Unfortunately I had to DNF at 30%. I was drawn to this book by its description and location. Any story taking place in South or North Carolina...I am in, however I just couldn't connect with the characters. I was hoping for a good, heartwarming small town story but I just didn't think the charm was there.

Thank you Alcove Press and the author for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

SING ME HOME CAROLINA is a genre shift and a huge departure for Joy Callaway, a blossoming favorite of mine in the historical fiction market. In this cozy small town romance novel with all the Hallmark vibes you could ever imagine, Callaway gives us humor and hope and and second chance romance and new found love and love triangle vibes and just pure fun. I laughed and loved along with these characters as they banded together to save their small southern town from being encroached upon to build a new stadium for an NFL team.

While yes, the romance leads the plotline, Callaway gives us a full cast of side characters to root for and I think they steal a lot of the best moments of the novel! There's truly nothing more southern than scenes set in a beauty parlor! I can't wait to read the next book from Joy Callaway in this genre!

3.5 Stars. This was an easy, feel-good read. The characters were unique, and all of us can relate to having a first love. It reminded me of Sweet Magnolias. I do wish the book had moved a bit faster at times, but overall it was enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for my advance copy in exchange for my honest feedback.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this. I enjoyed it throughly as someone who adores country music and all things country in general. With a love story mixed in, I loved this very much.

I absolutely loved this novel. This is my first time reading a book from Joy, and I can say it will not be my last. I was hooked from page 1. I haven't had a book that has had me laughing in some places and teary eye'd next. It tugged at my heartstrings and I love that she wrote it after visiting a small town in West Virginia.Being from a small town definitely made me love this book more and more and I would love to see for there to be another book after this one to see how much more there is to Hattie's story.I enjoyed how she told the story of Hattie a small town girl turned big city businesswoman who returns home to help her parents, only to find her heart being tugged between her old flame and the town's new mysterious new guy. This is a book that if you love Hart of Dixie and Sweet Magnolia's then this is a book that you will want to read.

This book is a page turner and if you are a small town girl and love a cute romance and a girl who has to choose between two men for her heart this book is for you. It's a small town romance, new love vs second chance love

This novel follows Hattie, an event planner who returns home to help her parents with their failing farm, only to be recruited into helping the small town plan a Founder’s Day that will help prevent the opening of an NFL stadium on their land, despite believing that this business is just what Mountain View needs to revitalize their fading town. While back in town she finds herself unable to avoid running into her high school ex-boyfriend returning home from a career ending injury from the MLB and spending time with a curious new business owner in town who has quickly become a part of the community and agrees to help her with the Founder’s Day preparations.

Beginning this story, I had to adjust to the authors writing style. The town and its festivities do remind you a bit of Stars Hollow at times with quirky characters sprinkled throughout from the mullets, to the WeinerMobile, to the Mother Good figurine decordated lawn…

I struggled a bit with the main character. At times, Hattie was resolute in her opinions without much cause to be, while at other times she allowed herself to be won over by pretty words, disregarding what people’s actions and history showed her, without much thought. During times when I felt a daughter who loved her family as well as her job away in the city should have shown the struggle to choose between the two, I found instead when the two began to pull her in different directions, that she felt as though her family was an inconvenience and her job checked her boxes rather than provided her satisfaction. I did not find Hattie to be a compelling character and felt her character development was superficial at best.

As for the romance, Hattie spends the majority of the book resisting one man in town, only to peruse something with him despite the red flags, then chooses the other man in the end with whom I felt there was no romantic build up to choosing.
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🎤Single POV
⚾️Small town romance
🎤Long triangle
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Thank you Alcove Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review! 📚
Publishers release date 6/10/2025

I do love a small-town romance so I had high hopes for this one. I did enjoy the characters, but one character Hattie frustrated me. She was so indecisive. I didnt really feel the chemistry between the characters.

This book was little a small piece of southern charm! It felt like a warm hug from a friend you didn’t want to break.

Joy Colloway was able to capture the small town feel and the sense of community and family in this book! Mountains View’s sense of family made you feel like you were part of the story. Hattie Norwood goes from big time event planner to small town girl by helping save her town and its history. Throw in a love triangle to really make the story captivate you!

This book gave a little bit of Virgin River and Sweet Magnolias. I definitely couldn’t put the book down and didn’t want the story to end!

Good read , about a girl visiting her home town, falling in love and not wanting to leave. There are a lot of trials in between. The only problem I had with the book is how drawn out it was, I felt my self having trouble staying engaged. I liked the setting , characters and idea of it all just wish it would have been wrapped up a little sooner .

This book was just okey. I could never figure out what anyone could possibly see in the main character Hattie. That her high school boyfriend was still in love with her ten years later, maybe. That the good looking stranger also loved her for absolutely no discerning reason, no. They really did not interact enough to have created this dynamic.
On the other hand, I really liked some of the other characters but felt that some of them could of been developed a little more. The small town feel was endearing.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I wanted to like this story but at times, the main character was frustrating. A small town romance, sometimes absolute in her decisions, Hattie was multi-faceted. Thanks NetGalley for an ARC.

A sweet story about small towns and first loves who might deserve a second chance. Can’t beat sweet southern romances!

I loved "Sing Me Home to Carolina"! This is such a sweet story about first love and the connections in a small town. There is power in a small town coming together, which Callaway lovingly conveys. Southern charm is also on full display here. I enjoyed the setting of Mountain View, SC and Hattie as the main character. Pitting the town's economic interests against the interests of Hattie's family is a great way to set up tension and keep us turning the pages! I was invested in whether the barn would be saved and how the proposed stadium would impact Hattie's family. As Hattie rekindles old relationships and embarks on new ones, she learns powerful life lessons. This is a feel-good story full of charm. I highly recommend it for fans of Viola Shipman and Hallmark movies.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance e-galley; all opinions in my review are 100% my own.

