Johnnie Come Lately is one of those stories that is so rich with character development and relatable plot, that when I got to the final pages, all I was hoping for was one sentence telling me when I could expect the next excerpt of Johnnie Kitchen’s life.
Kathleen M. Rodgers does a fantastic job of putting the readers directly in anxiety-driven situations along with the main character, Johnnie. Rodgers puts the reader in the frantic mind of a recovering bulimic who fights to keep a grip on her self-destructive nature as her life begins to fall apart around her. Between the slip of a marriage-altering secret, a neighborhood kid returning from war forever changed on the heels of her son deciding to join the service, and the intertwined mystery of her uncle’s death and her mother’s absence, Johnnie Come Lately is packed with page-turning panic that will keep you guessing to the end and eager for more.
- Lisa Van Wormer
Kathleen, I just finished listening to the audio version of Johnnie Come Lately. Leslie Ellis did an amazing job of bringing Johnnie’s story to life. I, of course, shed more than a few tears as I listened. I’m so looking forward to the sequel. I also left a review on Audible.” —- Kim Braumann
Keith Jones Climbing the bestseller list One Book at a Time Johnnie Come Lately by Kathleen M. Rodgers Audio Version
Camel Press – Johnnie Come Lately, by Kathleen M. Rodgers: Love, Loss, and Second Chances
Military Spouse Book Review—Jodie Cain Smith’s OUTSTANDING review of Johnnie Come Lately by Kathleen M. Rodgers. (The best review I have ever read about anyone’s book.:)
Johnnie Dale Massey Norris mentioned you in a comment.Johnnie wrote: “Jeanie Loiacono, I am a lucky girl to have Kathy’s characters’ names and totally coincidence because Kathy and I didn’t even know each other when she started “Johnnie Come Lately.” Also, our oldest grandson is named D.J. and my brother is a very good carpenter here in Nacogdoches. Kathy saw my name on facebook and contacted me and we’ve been great friends ever since. ♥ :)”
“With Johnnie Come Lately, Kathleen Rodgers has crafted a story that hits every emotion and is, in many ways, cathartic. This deeply-felt family drama resonates on multiple levels, ultimately leaving you inspired.”
— Angela Ebron is a former magazine editor and the author of Blessed Health: The African-American Woman’s Guide to Physical and Spiritual Health
“Johnnie Come Lately is a thoroughly compelling story of a family in crisis. Rodgers has combined humor, tragedy and ultimately love, in what is an uplifting story of the human spirit. There were times that I laughed and cried and shouted for joy, and I am not ashamed to say it.”
— Dwight Jon Zimmerman, New York Times #1 bestselling and award-winning author, Lincoln’s Last Days, radio show host, producer, and president of the Military Writers Society of America;
“Kathleen M. Rodgers captures several life-changing events in Johnnie Come Lately with empathy, seriousness and humor. Her characters are well-defined; her plot is very credible and her use of schemes to further her story all combine to make this a completely entertaining read.”
— Katherine Boyer, Retired Librarian and Book Reviewer
“Johnnie Come Lately evokes the pathos of family life—secrets, betrayals, misunderstandings, heartbreak, and just enough love and forgiveness to make it all worth it. Kathleen M. Rodgers treats her haunted characters with keen insight and empathy, offering them the second, third, fourth chances that all of us flawed human beings need.”
— Siobhan Fallon, author of You Know When the Men Are Gone
“Johnnie Come Lately is why humans have gathered for eons around the fires to listen to the Storyteller. Kathleen M. Rodgers masterfully unfolds the faded, damaged petals of her flawed characters to reveal their glorious essence in this gripping story about the soul’s risk and its inevitable redemption.”
— Parris Afton Bonds, New York Times bestselling author of Deep Purple & cofounder of Romance Writers of America and Southwest Writers Workshop
“A beautifully crafted story about family secrets and second chances, Johnnie Come Lately is a guaranteed book club favorite. Former bulimic, Johnnie Kitchen, battles insecurity and doubt but never lets failure win. I loved her imperfections; I marveled at her strength. Reminding us of the true nature of courage, Johnnie is one of the best heroines I’ve met in years.”
