Carry Yourself Back to Me

Loved this book from beginning to end, absolutely couldn't put it down. Found myself rooting for the characters that I hated,and hating the characters I loved. Then changing my mind again in the next chapter, and loving every second of it.

Very enjoyable;loved how the chapters alternated between the past and the present situations of the characters;a real page turner to find out how everything fit together and who was the one who really did it! .

Very good read..really enjoyed it... I ordered it on my kindle now I am having to wait to get my kindle back because my friend wanted to read it she does not have her own kindle at this time but may get one sooner because I want mine back now.

I am currently reading three different books, so have not yet finished this one, but so far it lives up to my expectation..a new author for me, like to try them, and always so pleased when they prove to be what I hoped for...

I confess that I stopped reading about halfway though. A whole lot of longing going on and I just wasn't feeling it. I didn't particularly care about the characters in order to continue reading to learn their motivations.

Annie Walsh, who is a singer and song writer, attempts to erase the pain of a lost love. As she tries to heal from a broken heart, she is also forced to dig into the past of her troubled family. Her distant past will reveal family secrets in a desperate search for answers to a mysterious puzzle. Is Annie's brother involved in the murder, and who is trying to tear her family apart? Will the puzzle be solved in a small town murder, and who will be convicted of the crime? I hughly recommend this novel to all fiction lovers, who enjoy mystery and suspense, combined with romance. Deborah Reed created a Masterpiece of family loyalty, trust, and lasting love. The fascinating story is written in elegant prose, page-after-page. The characters come to life as the author paints a rich, tender, and delicate family portrait of regret and redemption across the generations. The story is delightful, heartwarming, and compelling as the reader craves for more.

I started reading this then put it down for awhile. When I picked it up and started reading again, I wondered how I was able to put it down before. I read it almost in one sitting. The author seems knowledgeable about music, human nature, and has a wonderful sense with words. Her descriptions of human mannerisms are uncanny. I would get flashes of memory of someone making the same gestures or body language that she described. She manages this without using too many words or becoming flowery. The story took a direction--or several directions--I did not expect and I was surprised that I liked what transpired. I will look for work by this author under both her pen names.

Annie Walsh is a heartbroken singer/songwriter who just turned forty. The love of her life, Owen, left her for a younger woman months ago and the coup de grace kick in the gut was the fact that her brother Calder was covering up for him. Now, months later, Calder pays Annie a visit to let her know he has finally found true love, but she's married. Annie wants nothing to do with Calder and wants to be left alone with her heartache and her old dog, Detour.

Owen is married and expecting a baby. He misses Annie and knows he made a mistake but there's no going back now. When he reads in the paper that Calder is arrested for murder, he is shocked. Calder supposedly beat to death the husband of the woman he was seeing. Calder has Tourettes, the disease that gives a person tics, and it will make the defense's job a lot easier.

Owen can't stand being away and wants to help, so he takes off for the jail that Calder is at. Unfortunately, he needs an appointment so he finds himself at Annie's house. At first, Annie wants an explanation why he left, but the more he tries to explain himself, the deeper a hole he digs himself.

Will Annie finally find peace and love? Will Owen get his act together and will the evidence point to another murderer or will Calder pay the price?

Romance, intrigue, heart-warming and tragic, Carry Yourself Back to Me is a complex and stellar novel with many depths. Flashing from present to past, the story is revealed in increments that enlighten the reader as the tale unfolds. The character development is fantastic, the plot tight and the pace absolutely perfect. Deborah Reed's written voice is profound and definitely can be heard. Highly recommend!

Carry Yourself Back to Me is Deborah Reed's debut novel under her own name, following close on the heels of the publication under her Audrey Braun pen name of the sassy thriller, A Small Fortune.

In contrast to the whirligig adventure of her thriller, Carry Yourself Back to Me is a thoughtful, intense novel with Southern gothic overtones. Set in central Florida in the middle of a freak cold snap, the story focuses on Annie Walsh, a singer-songwriter recovering from the abrupt end of a long relationship with her music producer boyfriend.

