Run, Rose, Run

by Dolly Parton and James Patterson, Robert Petkoff (Read by), Ella Turenne (Read by), Emily Woo Zeller (Read by), Dolly Parton (Read by)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Set in Nashville (of course!), real-life singer and songwriter Kelsea Ballerini lends an authentic feel to the voice of AnnieLee, who is trying to make it big on her talent while escaping her past. And Dolly Parton conveys her well-known mix of sassiness and heart in the role of a beloved icon, who sees her younger self in AnnieLee and becomes her mentor, adding a heavy dose of female empowerment to a story of suspense and romance.

A singer on the rise is also on the run from the hard life behind her. Nashville is where she has come to claim her destiny. It's also where the darkness that she fled might find her. If it does, it will destroy her.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781549164859
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	03/07/2022
Sales rank:	443,190
Product dimensions:	5.45(w) x 5.70(h) x 1.65(d)

About the Author

Dolly Parton is a singer, songwriter, actress, producer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. The composer of over 3,000 songs, she has sold over 100 million records worldwide and given away millions of books to children through her nonprofit, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

Dolly Parton is a singer, songwriter, actress, producer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. The composer of more than 3,000 songs, she has sold over 100 million records worldwide, and has given away millions of books to children through her nonprofit, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

James Patterson is the world's bestselling author. The creator of Alex Cross, he has produced more enduring fictional heroes than any other novelist alive. He lives in Florida with his family.
 

Peter Ganim, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, is an American actor who has appeared on stage, on television, and in film. He has performed voice-over work since 1994.

Luis Moreno, a voice actor, has narrated several audiobooks throughout his career.

Kevin T. Collins, an Audie Award–winning audiobook narrator, is an actor, singer, recording artist, and director who can be seen off Broadway, on television, and in films.

Emily Woo Zeller is an Audie and Earphones Award–winning narrator, voice-over artist, actor, dancer, and choreographer. AudioFile magazine named her one of the Best Voices of 2013. Her voice-over career includes work in animated film and television in Southeast Asia.

Robert Petkoff is an actor and audiobook narrator who has won a prestigious Audie Award and multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards. He has appeared on Chappelle’s Show, Law & Order, and Quantum Leap. His Broadway credits include Sir Robin in Spamalot, Perchik in Fiddler on the Roof, and Tateh in Ragtime.

Ella Turenne is an artist, entrepreneur, and audiobook narrator who has been acting since the age of five. Her credits include her own one-woman show Love, Locs & Liberation which received a Producers Encore Award at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival, as well as numerous podcasts, documentary films, and textbook projects. A native New Yorker, she currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Soneela Nankani is an award-winning narrator with over three hundred titles in many different genres including Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Sci-Fi, and Nonfiction. She has garnered sixteen Earphones Awards, nominations for Audie and SOVAS awards, and was recently awarded AudioFile magazine’s Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Honor. Her audiobooks have been featured in Best Audiobooks lists by AudioFile magazine and the Washington Post, among others. In her spare time, she loves to read (yes, really), learn languages, try new recipes, and travel. She lives in the DC area with her husband and two mischievous daughters.

James Fouhey is an actor and narrator living in New York City. He received classical training at Boston University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He has recorded more than forty audiobooks across a variety of genres, including science fiction, romance, young adult fiction, and children’s fiction.

Editorial Reviews

This audiobook is not your typical James Patterson thriller—it’s an entertaining look at the country music industry through the adventures of newcomer AnnieLee. Coauthor Dolly Parton portrays retired country music superstar Ruthanna with humor, warmth, and attitude. Country music singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini portrays AnnieLee, who is determined to run from her past all the way to stardom. Soneela Nankani delivers the ongoing narrative in an easygoing style. AnnieLee’s love interest, Ethan Blake, is charmingly voiced by James Fouhey, who sprinkles in a dose of romantic tension. Emily Woo Zeller adds her talents in performing several of the secondary characters. While there’s little suspense, there’s plenty of good storytelling to keep listeners engaged. E.Q. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