—- Barbara Claypole White, author of The In-Between Hour, The Unfinished Garden and Easy to Love, but Hard to Raise
Dear Kathleen,
Just a note to let you know I bought and read both your books. Congratulations on the honors for The Final Salute. I especially appreciated the imagination of the scene with Tuck at the pulpit with visions of his dead friends and conversations with them. And Jeff Sweeney upside down on the cross! Vivid.
In Johnnie Come Lately Johnnie’s fears touched me as the reader. Fear becomes an important character. And you chose such creative physical actions to clarify a character, like on p. 103, “Belting her robe, she cinched herself up against whatever waited on the other side of the door.”
I especiallly liked this line too: p.209 “a mental sidecar she couldn’t unhitch.” And many more.
It is a comfort to think of another ENMU graduate at the keyboard, rewriting, sanding, shaping over and over.
Congratulations and best wishes.
Paula Moore
Red White and True: Stories from Veterans
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunningly beautiful
By LB Johnson
Johnnie bears more than the name of a ghost; she bears the secrets that come with it. Her father only an unknown shadow, her mother flying away like a bird at the first sign of winter, she’s left to her own self-doubts and no clear path to adulthood. Watched only by the ghosts of the living and the dead, wearing the uniform of her pain, she declares war on her body, controlling the one thing she can—the food that heals or harms. Time and a marriage puts that eating addiction behind her and although her life is stable, it is not the one in which she could be more than just another’s person’s wife, another person’s name, but herself.
In a moment of unwitting honesty, she reveals her deepest secret, overheard by the one it would hurt the most. What follows is a richly layered story of lives that connect, even as they push one another away, of haunting memories, and fluttering hopes. It is a story told in both actions and words as Johnnie chronicles her questions for both the living and the dead, in the words of her journal.
Ms. Rodgers ability to lend heart and soul to each character is a rare gift and I closed the book with not just tears in my eyes, but with the feeling I had just witnessed the most intimate parts of a stranger’s life, rendering them no longer a stranger. I closed the pages with sadness for the small tragedies that can define our human condition, yet with hope for the transforming power of forgiveness.
This is a remarkable piece of writing.
LB Johnson – award-winning author of The Book of Barkley
5.0 out of 5 stars Another great book by Kathleen Rodgers
By J. Haggerty
Another great book by Kathleen Rodgers. I have a better understanding about eating disorders and how they can affect a person’s upbringing, and how events surrounding a person’s life can affect how they perceive themselves and how they react to different situations.
5.0 out of 5 stars Johnnie Come Lately is a winner!
By Preot
This book is a winner!! It is written with heart and soul and captures the agony of dealing with an eating disorder as well as the absence of a mother’s love. It is not depressing and one finishes the book feeling as if the reader knows this family. The author is a truly gifted writer!
5.0 out of 5 stars This book will easily become the book-you-don’t-want-to-put-down – or the book-to-read-time-and-time-again
In Johnnie Come Lately, Kathleen Rodgers (Gold Medal winner for literary fiction) skillfully and adeptly fashions the lives of Johnny Kitchen and her mundane family into an intriguing story of secrets, betrayal, mystery and strength. The characters will touch every level of life’s joys and challenges for the reader in such a way that the reader becomes engulfed in and relates to each persona in some aspect. This book will easily become the book-you-don’t-want-to-put-down – or the book-to-read-time-and-time-again. Cannot wait for the sequel, Seven Wings to Glory!
5.0 out of 5 stars A memorable must-read!
By Tracy Crow
Kathleen M. Rodgers has distinguished herself once again as a talented storyteller! This novel, obviously written by a writer with a huge and open heart, is a compelling, memorable must-read.
5.0 out of 5 stars Johnnie — Come Back Soon!