Sing Me Home to Carolina
Author: Joy Callaway @joywcal
Thanks to @netgalley and @alcovepress
Pub Date : 10th June-25
Stars: 🎶♥️🎶♥️🎶

“The love we had was the forever kind, the kind that endures time and distance and lust. I think the only way it can break is if something equally as strong comes along and snaps it in two. After that, I don’t think it can ever be the same.”

Setup in a small town in South Carolina- Mountain View which is still enveloped in the beauty farming and old country music lovers and heritage of Robinson’s who were the founders of this town and country music legends. When Hattie the small town girl turned to city business event manager returns home to find that the town is dying and her parents farm is now infertile and the town is getting scooped up by Govt to build a Stadium.. The town councilwoman begs Hattie to use her event planning prowess to help Mountain View put on a musical benefit to stop the construction of the new Carolina Panthers stadium—a project Hattie is actually in favor of, much to the dismay of the locals—and she finds herself agreeing to stay until the town’s Founder’s Day. Her old flame former MLB standout Lee Lockhart returns tugging at her heart. But with time and complicated past between her and Lee .. She is in dilemma. In the process of reviving the barn, she is attracted to town hunk and mysterious new owner of Fox Hardware.. Fox..
The emotional turmoil of Hattie’s is so real., the
Tug between her old flame and the new hunk is convincing.. I loved how the story of the romance and the saving of the town goes hand in hand..and none of it looses the charm..it is so well written that the reader is eager to know what happens with Hattie - Lee and Fox and will this town be saved!! That is the charm of this story. All small town romance lovers will love and hold this book close to their hearts.. Read this charming story and loose yourself in the charm of countryside.. ♥️🎶🎶🎸🎸♥️

Thanks to the Publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in an exchange for an honest review.

4.5/ 5 stars

The summary really grabbed my attention because it had drama, romance and a woman choosing between 2 different men for her ❤️ heart.

This closed door romance book has a lot of my favorite tropes:
❤️ Love Triangle 🔺️
❤️ Small town romance
❤️ Conflicts and Drama
❤️ New Love vs Second chance romance

Hattie goes back to her hometown, a small town, where her parents own a large farm. The town is slated to have farmland bought and turned into a baseball stadium. The town deeply opposes thos sctuin but Hattoe does not, she sees it as a benefit.

She runs into her high dchool boyfriend Lee, who had broken up with her senior senior graduation, hooked up with another girl and left for the major leagues in Atlanta. He immediately gravitate towards her and tries to win her back, while still visually seeing the woman he was seeing after breaking her heart.

She also meets Fox, whobowns the hardeare shop
who she knows isn't really named Fox but he isn't sharing much details about his past at all. Hattie likes him though and he's always there to help her avoid disasters.

Hattie loves Lee but her heart flips when she's around Fox and she feels a deep connection.

Can Hattie help save her hometown and which man will she give her heart to? I suggest reading 📚 the book to find out.

Sing Me Home to Carolina
by Joy Callaway
Pub Date: June 10, 2025
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.
A small town girl turned big city businesswoman returns home to help her parents, only to find her heart being tugged between her old flame and the town’s mysterious new guy.
This witty and effervescent novel is perfect for readers of Viola Shipman and fans of Sweet Magnolias and Hart of Dixie.
This was a miss for me. I enjoy Shipman and this book just doesn't rate with that one.
In general I enjoyed the cast of characters, although I didn’t particularly like Hattie and Lee.
I liked Fox and the fact the mystery surrounding him lingers until the end.
Hattie’s reactions and feelings towards Lee and Fox seemed often unexplainable and weird. Her indecisiveness is a bit annoying.
And I cannot fathom an event planner forgetting to contact the media…
I found there is too much telling, explaining, and tiring dialogue.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of Sing Me Home to Carolina! Joy Callaway weaves a heartfelt story full of Southern charm and rich history. The characters feel real, and the setting is so vivid it’s like stepping into the Carolinas. The pacing was a bit slow in spots, but the emotional depth and beautiful writing more than made up for it. This is a warm, nostalgic read that feels like a hug—perfect for fans of family dramas and historical fiction. Definitely worth a spot on your TBR!

Sing Me Home to Carolina is a lovely, heartfelt, journey back to small town South Carolina. Hattie Norwood, an event planner who returns home to help her parents save their struggling farm faces some small town drama. She starts to organize a local benefit to protect the town from an unwanted stadium project. Next to the small town drama Hattie gets into a romantic dilemma where she finds herself in a love triangle between her teenage lover, Lee and the towns new guy, Fox. Even though some parts of the plot felt a bit predictable, the warmth of the community and the characters made up for it.

Overall, this is a warm, engaging read with a blend of community spirit and personal growth. Joy Callaway creates an inviting world where family legacies and romantic crossroads collide. If you like southern fiction and second chance romances you will definitely enjoy this book.

read if you like
- second chance romance
- small town romance
- love triangle
- hallmark movie vibes

Was so excited to be granted this book. A beautiful concept but a bit of a difficult execution for me. Loved the setting and the evocative descriptions of the sights, sounds and smells. Enjoyed the various lyrics and the underlying music theme. Difficult to relate to the superficially developed characters - especially the main heroine. Could have been a classic Southern story but stopped short along the way.

Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the opportunity to read this ARC.

A bit too small town for my enjoyment. I was drawn to this book's cover, but the story didn't capture my attention like I hoped it would. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.