There are many threads to the story as Reed examines the relationships between Annie and her ex-lover, her brother Calder who has been accused of murdering his lover's husband, their parents, and their bachelor uncle. The story moves between the cold, snowy present, Annie and Calder's childhood, and the immediate past that left Annie alone in her cabin and Calder in jail.

By the end, as the threads come together, the reader has been woven into the tale. Reed's descriptions are so tactile - Annie's rough hands, the ice-coated branches of the citrus trees, the warm fur of her dog's coat - and her characters are so authentic that to read the book is to live inside the story.

This book is terrific.

I simply don't understand any reviewer finding this book "a waste of time". The language is so beautiful, each sentence so original. The story is mesmerizing (couldn't put it down once I started it!) but more importantly, I found myself sometimes re-reading sentences just to more fully appreciate the way Reed twines the words into one silken thread after another, until you find that you've followed that thread and been caught up in her weaving of an entire cocoon of story. The writing reminds me very much of that of Marilynne Robinson (if you liked her "Gilead", I think you'll like this book too). I liked the juxtaposition of the Joshua storyline, and found the ending extremely satisfying (although I wish there had been another chapter exploring the murderer's potential self-defense angle and better resolving that storyline <writing this carefully so as not to give away any spoilers!>; I especially loved the touch of that unfinished final love note). It is a well-done mystery, in addition to the multiple love stories (Annie's mom, Annie's own, both of the Calders, Owen and Joshua) all criss-crossing each other. Very well-written; can hardly wait to read more of Reed's work!

Author Deborah Reed does a wonderful job with backstory in her novel, Carry Yourself Back to Me. The present day tale starts with singer-songwriter Annie Walsh looking out over her neighbor's tangelo grove and wondering whose truck it is she sees. Owen, her lover, has left her. Calder, her brother, is estranged from her. Detour, her dog, is getting old. And winter's drawing near.

In that short time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, what's left of Annie's world will fall apart and maybe even begin to rebuild itself. Meanwhile the reader sees into Annie's heart through touches of song and memory, each scene brought as vividly to life as the present, from childhood loneliness, first love, first betrayal to tortured loyalties tied up in secrets and genuine emotion.

Sudden ice might wreck the tangelo crop, but life brings its own unexpected disasters, and the woman who bleeds her hands picking fruit soon sees her heart bleed too. A voice to sing, a chord to play--the author brings musical words and heartfelt lyrics to this tale, and the result has a pleasing completeness, lingering melody and haunting sense of possibilities. In the end, maybe one crop must die for another to flourish. And a story that makes music in life's betrayal is a pretty good place to start singing.

Disclosure: I received a free ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Great read. Easy bit captivating. I felt committed to the characters and thought the storyline was just engaging enough to be hard to put down without the haunting “what next!!!” That causes me to read until 2am when I should
Be sleeping. Loved it!

Anyone who loves the English language will love Deborah Reed's "Carry Yourself Back to Me." She has the feel, the talent, the skill.

Somewhere at the book's the store site is the recommendation that you play listed songs while reading her novel. I can see why. Her writing is down-to-earth yet lyrical. I did not download the songs, but I did thoroughly enjoy listening to a free video at the store, inspired by the book. One must not let the video convince you the book's characters are hicks from country-music land. They are not.

Annie, the main person, is an accomplished singer and songwriter. Her partner Owen had the skills to guide her on to success.

Her brother Calder is a minor entrepreneur. He and she fight for good reason, at least on her part. He ends up jailed as the logical suspect in a murder. Did he do it? If not, who did? I couldn't figure it out, but maybe you can.

Her Uncle Calder (he and brother Calder look alike) is a rock-solid, charming, and no-nonsense kind of guy. He is, if you can believe it, both a usurper and protector of the clan.

Annie's mother has her problems with everyone. Her father is there to help Annie at critical times. After he dies he is a heavenly presence, who is believed to be watching over the whole crew. Sounds like pretty ordinary nonsense but it all fits in.