Kathleen Rodgers has the ability to tell a story that you can SEE in your mind. Her characters are fully human; quirky, flawed, beloved. And if you know nothing about this author before reading JOHNNIE COME LATELY, you feel as if you know her well when you turn the last page. So much of Kathleen’s own story is captured in this novel. You feel the full range of her emotions as she wrestles with an addiction of many years and yet she overcame it; the loss of a relationship she never understood; the fierce desire to protect her children; and her devotion to the husband who feels she betrayed him. It is a story that will make you laugh out loud, and then make you reach for a tissue to wipe away a tear. You will pick up this book and have difficulty tearing yourself away from it to do anything else. And when you come to the end, you want to know so much more!
Lucky for us, Kathleen is working on a sequel — it can’t come out soon enough!
5.0 out of 5 stars Great story of life!
By Bob Fischer
I met Kathleen Rodgers last year at the Military Writer’s Society of America Conference in Phoenix. I just finished reading her book, “Johnnie Come Lately.” What a wonderful story! It is a mystery, it is a story of life, it honors our military and makes you want to keep turning the page!
4.0 out of 5 stars How the past can intrude on happiness
By TicToc
Posted first to Blog Critics as Book Review: Johnnie Come Lately A Novel by Kathleen M. Rodgers.
Kathleen M. Rodgers takes us into the life of a young woman with many demons in Johnnie Come Lately. Johnnie is raised by her grandparents after her mom has left her. Named after her Uncle Johnny, she has no idea who her father is. Having battled bulimia all her life she has gained a foothold over her insecurities and hurts. Now at 43 she is a wife and mother of three children, two of them already grown.
Never letting down her guard and keeping her bulimia in control, she found that life seems to be passing her by. She wants more, and as secrets begin coming to the surface, and questions of her father come to life, she struggles to maintain her grip on the one thing that could take her back to the out of control young woman she was. Her best friend and confident is her dog, aptly named Brother Dog. Second to him are her journals where she keeps even her most cherished secrets.
Her yearning though is to move forward, but she has secrets of her own that must be banished. She is ready to move on and pursue her own dreams but feels both lost and conflicted. As the darkness of her own background and that of her parents begins to unravel, she must find the strength to stand her ground against her own anxieties. But can finding the answers of her own past help her to move into the future she has always dreamed about?
Rodgers has given us a tale of hurt and anguish. Her characters are an eclectic mix with emotions and flaws that are the same you find in the people you meet every day. Yet some of the secrets and issues are things we only hear about, and with a steady hand she introduces us to the dangers of bulimia and its aftermath. She then gives us a reminder of why dogs are man’s best friend with the introduction of Brother Dog, and while he is not a main character he adds a more personal touch, a realism that creates a spark in the bits of darkness encountered.
If you enjoy mystery and strength, with a touch of empathy and humor you will find this a great read. Often life’s road is not what we expect, but it takes a great deal of energy and fortitude to move forward in some c,ases and Rodgers takes us there with this work.
5.0 out of 5 stars The author did a wonderful job dealing with the issue and came through as …
By Toni Amper
This novel grabbed at my heart. Powerful message about the reality of this particular illness. The author did a wonderful job dealing with the issue and came through as a warm and loving person. Beautiful story.
5.0 out of 5 stars Love, Desire
By C.J. McShane
The range of emotion I experienced while reading Johnnie Come Lately is a testament to the talent and writing skills of one Kathleen M. Rodgers. This book offers the reader the ability to experience abandonment, abuse, Love, Desire, Wanting, Betrayal, Forgiveness, Laughter, Shame, Fear, Pain, Faith, Secrets and I suppose I could go on and on. I am glad I didn’t pass this book up as it is an absolute 5 Star Read!!
Nicely Done Kathleen!
Johnnie Come Lately by Kathleen M. Rodgers is a Finalist in the 2015 The Author’s Zone Book Awards under the e-book category.
http://www.theauthorszone.com/2015-taz-finalists/
Winners will be announced Oct. 22 in Pittsburg.
www.kathleenMRodgers.com
Johnnie Come Lately
The Final Salute
Loiacono Literary Agency
www.camelpress.com
“Being a military mom isn’t easy. Ask Johnnie Kitchen. City Girl Who Loves to Read takes a look at military family life in my 2ndnovel, JOHNNIE COME LATELY, $2.99 until July 31.”
