Country Roads, Take Me Home, And Maple Syrup: A Giveaway

Book Take Me HomeInez Kelley contacted me about doing a giveaway for her new series that's set in West Virginia. I reviewed Take Me Home in December, and am looking forward to the next few books, in part because of the setting, which is unique – and a place with which I'm pretty familiar.  

After my review, a few other folks tried the book, including Tessa Dare, who said, “Never has maple syrup sex more honestly earned its place in a romance novel.”

Aw, yeah. 

Kelley says that all the Country Roads series are homesick therapy for her – so she wants to give everyone a taste of West Virginia, her home state.

Ready for some fun?

Here's our prize:

  • A quart bottle of maple syrup from Valley Farms Maple Syrup Company
  • 1 ‘My <3 belongs to a lumberjack’ necklace
  • 1 WV State park motif coffee mug
  • 1 Bottle WV Ramp Dressing
  • 1 WV made Cinnamon Bun scented candle
  • Digi-copies of Take Me Home #1 and The Place I Belong #2 with a promised delivery of Should've Been Home Yesterday, #3 pre-release – in other words, the entire Country Roads series.

Says Inez: “The maple syrup was made in Preston County, WV, by Valley Farms Maple Syrup Company. My father in law's company — he made it. He is also in the timber industry, as is my husband. There is no web link yet but I *WILL* drag that man into the 21st century before long. They are the largest privately owned maple-syrup producer in WV, tapping over 700 acres. Last season, they harvested more than 55,000 gallons of sap to get over 1,100 refined gallons of organic syrup. This season looks to be even better.”

Second place winners will each get digital copies of Take Me Home (Country Roads 1) and The Place I Belong (Country Roads 2).

Book The Place Where I Belong Ready to enter?

Just leave a comment, tell us what place is your home, where you're “from,” and what you love about it. It doesn't have to be the place where you were born or where you lived. Tell us about the place you think of as “home.”

Comments will close at noon Wednesday 29 January at noon eastern, and I'll select the winners at random that afternoon.

Standard disclaimers apply: void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18 and fond of trees to enter. No computers were harmed during the creation of this entry, though several billion electrons were asked to dance in order to ensure its delivery to your marvelous screen. If you've enjoyed these disclaimers half as much as we've enjoyed making them, then we've enjoyed making them twice as much as you've enjoyed reading them.

I asked Inez about West Virginia and why she loves it, and she said,

Yes, WV born and bred. I didn't even leave my home state when it was time for college. Since then, I've lived elsewhere in the nation but always returned to WV, living in various parts of the state. She is my Mountain Mama. I don't care that there are taller peaks, sharper inclines, or higher altitudes, the mountain vistas of WV are special to me. They really do seem to wrap around me like a hug and make me feel at home, protected and safe.

Favorite place? The Potomac Highlands, which will mean nothing to anyone except those who live there. It is, to me, Almost Heaven. (Yes, I went there and embraced the cheesiness of that phrase)

As for me, I'm from Pittsburgh. I was born and raised there, and I didn't leave until I went to college. It wasn't until I traveled a lot and realized how distinct and unique various part of the US are from one another that I could identify what makes Pittsburgh so special.

But I completely understand Inez's feelings for West Virginia, since I worked for several years at a summer camp in Morgantown, in northern WV, and have such wonderful (and weird – it was camp, after all) memories there.

West Virginia's been in the news lately, though not as much as I would think, given that a chemical spill in the Elk River poisoned the drinking water for more than 300,000 people, closing businesses, schools, and leaving people trying to find water donation centers in rural areas. Yet another spill was revealed last week.

I went searching for opportunities to help, and there weren't many online donation centers. Inez directed me to the WV VOAD Disaster Relief Fund, ℅ the United Methodist Foundation in Charleston, WV. The concept of home is a lovely one, and I know West Virginia is hurting right now. So, separate from the giveaway, I'm also making a donation to the WV VOAD Relief Fund in honor of Inez Kelley and all of y'all. 

I hope you'll share your favorite part of your home with us. Good luck! 

Comments are Closed

  1. Gry says:

    I currently live in Oslo, the capital of Norway, but I am “from” Trysil. And what do I love about Trysil? The endless, trackless forests!
    And what do I love about the place where I now live? The fact that I get the feeling of living just next to the endless, trackless forests. My house is juuuust inside the county limits, and it’s not at all city-like. And the forest is just outside the door!

