The Shortest Way Home: A Novel
Written by Miriam Parker
Narrated by Abby Craden
3.5/5
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Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
How far would you got to find the place you belong?
Hannah is finally about to have everything she ever wanted. With a high-paying job, a Manhattan apartment, and a boyfriend about to propose, all she and Ethan have to do is make it through the last couple of weeks of grad school.
But when, on a romantic weekend trip to Sonoma, Hannah is spontaneously offered a marketing job at a family-run winery and doesn't immediately refuse, their meticulously planned forever threatens to come crashing down. And then Hannah impulsively does the unthinkable—she takes a leap of faith.
Abandoning your dream job and life shouldn't feel this good. But this new reality certainly seems like a dream come true—a picturesque cottage overlooking a vineyard; new friends with their own inspiring plans; and William, the handsome son of the winery owners who captures Hannah's heart only to leave for the very city she let go.
Soon, the mission to rescue the failing winery becomes a mission to rescue Hannah from the life she thought she wanted. Crackling with humor and heart, The Shortest Way Home is the journey of one woman shedding expectations in order to claim her own happy ending.
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Reviews for The Shortest Way Home
31 ratings7 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It’s hard to believe we’ve come to the unofficial end of summer. Why do summers go by so fast, and winters drag on? If you want to hang on to a little bit more of summer, this month’s Book Report has a few books that will help you do that.Miriam Parker’s delightful debut novel, “The Shortest Way Home,” begins as Hannah and her boyfriend, Ethan, are celebrating their impending business school graduation with a trip through Sonoma wine country before their move to New York City, where Hannah will begin a coveted job at Goldman Global Investment Research.They end up at a lovely small family-owned winery, Bellosguardo, where Hannah becomes enchanted by Tannin, the family dog, and the beautiful setting. Hannah strikes up a conversation with the owner’s son, William, and after awhile, she begins to brainstorm some terrific ideas to drum up more business for the small winery.Hannah is the kind of person who likes to talk to the locals to find out where the best places are; Ethan likes to research and plan, and follow that plan to the letter. Ethan prefers to observe, Hannah prefers to interact.Hannah can’t get the small winery out of her head, and when she discovers that she left her wallet at the winery, she returns and meets William’s mother, Linda, who offers Hannah a summer job at the winery working on marketing.Her excitement gets the best of her, and Hannah decides to take the job, which doesn’t pay much, but allows her to live in a sweet little cottage at the winery. Ethan is dumbfounded that Hannah is willing to give up a high-paying job in New York to work at the small winery. He is also concerned what this will do to their relationship, as he loves Hannah and hopes to marry her.I adored “The Shortest Way Home.” If you are a wine lover, as I am, this book is for you. It will have you planning a trip to beautiful wine country, or in the case of central New Yorkers, heading over to one of the many lovely local wineries in the Finger Lakes region to taste the best of what it has to offer.I also think Parker realistically portrays the difficulties of owning a small family business, and the incredibly hard work it is to keep a business afloat. I related to Hannah and Ethan’s habit of looking at a business and coming up with ways to make it more successful (my husband and I like to do that, too).“The Shortest Way Home” is the perfect book to end with this summer. Pour a glass of your favorite white wine, take it out to your comfy front porch chair and settle in for an enchanting read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the mood for romance, personal growth, and a wonderful winery setting, complete with castle? I really enjoyed the main character and would happily have read more.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I can't believe I read the whole thing. This was a very light read, full of great descriptions of wine vintages and pairings. But, I didn't connect very well with the main character, Hannah and her quick choices about her life. In this debut novel, she decides, on basically the eve of her Business School graduation (job at Goldman Sachs already lined up) to work at a winery that appealed to her while on a end of the year school trip with her longtime boyfriend. He is a bit confused, but as with many of the characters, not particularly memorable.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Oh, how I loved THE SHORTEST WAY HOME by Miriam Parker! It’s the story of Hannah, a young woman on the verge of finishing her MBA at Berkeley who, along with her boyfriend Ethan, has her life all planned out. They’ll move to New York, start their careers, and have children that Hannah will quit work to raise. She’s all in until she walks into a winery and realizes that the whole New York thing isn’t really her dream – it’s Ethan’s. She decides to stay at the winery to see if she can figure out what her dream is. This book is about relationships – family, friends, and love – as well as finding oneself. It’s infused with wit and humor and lots of tidbits about wine. I’m not a wine drinker but reading about it in THE SHORTEST WAY HOME made me wish I were. This book comes out in July of 2018 and I adored it so much, I’ve already pre-ordered a finished copy. I think it’s perfect for book clubs and I hope I can talk mine into reading it next fall.Miriam Parker is one of the first publishing people I met after starting my blog. She was living in Blacksburg at the time and Vance was a student at Virginia Tech so I would try to squeeze in a few minutes with her whenever we visited Vance. She’s moved since then and Vance has graduated but Miriam and I still exchange the occasional email. I don’t think knowing her influenced my opinion of the book – as a matter of fact, I think I read it more critically, especially at the beginning, because of it. Order a copy of this book or get your library to – you won’t be disappointed!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Shortest Way Home by Miriam ParkerSource: NetGalley and Overdrive Audio/Public LibraryMy Rating: 2½/5 stars**MINI-REVIEW**The Bottom Line: I struggled with this book and had I not listened to it, I most certainly would have added this title to my DNF list. With the exception of the dog, I found every major character in the book to be tremendously selfish and hard to like. While I completely appreciate circumstances led to so many of each character’s decisions, they had choices and each often made the wrong decision and simply caused more hurt, resentment, and anger to fester. With so many years of negative energy swirling around, it isn’t a great surprise the tone of this book is relatively depressing. So, why didn’t I DNF this book? Because I really liked the setting, all the information about the wine, winemaking, and the vineyard, and the steps taken to make the setting so much more than it has been for so many years. Had the setting been populated with more likeable, sympathetic characters, I most certainly would have assigned a far higher star rating. As this is the author’s debut novel, I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water. From a technical perspective, there is nothing wrong with this book, and I think, given time, Miriam Parker will be a very good author.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Shortest Way HomeByMiriam ParkerWhat it's all about...Hannah and Ethan are on their way to beginning what they both believe will be their life after grad school. Ethan wants his own start up while Hannah has taken a prestigious job in NYC. They are in Wine Country...relaxing before graduation...when Hannah begins to question this established course for her life. Does she want this life as much as Ethan does? Hannah isn’t quite sure and with an extreme leap of faith...Hannah tosses it all aside to work at a winery...a winery with tons of issues! Why I wanted to read it...I just simply wanted to read this because I loved the cover and I loved the sound of this book. Even though Hannah and Ethan and William...the son of the vineyard owners and a budding love interest for Hannah...were in their 30’s...none of them seemed to know what they really wanted for their lives. What made me truly enjoy this book...I actually loved that almost everyone in this book was changing, evolving, growing and learning about themselves. The book was filled with interesting characters. This book was filled with beautiful wine country scenes and descriptions. Hannah had a lovely little cottage...vineyards and great food were everywhere and these all made reading this book satisfying and relaxing...pages turned in an easy comfy way! Why you should read it, too...Readers who love a beautifully written story set in a beautiful area will love this book. I did! I received an advance reader’s copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley and Amazon. It was my choice to read it and review it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5interesting story of a family book of tales that leads lonely young english woman to a new love and renewed family connex.