Brava to this reviewer for honing in on the military theme embedded in the narrative. What a great way to wind down this entire blog tour.
http://citygirlwholovestoread.blogspot.com/2015/07/kathleen-m-rodgers-johnnie-come-lately.html
“How they go about fixing their marriage is as real as it is honest.” JOHNNIE COME LATELY @KathleenMRodger http://theplotthickensbookblog.blogspot.com/2015/07/kathleen-m-rodgers-johnnie-come-lately.html … #WomensFic
Johnnie Kitchen’s Warts
By Jeanne Restivo “Jeanne Charters, “funny, …
I just finished Johnnie Come Lately by Kathleen M. Rodgers. At first, I thought the local colloquialisms; i.e., “Mama Girl,” “Sister Girl,” and “Brother Dog” were going to diminish my enjoyment of this book. I grew up in the Midwest and Northeast, and these attributions were not something I was used to. What could I have in common with Johnnie Kitchen? She seemed to have a perfect life in a small Texas town. Her life seemed idyllic, complete with a devoted husband, three beautiful children, and a cool friend named Whit. Then Johnnie’s warts began to show, and I was hooked. No, I haven’t ever suffered from bulimia, but when Ms. Rodgers compared the rush she got from an attraction to an illicit bad boy to what she felt throwing up a cake, I got it. This novel is deeper and much more complex than it appears at first. If you’re a modern woman, you’ll understand and love it. My first novel, Shanty Gold, was published yesterday, and I hope it measures up to Johnnie Come Lately.
“I understood Johnnie’s feelings, as a daughter, wife, and mother. In fact, the author relates to all women. That’s the beauty of the story. Johnnie is real.”
Reviewer Faith Flaherty raves about Kathleen M. Rodgers’ JOHNNIE COME LATELY! http://theonetruefaith-faith.blogspot.com/
Johnnie Come Lately by Kathleen M. Rodgers was my first military story. In fact, I didn’t know it was a military story until the story focused on Cade, the son who joined the marines. Then I remembered that Johnnie’s father died while on tour.
I turned to the author’s page and read that Kathleen M. Rodgers had written stories and essays that have appeared in military magazines, as well as the regular main stream periodicals. This is also her second novel.
There’s nothing different about military stories except maybe if you are a military family you would relate with a deeper emotional level. But that’s not necessary at all. I understood Johnnie’s feelings, as a daughter, wife, and mother. In fact, the author relates to all women. That’s the beauty of the story. Johnnie is real.
The plot itself is twofold. Johnnie’s mother walked out of her life when she was small. But she’s still alive and traces of her are left here and there. Juxtaposition with Johnnie’s missing mother is her own personal life. And that’s what interested me because I could identify with her family life, infidelity, eating disorder, and trying to be everything to everybody.
What I learned from Johnnie Come Lately:
Grandparents are necessary.
Don’t have sex till you’re married.
Stay faithful to your husband.
The tie between mother and child is in-dissolvable.
You don’t have to go to college to be a success.
You’re never too old to go to college.
Don’t freak out when your daughter dates a jerk.
Be kind to your neighbor.
Support veterans.
This is a good story. I think young adults will really relate to the situations of Johnnie’s children. D.J. is in college. Cade is a recent high school graduate. Lastly, Callie Ann is still in high school. I would recommend this novel to high school aged and up. I did receive this novel from Tribute Books for the purpose of writing a review, but the recommendation is my honest opinion. It is a good story well worth your while to purchase and read.
“{Rodgers} gives us a reminder of why dogs are man’s best friend with the introduction of Brother Dog, and while he is not a main character he adds a more personal touch, a realism that creates a spark in the bits of darkness encountered.” Review by Leslie Wright, author and blogger at TicToc
http://wrighton-time.blogspot.com/2015/07/johnnie-come-lately-by-kathleen-m.html
Johnnie Come Lately by Kathleen M. Rodgers
Posted first to Blog Critics as Book Review: ‘Johnnie Come Lately’ A Novel by Kathleen M. Rodgers.