  2. Sarah says:

    Honestly? I’ve never had a “home,” by most people’s definition. By the time I started college I had moved eleven times (only counting moves of over 500 miles), been to 4 different elementary schools, 2 middle schools, and 3 high schools. Until recently I’d never lived anywhere for more than 3 1/2 years. So I found my home in libraries, or bookstores—I could usually find the same books, or some of them, that I’d loved before, and it helped me get through the transition. I’ve got to say, there’s nothing quite like finding a beloved favorite just sitting on a library shelf when you’ve just moved to a new country (again). Those familiar books became my home—Damar, Aloria, Poirot’s Flat, the Lands Beyond—and, even now, in many ways they still are.

  3. Sandypo says:

    I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, moved to Providence just in time to start high school then went to Boston University and never left. Married a native and just stayed.

    Recently my husband and I argued over the definition of hometown. He said your hometown is wherever you live now, I said it’s where you’re born. I will always be a Pittsburgher no matter where I live. But Rhode Island is a beautiful place to live!

  4. Amanda says:

    Sudbury, Ontario, Canada! – for those not familiar with Canadian geography – its north ;p winters are long and cold, where you have to plug in your car and half of the road is taken up by snowbanks but we always have white Christmases and love snow machineing, skiing, skating, ice fishing, and hockey… summers are warm with nature and wildlife in abundance and so many lakes you can rotate saturdays at the beach. Though ive had to leave for school and work, sudbury will always be my home because that is where my family is from, where i grew up, and where i spent every waking hour not in school or sleeping on the back of my beloved horse. I have so many fond and cherished memories growing up in northern Ontario and it has had such an influence on who i am today, i am proud to say it will always be my home 🙂

  5. cayenne says:

    I’m born & raised and living in Toronto, although I’ve traveled a fair bit and wouldn’t mind living in some other places (opportunities in London, Barcelona, or Venice- call me!). While there are things I’d like to see change – specifically: Rob Ford out of office at the end of a very pointy boot, ASAP – I love the village-y neighbourhoods, the incredible diversity, how there are trees and parks and gardens everywhere, the never-ending food fads and the eternal quest for the perfect burger/doughnut/burrito/bacon sandwich, the plethora of cultural events, and how instant camaraderie is forged by moaning about the Maple Leafs (though I’d really prefer they win the Cup sometime in my lifetime; I’m sure I can find something else to moan about).

    But like Natalie Hart upthread, I consider my home Canada. I’ve visited 9 of the 10 provinces (Saskatchewan & the territories are on the “sometime soon” list), and in every one of them, no matter how wonderfully different they are from Toronto, I still felt that I belonged there because they were Canada.

  6. Amanda Lee says:

    Home would be the Upper Peninsula of Michigan- Iron Mountain to be exact, just 5 minutes from the Wisconsin border. Home of Tom Izzo and Steve Mariucci, as the high school gym proudly proclaims. A place where you can see Packers gear on people even more than Lions (go Pack!), where you count the number of deer you pass on the streets on your way home (so many… so many).  Where you can see the stars bright and full in the sky.  So many lakes and trees and nature that you forget you’re in a town at all.  Where you can get snow in April and fall can last into December, if you’re lucky.  You might have to drive a good hour and a half to reach any kind of decent shopping or entertainment, but it’s got charms of its own. I wasn’t born here, didn’t move until 10ish or so, but my parents were born here, my grandparents, and I can feel their lives intertwined with this town so tightly that no matter what mark I make, it will always feel like home.

  7. Lorianne says:

    I’m an Idaho girl and while I don’t fit in politically, I fit in with the tough women weathered by the wind and hard work.  I enjoy potatoes too.

  8. Karen H near Tampa says:

    I’m an Air Force brat and I currently live in Florida (my father’s home state) but I really feel best when I’m in California. The culture and weather there suits me best and I wish I was still living there but I can’t afford it and my aging parents are here in Florida.  But I brought the best part of California with me when I left—my long-time life partner! I know he misses his home state but he came for me and I really appreciate it and him.  I’ve have lived in most parts of the US but I wish I was still a California girl!

  9. Michelle Hebert says:

    Like Jess, my home is Texas. Born, raised and lived here my whole life – I honestly can’t imagine living any where else.

