show. She is enjoying this time with her family but reality is also still in the back of her mind. During this she draws on her relationship with her parents for strength and little nuggets of truth along the way. These passages are so heartfelt as are the ones where she is safely able to interact with people she knows in various locations. The sadder moments are balanced with happier ones, and always just feels like you are sitting down with a friend having a drink or two.

Drive: Stories From Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere is a beautiful reminder to take chances and enjoy what is around us. It is also a story of hope during the darkness of the pandemic. Admittedly, I'm a fan of Sharon Wheatley and closely followed the journey on Instagram but I think her stories will appeal to anyone looking for a comfort read in the midst of chaos. Her voice is like a much needed hug and a reminder that all adventures, even the ones in the middle of nowhere, have a way of forever changing you. Of course in the process you may also wind up leaving a part of you behind.

From the opening pages I felt like the author was a dear friend.A big warm personality a Broadway actress living through life’s up and downs.The death of her mother brought tears to my eyes.Her personal life her second marriage her decision to pack up and leave Manhattan during the pandemic kept me turning the pages following the struggles we all were living through.Highly recommend.#netgalley #greenleafbooks.

In DRIVE, by Sharon Wheatley, COVID-19 upends Broadway actress Sharon Wheatley's life and she escapes New York City and ends up on a cross-country adventure with her family, their animals, and all of their stuff jammed into an RV. Throughout all of the ups and downs of her journey, Sharon finds the strength to keep going using the lessons she has learned from her parents, her partner, and her own inner resilience she seemed to have forgotten she had. In the end, she makes it out of the pandemic to perform on Broadway again and back to a place and a life she treasured and missed more than she ever thought she would.
Wheatley has such a wonderfully conversational style of writing, like the reader is hearing stories over a drink at a bar. At the same time, almost unnoticed, is how that book is organized to maximize enjoyment, Without feeling artificial or forced, the book swings between humor and somber reflections with a certain balance that mirrors life. At moments, the reader is laughing along with the story and thinking everything will be fine in the end and at other moments the reader is caught up in Wheatley's despair and how unlikely it feels that things will ever get better. Everyone has had these wild emotional swings over the last couple of years, so there is a comfort to read about someone else going through it and how they came out happy in the end.
Having a family and being a theater artist myself, DRIVE was more than just a well written, entertaining book for me to read, it was a beacon of hope that the theater world, just like everything else, will eventually return to normal.