Surviving Doodahville

By: Ashley Fontainne, Lillian Hansen

Narrated by: Rebecca Roberts

“Filled with powerful scenes and great characters! Brings the ’83 Old South to vivid life. One of my all-time favorite reads! Loved it"! (Janelle Taylor, NY Times best-selling author)

The summer of 1983 - the era of big debt, big hair, and big dreams. Seventeen-year-old Kassandra Lawson is excited about starting her senior year of high school. She has a crush on a local hunk, and her best friend, valley girl extraordinaire Liz Hendricks, insists on helping her snag the hot guy - for sure!

July starts out uneventful for Kee and her parents. Her father, Kevin, is a partner at a CPA firm, and her mother, Gail, works as a secretary at the police department. The small family lives an idyllic life in sunny Hacienda Heights, California.

1983 also brings upheaval and strife for the Lawson clan. A death in the family forces Kevin and Gail to make the painful decision to pack up and move to Kevin’s hometown of Daltville, Arkansas.

Each faces daunting challenges adapting to their new life. Gail and Kee aren’t quite sure they can handle the culture shock. They encounter social and racial issues they never faced on the West Coast, strange food, weird dialects, odd customs, and wicked secrets that have the potential to destroy their family.

More than just a coming-of-age story, Surviving Doodahville explores family bonds, racial barriers, and just how much a person is willing to sacrifice for others. The tale is full of humor, action and a touch of mystery, making it a fun romp into the past.

©2019 Ashley Fontainne (P)2019 Ashley Fontainne

Entertaining throwback to big hair & valley girls

After tragedy strikes, the Lawson family makes the decision to move from sunny California to rural Arkansas in the early 80s. This story dealt with many topics i.e. generational secrets, murder, drugs, the racial divide and even touched on the ramifications of homosexuality in a close-minded community. What I liked about the way the story was told was that it was not only relatable but very believable. While the topics were a bit heavy, the authors did a good job of lacing those serious moments with humor at times i.e. the personal revelation Clint makes to Kassandra.



There were a couple of things that were confusing or unclear to me and I had to go back and listen to try and find where it was mentioned or just move forward and hope that the confusion would resolve itself. I was confused with the ethnicity of a few of the characters. At times it seemed as if the characters were talking in riddles and yet everyone got it. Needless to say, it took me a while to get into the story or connect with the characters. Once I did get into it, I enjoyed it and rooted for them. The second half of the story moved swiftly and held my interest until the very end. There was only comment or conversation that was off-putting. A generalization that was made by one of the characters that black people don’t celebrate Halloween. I had to chalk that up to the ignorance that prevailed in that town OR that the character meant the black people in that town didn’t celebrate it.





The narrator did a great job of bringing each character life and capturing the southern “twang” and inflections, just as easy as she captured the Californian accent as it is referred to by the people in “DooDahville”. It also didn’t hurt that the production quality was very well done. There were no sounds in the background that shouldn’t be. The transitions were smooth and the sound was clear. It was a smooth listen with developed characters and an interesting plot.

My score was a 3 1/2 rolled up to a 4.

(I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Ashley Fontainne. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.)

Great Story

The book starts with Gayle Lawson being harassed by a coworker in the police department. I loved how Gayle stood up for herself with her coworker and with her supervisor who is also a family friend. She goes home only to discover her husband’s aunt is sick and that they are flying to Arkansas to see her. Before they arrive, the aunt passes away. The Lawson family inherit the aunts’s house and business and decide to move to Arkansas. The book is a cute and funny tale about how California transplants adjust to country life. It seems that things are not always as they appear and almost everyone has a secret they don’t want to be discovered. I really enjoyed the story and Rebecca Roberts did an amazing job as narrator.

Surviving Doodahville

Oh I loved being transported back to the 80's. This brought back a lot of memories. I love when an author write so well that they can make you feel like you are back in time.
But there is a lot more going on here than just living life in the 80's. The description says "The tale is full of humor, action and a touch of mystery, making it a fun romp into the past." and it is all that!

And, and... I even lived in Arkansas for 2 years! Now I was in Little Rock but it still felt like Doodahville to this NYer! LOL The author got it spot on. Pretty much all of Arkansas is Doodahville as far as I'm concerned!

Great character development. I especially liked Kee. Sometimes a teenager can be hard to portray in a book, but this author did a great job. I really felt like I was listening about a teen. This family had a lot happening in a short amount of time, and not all of it good. I felt like I was living it right along with them.

AUDIO -
I thought the narrator was fantastic. She did an excellent southern accent. I thought her pacing was great. I am very picky about the reader and most of the time they fall short but two thumbs up for this one!

I voluntarily posted this review after receiving a copy of this book from The Audio Bookworm - Thank You!

#Redneck Pride is alive!

I swear, my inner redneck absolutely loved, loved, loved this story. It was a bit slow in the beginning, though as I got into it I see that it was necessary for that slow burn. Ashley and Lillian did a great job. Life and fiction always make a good mix once you get your claws into a story.

