Serenity ist eine kleine Stadt, in der Annette Bevels in den siebziger Jahren aufwächst. Sie war immer das am wenigsten geliebte Kind, in sich selbst zurückgezogen, unscheinbar und schüchtern. Nach einer Vergewaltigung durch einige ältere Schüler, vertieft sich die Kluft zwischen ihr, ihren Eltern und Geschwistern noch weiter, denn niemand schenkt ihr Glauben. Die Ankunft des charmanten Hippies Jack Harris verändert ihr Leben, sie verlassen gemeinsam Serenity und heiraten.

Die Geschichte wird au More...

I'm giving this book an ok rating -- not because I didn't enjoy it, because I did. But I felt it was simplistic and could have been so much more.

When I was growing up, I dreamed that someone would come along to transform me into a new person, as I didn't much like the person I was. I got this idea from reading the novels on my mother's 50s bookshelf. Turns out, that desire was only a dream. Becoming what and who you want to be is a much more complex process. That's why this book reads like a fai More...

As she does in LAME EXCUSES and RAILROAD MAN, Alle Wells captures the exquisite emotions of life through characters who experience triumphs and tragedies that are achingly close to reality. As someone who has left and returned to a small town, LEAVING SERENITY resonated deeply - and sometimes uncomfortably - with me.

Nikky Harris fled from Serenity as a teenager and, with some trepidation and much courage, returns 25 years later due to a family emergency. Through Nikky's eyes, Ms. Wells captures More...

Leaving Serenity is one of those books that tugs at your heart the moment you start reading. The author expertly wove emotion into every scene and created characters that you either wanted to hug or put in a headlock. In this story, the heroine, Annette Bevels, earned more than a hug - she earned my admiration. At a young age she endured some horrific situations, yet she remained a tender soul; patient, respectful, and filled with hope that one day she would be loved. Stifled by her family and h More...

Nikky Harris returns home to a family she felt never loved her and the memories of her youth that she ran away from twenty-five years ago. Now a successful business woman, Nikky still struggles with her past as she relives the moments that changed her life in the 1960s and '70s that made her decide to run away from her hometown Serenity.

The characters and their experiences and emotions jump out at you from the pages of Leaving Serenity by Alle Wells. The smoothness of Ms. Wells writing immediate More...

When her father suffers a stroke, Nikki Harris returns home to Serenity, a town and a life she left behind twenty-five years earlier. Memories of who she was and how she became who she is are the components of another slice of life story from Alle Wells

As Margaret Annette Bevels, Nikki was the ugly duckling: the girl who had no friends, who was always second-guessing herself, the girl who repeatedly got the message that she wasn’t good for much of anything. The one bright spot and ultimately the More...

Four Stars = I really liked it.

The beginning of women’s economic independence; the hippie hangover from the late 1960s; Vietnam: however you may judge the 1970s, the decade touched many young lives that were at a fragile turning point, lives like that of Annette, the lead character in Alle Wells’ engaging novel Leaving Serenity. We first meet Annette in 1996 when her new life as Nikky Harris is firmly established the way a Mercedes is perfectly tuned. We also meet her exceedingly sour mom and un More...

Oh my gosh, this story was great. With every new book Alle weaves new life into her characters. Leaving Serenity is the story of an emotionally abused young woman who strikes out on her own and builds a successful career in Real Estate during the women's liberation movement of the 1970s. This character is so well-developed, you can actually feel her angst in this situation.

As a teenager, Annette is confronted with deception and tragedy. Plagued by low self-esteem, she latches on the hippie cult More...

I loved the strong voice of Nikki Harris and the fast pace of the story. Sometimes it was too fast - there were characters I would have wanted to get to know better. Wells wrote them so well I was left wanting more. And I was hoping for a final confrontation between Nikki and her family. However, the ending really hit the mark.

YES! What a winner... Both the book and the main character. Read it from start to finish in one sitting...could not wait to find out what happened next. Thank you Ms. Wells for keeping me up until 1 a.m.

I finished the book in one day. The characters were engrossing and the writing style was easy, as it reviewed the decades that I have lived through♫

second book i read from ms.wells
and another winner!!!
she makes her characters believable
a real page turner....loved it!!

Read this in one day. Alle Wells is a wonderful southern writer.

Enjoyed this book. I grew up in Nashville.

Nikky Harris returns to her hometown after twenty-five years, a changed woman. She takes a run through Serenity and relives the 1960s and 1970s. Take a run with Nikky and share her dreams. Read it! You'll love it!