Kathleen M. Rodgers takes us into the life of a young woman with many demons in Johnnie Come Lately. Johnnie is raised by her grandparents after her mom has left her. Named after her Uncle Johnny, she has no idea who her father is. Having battled bulimia all her life she has gained a foothold over her insecurities and hurts. Now at 43 she is a wife and mother of three children, two of them already grown.
Never letting down her guard and keeping her bulimia in control, she has found that life seems to be passing her by. She wants more, and as secrets begin coming to the surface, and questions of her father come to life, she struggles to maintain her grip on the one thing that could take her back to the out of control young woman she was. Her best friend and confident is her dog, aptly named Brother Dog. Second to him are her journals where she keeps even her most cherished secrets.
Her yearning though is to move forward, but she has secrets of her own that must be banished. She is ready to move on and pursue her own dreams but feels both lost and conflicted. As the darkness of her own background and that of her parents begins to unravel, she must find the strength to stand her ground against her own anxieties. But can finding the answers of her own past help her to move into the future she has always dreamed about?
Rodgers has given us a tale of hurt and anguish. Her characters are an eclectic mix with emotions and flaws that are the same you find in the people you meet every day. Yet some of the secrets and issues are things we only hear about, and with a steady hand she introduces us to the dangers of bulimia and its aftermath. She then gives us a reminder of why dogs are man’s best friend with the introduction of Brother Dog, and while he is not a main character he adds a more personal touch, a realism that creates a spark in the bits of darkness encountered.
If you enjoy mystery and strength, with a touch of empathy and humor you will find this a great read. Often life’s road is not what we expect, but it takes a great deal of energy and fortitude to move forward in some cases and Rodgers takes us there with this work.
Wendy Reads Books (Wendy Wilkinson)
Pick this for women’s book clubs and church book clubs!
https://wendyreadsbooks.wordpress.com/2015/07/08/johnnie-come-lately/
“Balance loved ones on the worry scale. Who was more worthy, who was less?” JOHNNIE COME LATELY by Kathleen M. Rodgers #Giveaway #5StarRead http://tributebooksreviews.blogspot.com/2015/07/kathleen-m-rodgers-johnnie-come-lately.html …
Book Review – ‘Johnnie Come Lately’ by Kathleen M. Rodgers
http://www.examiner.com/review/book-review-johnnie-come-lately-by-kathleen-m-rodgers
Andria Williams review of Johnnie Come Lately by Kathleen M. Rodgers
“So, I admire Kathleen Rodgers as a part of the writer and military-family community, but then she went and wrote a beautiful novel with such a layering of themes, and such a cast of knowable, humble, and true characters, that I just wanted to put out my own endorsement of her book.”
Andria Williams, author of the forthcoming novel, The Longest Night (Random House 2016), and Founder of Military Spouse Book Review
In Johnnie Come Lately Johnnie’s fears touched me as the reader. Fear becomes an important character. And you chose such creative physical actions to clarify a character, like on p. 103, “Belting her robe, she cinched herself up against whatever waited on the other side of the door.”
I especiallly liked this line too: p.209 “a mental sidecar she couldn’t unhitch.” And many more.
It is a comfort to think of another ENMU graduate at the keyboard, rewriting, sanding, shaping over and over.
Congratulations and best wishes.
Paula Moore
Johnnie Come Lately by Kathleen M. Rodgers. She has a way of putting real life on the page. I can relate to her story as a mother, a wife, and someone who deals with baggage—“mother” issues. I asked for her permission to quote a diary entry that sums up her magic.
BOOK 4 ON MY READING LIST: “Johnnie Come Lately” by Kathleen M. Rodgers. She has a way of putting real life on the page. I can relate to her story as a mother, a wife, and someone who deals with baggage—“mother” issues. I asked for her permission to quote a diary entry that sums up her magic. Please enjoy. Jeral: After twenty-three years of lockdown, this adulteress has come out of the closet. No banging doors or broken dishes. No shouting matches or slamming bodies. Only the ear-shattering silence of a phantom husband. A husband who keeps moving through this house, his work boots clomping down the hall, his body sighing into his leather chair to take the weight off the morning before he heads out. When I look up, no one is there. The paper is still out by the curb. The aroma of coffee is yesterday’s news. And I’m stuck with the memories of that winter night so long ago, when Dale had been out of town for weeks, overseeing a new job site in East Texas. By then he’d left Cagle Construction to start his own business, and you couldn’t stand the idea, could you? Sober and craving company, I sashayed into the Slingback Saloon and spotted all six-foot-four of you against the bar. You looked surprised I’d come alone. Those jolly blues, a-shimmer and up to no good, took all of me in. ‘Come here,’ they summoned. Your lips curled in a sly grin, and you crooked your finger, reeling me in. Two magnets pulled together toward each other and nothing to stop us. Smelling like cedar and spice on a cold Christmas night, you twirled around, then whispered in my ear, “Wanna dance, pretty lady? And later, make puppies?”