Tess is a Scandinavian of painful beauty, who loves, admittedly unwisely, and yet sincerely.

The Pinckney boys are tormentors, who will have to be shown a thing or two, and may even manage to grow up.

The book is lovely, the conflicts are many, the story is engrossing. Things are not easy. The lives are presented realistically.

But I have to get back to the language, the simple, not extreme, unselfconscious way Ms. Reed has of expressing herself. So many bright spots. Authors so often overdo similes and metaphors, but she has a balanced, precise touch. Not to be forgotten.

Carry Yourself Back to Me is part mystery and part Carter Family style ballad. It is about loss and betrayal and starting over. The book is light on mystery, but strongly evocative of rural Florida and what it means to come from nothing.
Annie Walsh is a singer-songwriter whose partner has just left her. While she tries to recover from the shock and hurt, she is blindsided by her brother's arrest for murderer. Annie atttempts to unravel how her brother's secrets are tied up with her partner's as she tries to clear her brother's name and understand how her past has led to the complications of the present.
For fans of No Depression and Southern Literature.

Singer-songwriter Annie Walsh doesn't really have a life when this book begins. Her partner left her several months before (something she is still trying to work through), and she hasn't spoken to her brother in just about that length of time. It seems her brother knew that her partner was cheating, and somehow neglected to tell her. So Annie has sequestered herself in her secluded Florida home, with her aging dog Detour. Her career is on hold, while she makes empty promises to her manager.

As life goes, hers gets suddenly more interesting. She is out in the cold and rain, desperately trying to harvest as many of the tangelo's as she possibly can from the surrounding grove for her elderly neighbor before the storms set in. Not an unusual occupation - she and her brother picked tangelo's when they were youngsters, so it's all part of life. Except ... well, her brother is accused of killing the husband of his lover, which bring's Annie's ex-partner running back to her (and deserting his very pregnant new wife and about to be born child).

Shadows from the past prevail ... shadows that include neighboring brothers, Annie's mother and father, and her Uncle Calder. How Annie addresses these shadows, and what they have to teach her, are very surprising. Life often not what we think it is, even when we are present and accounted for when it is going on. Who lives, who doesn't, and where their lives take them all unwind in this book in a scary true to life fashion. Much more than a great summer read!

Annie has shut herself away from everyone as she nurses her broken heart. Betrayed not only by her long time boyfriend, but also by her brother, Annie just wants to be alone and nurse her wounds. Secluded in Florida with only her dog for company, Annie is pulled back into the real world when her brother is jailed for murder. In many ways this novel reads like a country ballad, which makes sense as Annie is just that, a country singer song-writer. When her brother is jailed and word gets out the he is the brother of the famous Annie Walsh. she is no longer able to maintain her private seclusion, and she must deal with not only the press, but the ex-lover who broke her heart, also. As she grapples with her feelings about the possibility of her brothers guilt, she also finds herself confronting head on some of the other issues that have weighed her down for the past year. It was easy to become engrossed in the story of Annie Walsh. She is in such pain, yet is so pragmatic and earthy, you just want to see her find the strength that you know she has and come back to life, conquer her demons and find the happiness she deserves.

I liked this book - I was pleasantly surprised, since it isn't the type of book I would normally choose. I picked it up through the store Vine on a whim.

This book tells the story of Annie Walsh. Annie is a singer and songwriter who has just had her heart broken. Her brother has just been arrested. Sounds potentially predictable? The author manages to avoid what many readers might expect to happen in such a book and create a complex and enjoyable story, with a sense of mystery. It is well written and enjoyable to read. I would highly recommend it to those who enjoy a good suspense novel, or just those who are fans of well written fiction.