  10. MaryC says:

    Home is Masssachuisetts where most of my family lives. Love the museums, theaters
    and restaurants.

  11. April V. says:

    I feel terribly non-nostalgic.  I was born on the West coast, grew up on the East coast, educated in the South, traveled all over the Midwest…but nowhere really feels like home.  Just where I am I suppose.  I do miss northern VA though – it has a special mix of people that made it a wonderful place to live.

    I’ve been seeing the spill on the news almost daily since it happened (live in FL) and usually our news teams aren’t all that.  I suppose that water contamination is a sensitive issue down here so perhaps that’s why we’ve gotten decent coverage of it.

    Thank you for the giveaway and the links to where we can help too.

    On a trip with my mom and best friend up to Michigan one year, we traveled through some of the most beautiful bits of country I’d seen.  Yep, WV.

    Oh, and maple syrup!  I lived and schooled in Virginia for quite a number of years and never knew that there were maple syrup farms in Virginia too!  I found out when my dad sent me a bottle from where he lives, Hightown, VA which is not all that far from WV after all.  Small world!

  12. Sarah L. says:

    Home is the beautiful town in the Ozarks where I went to college. I’ve moved many times since then, but when the chance to move back arose, I jumped at it. There’s just something about the tree-covered hills that says “home” to me.

  13. Inez Kelley says:

    April V. – Yep, as I stated in the first book, TAKE ME HOME, the mountains of WV along with the soil nutrients create a very favorable environment for maple syrup productions. I lived in NH a while and traveled into Vermont and it was so similar to HOME. When I met my husband, and then his father, and they spoke of the maple-tapping they did, it just seemed so logical to me.

  14. Emily A. says:

    Home is Connecticut and the town I live in (and grew up in). Home is the house and our church.

  15. heather says:

    I’m from southern california love the beach and all the things there are to do.

  16. LauraL says:

    Home is Richmond, Virginia. This is where husband and I were meant to be, even though it took us a while to get here. We are Southerners at heart and love the food and our neighborhood South of the James. I grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland. Married my college sweetheart, and no kidding, we moved to Charleston, WV, the very next day! We lived in the Kanawha City neighborhood for five years and for a while I worked up in Beckley. We have since lived in several other cities and have always said we’ve move back to Charleston. There is nothing like driving in the country in Spring, with the redbuds blooming on the mountains.

  17. Chele says:

    Home for me is near Pittsburgh PA but the home of my heart is Gettysburg. I’m a huge Civil War buff and we’ve visited the town so many times since childhood that it feels like home to me. Plus, Adams County is gorgeous in every season

  18. JaneDrew says:

    Born and raised outside of Rochester, New York, currently living in Charleston, SC. My family doesn’t live where I grew up anymore, so I tend to think of “home” as whenever I’m spending time with them in—it’s more about people than places.

  19. Born, raised, and still living in Utah. The small town I’ve lived in 99% of my life is as close to perfect as I can imagine. Quiet, with friendly faces everywhere, and the various quirks you can’t find outside of a small-town, I love it here!

    That being said, I’ve always felt like Ireland calls to me, too. One day, perhaps, I’ll be able to visit! 🙂

    Enjoy,
    TBQ

  20. ridiculousspider says:

    Home is wherever my family is so basically the small town in southern Louisiana (where I also live) and Memphis, TN.  What I love about Louisiana – the green, the thunderstorms, and the food.  Even though I wish to live elsewhere, I will always feel a certain affection and loyalty for Louisiana.  I love Memphis for my niece, her boyfriend, her best friends, and The Crazy Noodle.

  21. erinf1 says:

    I’m adopted from South Korea but I call Nebraska home. I was raised here and never moved. Despite the roller coast weather, I love the people and location. things have grown by leaps and bounds so I’ve got everything I could need and want here 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

  22. I don’t think that I’ve ever had a place that felt like home.  I’ve lived in NYC and Boston, and I prefer Boston slightly because I was right in the thick of things when I was there.  It is such a small place that it takes about a half hour to get from one end to another by train and you can totally walk everywhere.  When I first moved there for grad school, I couldn’t help feeling as if it was the love child of Manhattan and San Francisco despite the fact that it is older than both cities.  The one problem was that my family wasn’t there.  They were all in Queens (and not one of the cool parts of Queens like Flushing or Astoria, but Howard Beach, which has a claim to fame as being the town where three black men were beaten in the 80’s by some guidos—I’m Italian, so I can say that). 