[Reprinted by permission of Camel Press from Johnnie Come Lately, by Kathleen M.Rodgers,2015]
— Janet Walter http://janetwalter.weebly.com/
Beyond inspiring. Rodgers touches the hearts of men and women through circumstances ordinary people encounter and endure—bulimia, military enlistment, infidelity, abandonment, unconditional love, death and forgiveness. It is a book you will want to read twice and ask for the next.
- Jeanie Loiacono, literary agent
MWSA Review
A series of unfortunate traumas, family secrets, and maternal rejection propel the protagonist,
Johnnie Kitchen, on a journey of healing through self-discovery and truth, in Kathleen M. Rodger’sJohnnie Come Lately.
Abandoned by her mother, and blaming herself for the turmoil in her life, Johnnie Kitchen seeks to find love, forgiveness, and acceptance, not only from her family members, but mostly from Johnnie, herself.
Kathleen hooks the reader in the first passage, and doesn’t let go until the last page is turned. The author builds on layers of interactions and deceits, to reveal a carefully woven tapestry of mystery in Johnnie Come Lately. Her plausible course of events lends credibility to the plot; her characters are real, flawed, and likable, which adds authenticity to her tale. The reader becomes entangled, unable turn away, as the pieces of Johnnie’s puzzle fall into place.
Johnnie Come Lately takes the reader on a passionate rollercoaster of redemption through brute honesty. The telling is full of raw emotion which touches the reader through myriad sensations. I found myself crying, amused, animated, and angered… and full of anticipation. I look forward to reading Kathleen M. Rodger’s next book.
Reviewed by: Sandra Linhart (2015)
Author’s Summary
Would life have been different for Johnnie if she’d been named after a woman rather than her dead uncle? Or if her mama hadn’t been quite so beautiful or flighty? The grandparents who raised her were loving, but they didn’t understand the turmoil roiling within her. And they had so many, many secrets. Why did her mama leave? Would she ever return? How did her Uncle Johnny really die? Who was her father?
Now Johnnie Kitchen is a 43-year-old woman with three beautiful children, two of them grown. She has a handsome, hardworking husband who adores her, and they live in the historic North Texas town of Portion in a charming bungalow. But she never finished college and her only creative outlet is a journal of letters addressed to both the living and the dead. Although she has conquered the bulimia that almost killed her, Johnnie can never let down her guard, lest the old demons return. Or perhaps they never went away to begin with. For Johnnie has secrets of her own, and her worst fear is that the life she’s always wanted—the one where she gets to pursue her own dreams—will never begin.
Not until her ghosts reveal themselves.
Amazon ASIN:
Reviewed by Keith Jones
Johnnie Come Lately, is an extraordinary tale about ordinary people. Then again, this story forces you to consider, is anyone really ordinary? Every person conceals a story that in the right hands comes to life with magical quality. And this one is in the hands of a master of the craft. Kathleen Rodgers takes a set of everyday people and relates their lives in fascinating detail.
Johnnie Kitchen is a Texas housewife living a mundane life with her husband and three children… or that is how it would appear if you were the random resident of her town, Portion, Texas standing on the curb outside her home. Johnnie, however; has a secret. Actually, she has several secrets and they all come calling at the same time. Sometimes the story is what you are doing now with who you are and sometimes the story is how you became who you are. This one is both. Johnnie has battled a lifetime against an eating disorder and a giant hole in her life left by a mother who abandoned her repeatedly as well as her illegitimate birth. Add to this a giant secret she has hidden from her family and the stage is set for an unforgettable book.