I got this book after reading Deborah Reed's book, The Things We Set on Fire, I fell in love with her writing and had to keep on, hoping for another book, and I found this. Wonderful.
I'm not going to tell you what the book is about, you can read that yourself when you search this book. What I will tell you about is the emotional grab this book had on me. I could not stop reading this story. I was so drawn into the lives of the people in this story. Deborah writes with the poetic lure of all great story writers, song writers. My heart hurt in my chest with the aching beauty of this story.
I can't wait to read more by this author, she is truly amazing.

In one of its 1992 editions, the sociology journal Social Forces published an article titled "The Effect of Country Music on Suicide." Based on an analysis of data collected from forty-nine metropolitan districts in the U.S., the article concluded that, other things being equal, the more air time given to country music on local radio stations, the higher the suicide rate among the area's population. The authors tried to explain this statistical connection through reference to themes commonly found in country music such as marital discord, a sense of hopelessness, alienation from work, and alcohol abuse.

Annie Walsh, the main character in the novel Carry Yourself Back to Me, is a country singer and songwriter whose repertoire is heavy-laden with music that carries the sort of sweet but hard-to-bear sadness that the authors of the Social Forces article had in mind. If you have a low tolerance for persuasively rendered stories of acute heartache, this book is not for you. Even if you're usually pretty well insulated from the kinds of songs and stories that bring tears to a lot of eyes, but you just happen to be a little depressed, it might be best to put off reading this book until your mood lifts a bit.

Carry yourself back to me is loaded with interesting characters, some of them singers and musicians, and others in all sorts of unrelated endeavors. The one thing that thematically binds them together is sadness, sometimes so deep and heart-felt as to prompt tortured screams and manic outbursts, all of which, given the circumstances, seem perfectly fitting. The inter-related stories that give rise to these painful contexts are really pretty simple, covering commonplace ways in which we find ourselves and each other in the throes of genuine misery.

I think it's fair to say, however, that while the suffering borne by so many of the characters in Carry Yourself Back to Me can easily be understood, it is a bit over done. Yes, some of us have truly awful lives, but the characters in Deborah Reed's well written novel seem to be in for far more than their share, and Annie Walsh suffers so much loss in so many forms that one wonders how she endures. In a truly startling bit of imagery, Annie sees a heron swallow a frog, and she wonders if the frog, still alive inside the heron, has surrendered itself to being slowly digested or is clawing like crazy in a desperate but doomed effort to escape. Can Annie escape her own entrapment in thoroughgoing misery?

Sure, Annie Walsh makes mistakes. Nobody in our world is entirely blameless, but Annie's suffering, in contrast to some of the other characters, has surprisingly little to do with bad choices and foolish missteps. I don't know if this makes disappointment and loss harder or easier to take or if culpability and anguish are unrelated. However one looks as it, Annie gets more than her share of misfortune and unhappiness, as do some of the people closest to her.

The author sometimes seems intent on demonstrating, with her sure-handed prose style, that life is a war of attrition, each of us against an unfeeling, unforgiving, merciless world wherein everything we love leaves us before we're ready to say "good bye." Maybe so. But if that's the way things are, one might be justified in asking "what's the point?"

The ending is off key and implausible. But I think we can forgive the author a few unfortunate pages in a full-length novel.

I've always had reservations about the research that purports to link country music to suicide. But if there are country songs filling the airwaves that are as heart-rending and relentlessly downbeat as Deborah Reed's novel, I may reconsider. A steady aural diet of music with this degree of desolation and despondency might be enough to make the connection believable. Carry Yourself Back to Me is the product of an author with real talent, and it deserves to be read. Steel your soul!

This book washed over me, taking me by surprise. Reed's intellect of music is obvious and yet she seemed to barely even write about it, instead making it feel like the whole book was a composition of songs. She has mastered the art of flashback without making it feel separate. The characters are crisp in my head and I know this book will sit with me for a while. I borrowed it with the store Prime but I don't think that reading it once will be enough.

Well written tale of family, love, and betrayal. Characters are pretty well fleshed out. The setting is lovely (I'm just saying that because I am from Florida, but have been in Texas for 41 years.) Worth reading