Book Review: A Little Bit Country by Brian D. Kennedy

A Little Bit Country is told in the distinctive voices of Emmett and Luke. While they have very little in common when they first meet, there’s an instant, effervescent connection that is unmistakably electric. Emmett, seventeen with big dreams to be country music’s biggest gay star, is in Jackson Hollow, Tennessee, for the summer, staying with his Aunt Karen. He’s got a job performing at an amusement park owned by his all-time idol and country-music legend, Wanda Jean (think, Dolly Parton-style of icon/all-round entertainer.) He wants nothing more than to be a star, to sing to the world and show them he’s proud of being gay and that it can go hand-in-hand with being a superstar of country music. Wannabe chef Luke, on the other hand, detests country music, even though it runs in his blood. His grandmother was Verna Rose, Wanda Jean’s former friend that had a rocky, memorable and public fall-out with her many years ago. Subsequently, the painful betrayal of country music itself runs deep in his family. With Luke’s mother’s illness, MS, and the medical bills for her hospital admissions and general care building up, he knows that his family needs all the money it can have—which is the exact reason he clings to when he takes a job at Wanda World in their restaurant.

But when Emmett and Luke meet, suddenly both their lives are not only lit by admiration of one another’s strengths—Luke wishing he could be out and proud of who he is like Emmett, and Emmett wishing he had Luke’s self-confidence—but with how strong of a connection they share. Only, because Luke fears his family and friends reactions to coming out, it puts his and Emmett’s growing summer-born relationship into dangerous territory, both their hearts on the line. The summer doesn’t go without sparks flying, secrets shared, mysteries unsolved, and heartbreak. But when the biggest secret of all unravels everything they both thought they knew about Wanda—and Country music—will they ever get to live in their love song?

Overall, I looked to A Little Bit Country for a country-music rom-com with dashes of homages to Dolly Parton—and that’s exactly what I got and so much more. I fell in love with Emmett and Luke’s voices, their stories, right down to everything they represented. Yes, it had a little bit of insta-love, but I think when it’s shown how much two characters are suited to one another, that trope is so worth it—because it was clear to me they were meant to find one another. This was such a gorgeous rom-com that left me starry-eyed and rooting for characters that were genuine, with swoony elements that made it completely unputdownable. Four and a half stars!