Like the proverbial string, once pulled it begins to unravel one thread at a time. Rodgers unrolls this story in style, perfectly segueing one thread to the next in a fashion that keeps you turning the pages until a very satisfying end that ties it all back together and answers the questions that teased you throughout the book. Want great storytelling? Read this book.
Real Life Chronicle
When you are done reading all of the historical tomes that purport to tell us what happened, you really don’t know about how real people lived their lives. I’m not sure you can do this in a work of non-fiction and make it readable. Kathleen Rodgers has managed to tell such a story in a very readable manner that will cause you to ponder her eloquent words.
This book is largely about secrets. All families, all people, all organizations have secrets. Do we bury them never to be brought out into the open? Do we tell stories about them using fictional settings and characters? Do we share them with our most trusted confidants or with a total stranger? Can a secret not gnaw at our insides if we don’t allow it to escape?
Johnnie Come Lately is about an everyday woman and her family going through about twenty-eight years of life. There are some flashbacks to earlier times but the story generally occurs from December 1979 – December 2007 in the fictitious town of Portion, Texas. Like Kathleen’s other writing, it is also concerned with death. Death and secrets make for a most interesting read. And having a main character Johnnie named for dead Uncle Johnny. With a cover depicting a dock.
Letting go and death are also related and a major theme of the book. Johnnie battles internal demons that cause physical actions difficult to understand by many. This book will help readers understand what might drive someone to various forms of self-destructive behavior. People in real life make mistakes. Characters in Johnnie Come Lately make mistakes and then we watch them deal with the consequences. We explore the cycles of life in this well-written novel and plumb the depths of the value of second chances. And yes, bad things happen to good people and “…sometimes there are worse things than death.”
I like the ending very much. Not everything is wrapped up in a neat denouement – I think because the author knows we rarely settle all our problems in any single slice of life. We have to imagine what will happen to a few characters.
Kathleen’s writing, as usual, is very realistic. Her settings totally believable. Her author’s voice is authentic and soft. Johnnie Come Lately is highly recommended.
“A rich new voice has exploded in the South. Kathleen M. Rodgers creates beautifully flawed characters that remain with the reader for long after the novel is finished.”
- Ann Hite, author of Ghost On Black Mountain
reading, writing, community
Wordcraft — Dark family secrets twist and turn
Johnnie Come Lately
by Kathleen M. Rodgers
Outwardly, Dale and Johnnie Kitchen are the picture of the perfect family: middle-class up and comers still in love after more than twenty years of marriage, they’re both as good looking as when they were college sweethearts, with a beautiful house (renovated by Dale himself) and three children whose worst sin (so far) is a single bout of underage drinking. Inwardly though, they harbor a multitude of dark and sometimes deadly secrets. And in Johnnie Come Lately, the second novel from North Texas author Kathleen M. Rodgers, she digs deep to shed light on the darkness at the heart of Dale and Johnnie’s apparently perfect lives.
“At least we know you’re not dead,” Johnnie writes to her long-lost mother in one of the many journal entries that punctuate the narrative. “Ghosts don’t call home from a payphone.”
But what drove Johnnie’s unwed mother to disappear from her daughter’s life the day of Johnnie’s marriage? Who was the father whose death a callous relative revealed so brutally at one more than usually dysfunctional Thanksgiving dinner? And what is the real story behind the drowning of the uncle Johnnie never knew, the uncle whose name she carries?
“Her mama’s searing words flashed through her mind,” is Johnnie’s remembrance of the last day she saw her mother. “Johnnie Girl, every time I look in your face, I cringe. I never should’ve let Poppy name you after my dead brother.”
Why, we wonder, why?
Rodgers reveals the answers, but with the grace of a consummate storyteller, she saves the hardest truths for last.
There are newer griefs as well: Johnnie’s brief extramarital fling, middle-child Cade’s sudden decision to abandon plans for college in favor of enlistment in the Iraq war, Johnnie’s continuing struggle against the bulimia that nearly killed her.