MARCH 2022 - AudioFile

02/28/2022

Country music legend Parton’s strong debut, an exhilarating rags-to-riches story coauthored with bestseller Patterson (The President Is Missing with Bill Clinton), revolves around the troubled past of plucky singer/songwriter AnnieLee Keyes. AnnieLee’s plan is to “get the hell out of Texas” and hitchhike to Nashville, Tenn., where she hopes to start her career as a performer. In Nashville, AnnieLee encounters ruthless, predatory agents and managers, but she also meets positive role models, notably Ruthanna Ryder, “one of country music’s grandest queens,” who takes AnnieLee under her wing. “If you want to make it in this town,” Ruthanna tells her, “being talented is just one little tiny part of the battle. Fearlessness is mandatory. And shamelessness sure as hell don’t hurt.” Her other ally is guitarist Ethan Blake, who brings her to Ruthanna’s attention. When AnnieLee’s life is threatened, she needs the help of her new friends to survive. Never mind that the mystery element runs a distant second to the story of AnnieLee making good in Nashville. Parton fans will relish this timeless fairy tale, which displays the singer’s lively way with words and draws liberally from her experience in the music business. Agent: Robert Barnett, Williams & Connolly. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

A must-listen ensemble audiobook.”

BookPage (starred audio review)

Dolly Parton portrays retired country music superstar Ruthanna with humor, warmth, and attitude…There’s plenty of good storytelling to keep listeners engaged.”

AudioFile

Dolly Parton is the beating heart and yearning soul of this amazing novel. Enter James Patterson, who knows how to grab a reader by the threat, kick up the suspense, and move a novel along better than anybody else in the world.”

author of The Last Girls Lee Smith

Taut and exciting…Patterson’s suspense mastery plus Parton’s insider knowledge of Nashville’s dark underbelly equals one great read.”

#1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner

A thrilling journey from two beloved voices, set against the backdrop of the country-music scene.”

author of Glory over Everything Kathleen Grissom

06/01/2022

This is not a typical Patterson thriller. The primary focus of the plot is a behind-the-scenes look at the country music business, which Texan AnnieLee Keyes wants to break into. A talented songwriter and singer, she aches to get noticed. When listeners first meet her, AnnieLee is standing on a hotel balcony deciding whether she should jump or not. Ruthanna, the queen of country music, who is now retired, becomes her mentor. AnnieLee's life appears to be going in a new direction until she is brutally attacked by someone from her secret past. Dolly Parton and ten others narrate this book. VERDICT Fans of Parton will enjoy hearing her portray Ruthanna with a rich, Southern accent. The 10 other narrators also do an excellent job showcasing the raw emotion and romantic tension between the characters.—Ilka Gordon

Library Journal - Audio

10/01/2021

Yes, that's the Dolly Parton, contributing plot points to this story of a talented young singer-songwriter who has followed her dream to Nashville but remains terrified of the seething troubles she left behind. Will shadowy figures from her past come get her? Parton wrote 12 songs especially for the book. With a one-million-copy first printing.

Library Journal

2021-12-15
A singer/songwriter at the beginning of her career is befriended by a retired country-music luminary, but will the young woman's past destroy her before her star can ascend?

"Underneath that sweet, doll-faced exterior, there was something fierce and furious about AnnieLee Keyes. Some dark pain powered those pipes; Ruthanna was sure of it." Like Bill Clinton before her, Parton has hooked up with Patterson to channel the details of her profession into a thriller framework—and in this case, to provide an album of songs purportedly written by the three main characters to be released at the same time. When we meet AnnieLee, she is on the run, hitchhiking to Nashville to escape some mysterious nightmare situation. Standing in the rain, she starts singing to herself: "Is it easy / No it ain't / Can I fix it? / No I cain't." This will become "Woman Up (and Take It Like a Man)," one of the songs she debuts in a roadside dive called the Cat's Paw, begging a place on the stage and playing a borrowed guitar before slinking off to sleep in a public park. But she has already been noticed by Ethan Blake, a handsome Afghanistan veteran–turned–Nashville session player and secret songwriter—"Demons, demons, we've both had enough of our own / Demons, demons, we don't have to fight them alone." He will take word of this tiny, skittish prodigy to his boss, the beloved Ruthanna Ryder, who has stepped back from a mega-career after personal tragedy—and who happens to own the Cat's Paw. Ruthanna, who recalls the great Parton in coiffure, jewelry, generosity, and business know-how, sees her former self in AnnieLee—"Big dreams and faded jeans / Fit together like a team"—and immediately goes to work to help her climb the slippery ladder of stardom. But between AnnieLee's durn pride and the vicious, violent marauders who are on her tail, it won't be easy. Good thing Patterson was there to give Ethan those military superhero moves. Showdown in Vegas, y'all!

The fairy-tale characters and details of the country-music scene are so much fun you won't mind the silly plot.

Kirkus Reviews