    I have hated my “hometown” since i moved there when i was 13.  The only things it had going for it were my family and some pretty decent pizzerias (all of which have changed cooks and now suck).  What I hate the most about it (other than the racism that underlines everything that happens) is the snobbery and sanctimoniousness that pervades it.  Hell, the local Catholic Church has a Christian of the Month award (which has been won by the same woman for the last decade).

  23. KateS says:

    I’m a Hoosier from a small town who now lives in a college town!  I love the variety of life, but not the politics of this state…  You WV spill is now reaching Evansville Indiana according to the local news..

  24. Aliyah says:

    So I was born in Edmonton, Alberta, raised in Ottawa and only realised how Canadian I was when I moved to Geneva, Switzerland. Home is Geneva. I love the small town feel and the fact that there are new architectural discoveries to make every time I go out. It doesn’t hurt that the weather is pretty great and the food is fabulous.

  25. Tina says:

    I’ve been living in Yew-taw since 1976 when we moved here as a military family and now consider myself a Utahn…or was that Utahan…Utah-no-mite? We’ve got your mountains. We’ve got your Great Salt Lake (don’t even need to know how to swim—float!). We’ve got your canyons. And contrary to popular belief, we do have alcohol. 🙂

  26. PamG says:

    I actually dislike the place that I was born, brought up, and still live quite a bit. 

    For me home lives in my dreams.  I dream of my grandparent’s small house, approach it down the cinder path, sit outside on the bench with vanished uncle or grandfather, or perch on the kitchen stairs eavesdropping on my mom, my grandmother, and my aunt gossiping about “his nibs” on a summer evening.  Alternatively, I dream about Lake City, FL, my Dad’s home town where I always felt like coming home as soon as I took that ramp off the I-10.  Sadly, all the people who made these places home are gone now, but whenever I dream of them—places and people—that sense of comfort says home to me once more.

  27. SB Sarah says:

    @Heather: YES. Directions are still something I can kind of manage even though I haven’t lived in Pittsburgh for 15 years. “Go past where the Foodland used to be, then turn after the Gulf station – the one that’s still there.” Totally. 🙂

    I love this thread. Thank you for sharing your homes, whether they are places, or books, or memories.

  28. sarah Gagnon says:

    Home for me is coastal Maine. I’ve been living in Delaware for the last ten years, but in a few months I’m finally moving back!

  29. Home for me is the Tahoe-Donner region of Northern California. My dad moved up there when I was 8 so along with summers and Christmas vacations for the past 25 years, I’ve also managed to get about 4 years of full-time living in the area. I adore it. It’s relatively cool in the summer, gets slammed with snow but not insanely cold temperatures in the winter, and you definitely get to appreciate all four seasons. Dogs are welcome everywhere, the locals are friendly, and the air smells divine! My dad just retired from his job last month and has moved to the California coast and I’m devastated that I no longer have a “home” in the mountains.

  30. Jenn B says:

    Home is the Ottawa area, in Ontario, though it took about twenty years of living here to think that way! Thanks to a dad in the Canadian Armed Forces, I moved a few times during my childhood, from eastern Canada to western Canada and back (and I do miss skiing in the Rockies).

    Ottawa is the perfect blend of big city and small town. Metro Ottawa has about a million people but it’s stretched out so it doesn’t feel crowded. Our downtown core doesn’t have skyscrapers—there’s a bylaw that says buildings can’t interfere with the view of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill. We’ve got museums and enormous swaths of green space where development isn’t allowed.

    I actually live just outside Ottawa in Lanark County, which is the maple syrup capital of Ontario. I should trade maple syrup with you, Inez!

  31. Alice says:

    Home for me is a small town outside Baltimore, MD. What I love about home is that it’s a small town and that means I got the chance to know everyone I lived around. We have a very tight knit community. It’s not the middle of nowhere though, being close to both Washington DC and Baltimore means that I can have a city experience close to home. I know that I can escape from the city though. Home is quiet, safe, and it’s special. Going home is a good feeling. It’s one of the few places I can get to without a GPS.