Surviving Doodahville is one of those stories that brings you back to the simpler times. Or what we as kids thought were simpler times. It covers all sorts of life problems. Small towns are known for the backstabbing, everyone knows everyone else’s business types of dealings but Ashley and Lillian take it one step closer in this book. They cover the hard stuff. Racism, scandals and winning. Full force right on into it.

This book is unlike any I’ve read and to be honest, I see this becoming one I read over and over. I laughed, like seriously, laughed my arse off a lot. A few subject matters in the story made my emotions go all over the place. Happy, sad, amused and anything in between. And then, they made me cry. Happy tears though so, that’s allowed.

I’m so happy tho book came into my hands. It’s one that I’ll be talking about for a long time!

Enjoyed!

Ashley Fountainne is such a talented author, I get excited whenever she puts a new book out. Surviving DooDahville definitely did not disappoint! Kee is about to start her senior year in high school in California when life happened and her family ends up moving to a small town in Arkansas. At first, she felt that her world has fallen apart, but, life is what you make of it., and Kee made it work. The author takes us through so many twists and turns I kept thinking that the end of the book was near, only to realize there was more around the curve, keeping me on the edge of my seat. This is entertainment at it's best and, because I actually graduated in 1983 in a 'DooDahville' kind of town, I could relate all too well!
I listened to the audiobook version of this and, once again, Rebecca Roberts compliments Ashley Fountainne and her characters exactly right. The book flows smoothly due the story telling via Rebecca's voice, allowing us to feel each high and low of the characters. The warmth, anger, love, excitement are all felt from the written word to the spoken word. This narrator is one of my favorites.
I highly recommend this book to everyone!

A New Beginning

Well, dagnabbit. I made it all the way to the last chapter with nary a sniffle and then I turned into a near-sobbing wretch 😉

Rising high school senior Kee and her parents are living the California dream so when circumstances lead Gail and Kevin to decide to move to Daltville, Arkansas, she’s devastated and pretty sure life is over. Then again, fate has a way of making one take a second look and Kee soon thinks her parents’ betrayal doesn’t hold a candle to another pair of betrayals.

Off they go to what can only be called a stereotypical Southern backwoods town complete with racism, secrets, years-long feuds, overblown morality…and a tremendous amount of charm and possibilities. Kee soon finds that high school in this redneck town isn’t entirely terrible and her small family can help bring about some major changes.

Romance and friendships blossom in Surviving Doodahville but, at times, I couldn’t help feeling a kind of superiority that these Californians exhibited towards their new neighbors. It was a bit like Kee, Gail and Kevin were the shining examples for goodness and light and that Daltville could only be lifted from its darkness by these more enlightened transplants. Still, a number of the townspeople were good solid citizens and very likeable indeed so I didn’t think the “preaching” was overdone. Truthfully, back in the early 80’s, a lot of what is wrong in Daltville was also wrong elsewhere and still exists today. Now, as in those days, good people matter and can make a difference.

Side note: The cover is very appealing but I’m puzzled by the sign that reads “DooDah Ville”. Which is correct, DooDah Ville or Doodahville?

Rebecca Roberts is new to me as a narrator and I was impressed by her performance. Ms. Roberts has a very pleasing tone and does accents/dialect really well. Most of all, she’s believable as a teenaged girl and she added a great deal to my enjoyment of this book.

More than meets the ears!

It's such an entertaining story! Full of twists and turns, laughs, heart, and nostalgia!

what a fun rich story

I loved this story, Very entertaining, i couldn't wait to see what would happen next.

Amusing and emotional

Surviving Doodahville is an interesting mesh of genres. There's humor, there's murder, and there's emotion, and it's all set in an early 80's small Southern town. Well, most of it is, we do get just enough of the Kee and family in California to get a feel for what their lives are like before the move. Some of the characters are a little over-the-top, and felt like the authors were shooting for extremes at times, and I would've preferred a little less looking down their noses from our Northern transplants.However, those were minor annoyances in an otherwise enjoyable and amusing read.
Many times, I felt like Ashley Fontainne and Lillian Hansen has transported me back to my childhood, and they certainly have a gift for pulling emotions out of the reader, particularly this reader. It also brought to mind how often we talk of simpler times, but Surviving Doodahville reminded me that many of those same problems still exist today, maybe on a grander scare, but they're still here.
This isn't my first listen with Rebecca Roberts as narrator, and once again, I'm impressed with her gift for accents and inflections, something that quite often added to the humor of story. She also does a wonderful job with the emotional aspect of the book.
All in all, Surviving Doodahville is a good combination of amusing and emotional, and kept me listening well into the night.

Surviving Doodahville

Wow!This book is full of dysfunctional family issues on a mega scale!Some you may relate to,some you might cringe but then all you can do is laugh! Rebecca Roberts was a terrific narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'