  32. What with all the crazy crime happenings in Florida, I’m almost embarrassed to call it home, but no matter how far I roam, I can’t help but get goose bumps when the plane touches down at Orlando International, and I emerge from the plane to take that first deep breath of warm humidity.

  33. Bibliodiva says:

    I am from Reading,PA. I love the fact that my town is pronounced ” Redding” but looks like Reading. I am born and raised in Reading. My favorite aspect of Reading is the railroads as in the monopoly game Reading Railroad that’s us!

  34. Inez Kelley says:

    JennB, Syrup swap!

    Alice- “Home is quiet, safe, and it’s special. Going home is a good feeling. It’s one of the few places I can get to without a GPS.” <—- Perfect!

  35. Liz says:

    Home for me is Pittsburgh.  I was born and raised in Western PA, moved south for the college/post college years.  When it was time to put down permanent roots, Pittsburgh called me back.  It’s a city of neighborhoods, where 2 and 3 generations of the same family living on the same street is not unusual.  Yes, driving around the city can be a bit of a challenge, since you pretty much have to go over a bridge or through a tunnel to get anywhere, but the view of the city when leaving the Ft Pitt tunnel is worth it every time!  Plus, any place whose culinary claim to fame is putting French fries on sandwiches AND salads can’t be all bad, right?

  36. Lynn Pauley says:

    Although I now live in Southeast Ohio (Gallipolis) and spent some of my teenage years in Indiana (Plymouth), home will always be Ripley, WV—known for its 4th of July celebration and for the Mountain State Arts and Crafts Fair. During summer vacations, we always came back to WV to visit relatives and, like Karen F and Inez, we would start singing Country Roads as soon as we got on the bridge to cross over into WV.

    @ Karen F—I used to work at the Vienna Public Library about 12 years ago.

    Regarding the chemical spill—I have relatives who have been affected by this and cannot believe that the national coverage of this disaster has been so sparse. I guess I am cynical because I feel that if this had happened to New York City, Houston, Seattle, etc. it would be headline news for weeks—and that relief efforts and donations would be more forthcoming.

    Thanks to SB Sarah and Inez for bringing the spill and links to provide help for the people of West Virginia to the Smart Bitches readers.

  37. SB Sarah says:

    @Lynn:

    Regarding the chemical spill—I have relatives who have been affected by this and cannot believe that the national coverage of this disaster has been so sparse. I guess I am cynical because I feel that if this had happened to New York City, Houston, Seattle, etc. it would be headline news for weeks—and that relief efforts and donations would be more forthcoming.

    Of course, it would. It’s worse than deplorable that because it’s West Virginia, it’s minor news. Especially the degree to which I had to go hunting for news when I heard there’d been a second spill that was just as bad as the first. I know it’s news in Pittsburgh, as my friends on my FB timeline have been talking about it and donating water, but that’s proximity.

    It must be so disheartening to think no one cares about something so awful that affects something so basic (it’s water for fuck’s sake). Having seen so much generosity and aid after Sandy, to see another state ignored and dropped from the news after a disaster is infuriating.

    I hope your relatives are safe and have safe water to drink.

    (Also, when we would drive from Pittsburgh to Morgantown, we’d cross into WV when the paved road stopped and turned into a gravel/dirt road. And we’d absolutely sing John Denver. Every. Single. Time.)

  38. Shannon seal says:

    My home is England (for 2 months now), but prior to that it was Auckland NZ, then Cape Town, RSA where I was born My cultural background is British so I seized the opportunity to uproot my family, moved to a strange country and put on hold my teacher training. I love the age of the village I live in, the friendly people ‘oop north’ and am looking forward to exploring the high Peak District in spring.

  39. Julie says:

    I have two places that I think of as home: Chicago and Pittsburgh. I’ve lived in Chicago for a little more than two years now. It’s the place where I’ve started a career for myself, where I’ve made lifelong friends (it was hard for me to make friends in Pittsburgh as a twentysomething adult who’d lost touch with friends I’d had in my teen years), developed new interests, and really have gained a lot of confidence as a person. Plus I just love the city. Pittsburgh will always be my hometown, but I have room in my heart for both cities. It just turned out that Chicago ended up suiting me a lot better.

  40. ikkinlala says:

    I grew up in the Okanagan Valley in BC, so that’s what feels like home. I don’t feel any particular connection to my hometown, but the landscape, my parents’ farm, and (especially) the river are what I love about going there.

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