A long-time magazine writer, Rodgers has recounted her personal struggle against bulimia in numerous publications. The descriptions of her character Johnnie Kitchen’s struggle against the deadly eating disorder have the ring of heartbreaking truth, but are told with grace and compassion.
It’s tempting to see this novel as a self-portrait of Rodgers, who has put so much of herself and her milieu into it: the little Texas town of Portion, with its quaint main street patterned after the equally small and quaint North Texas suburb of Grapevine; Rodgers’ own battle against bulimia; the anguish of her son’s wartime enlistment.
I’ve known Rodgers for the past several years, since our initial meeting at the Dallas Writers Garrett, and then learning that we’d both participated in Southern Methodist University’s creative writing program, although in different years. Rodgers is not Johnnie, but she’s made a place for Johnnie in the hearts of her readers.
Rodgers’ Johnnie Come Lately made its debut last Saturday, February 7, at the Southlake, Texas, Barnes and Noble. It and the new edition of her first novel, The Final Salute, are shelved under “new fiction” at the Southlake B&N, and are available at
www.barnesandnoble.com/.
For more about Rodgers and her writing, including her next novel, see www.kathleenMRodgers.com/.
Kathleen M. RodgersFebruary 10, 2015 at 10:04 AM
Dear Melissa,
Your observations about Johnnie Come Lately are right on target! You’ve been there almost from the beginning as I worked to take this second novel from a dream to reality. Thank you for this exceptional review, and for making space on your wonderful blog for Johnnie. We are honored. 🙂
And thanks for being part of the celebration at Barnes & Noble last Saturday. The day was truly magical.
Kathleen
Jeanie LoiaconoFebruary 10, 2015 at 10:37 AM
Outstanding Melissa. I am hoping to be able to do the same for your novel, Tomb of Khan, in the near future! You are a gem among us all. To see you Saturday, along with Drema Brekheimer and Johnnie Dale Massey Norris, was a true gift. Thanks for coming and for being YOU.
SECRETS AND BRAVERY: A REVIEW OF KATHLEEN M. RODGERS’S NOVEL JOHNNIE COME LATELY
by Jodie Cain Smith (Army)
I begin reading many books, but I don’t finish many books. In fact, the bookshelf in my office is crammed full of abandoned books. Why, you ask? Why would a woman who makes her living with words stop reading? Well, when I am left to be nothing but a curious reader searching for a compelling story, I look for questions. When I find no questions in the story or characters or, disappointingly, my questions are answered too easily, I stop reading and move on to the next book in my stack. Thankfully, Kathleen Rodgers offers up questions aplenty and quickly in her latest, Johnnie Come Lately; questions that aren’t fully answered until the last page. Oh yeah, I finished this one. I had no choice.
In fact, I only had to meet teenage Johnnie in the prologue to be sucked into her story and the multitude of questions the few pages offered. Immediately, I had to know who this young woman was, why her mother ran off, what was the root cause of Johnnie’s bulimia, did she ever recover, and how on earth did her Uncle Johnny and boyfriend Clovis die? I turned the page to Chapter One searching for answers, but was thrust into the world of a forty-three-year-old version of Johnny Kitchen, married woman and mother of three.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop! What about the teenager from the prologue and the decades in between? I had to know, so I was relieved to discover that Kathleen Rodgers is clever. Using a journaling device unlike others I have read, the details of Johnnie Kitchen’s life unfolded in haunting language on the pages. In her journal, Johnnie wrote letters to herself, her adult self and teenage self, complete strangers, and the ghosts of her past, pleading with them to reveal their true purpose in her life, to forgive her past transgressions, and to soothe her grief for losses she can never recover.
Within the pages of Johnnie Come Lately, I discovered an unlikely optimism, a tale of hope. Thank goodness! As a military spouse, I am turned off by weakness and incompetence. I want everyone, especially the women in my life, to know their inner strength and use it. I have no use for whining or pessimism or a defeatist attitude. Yes, I have high expectations, but Johnnie fulfilled those expectations.
I must admit I was afraid Johnnie Kitchen was going to drown in her own faults and shortcomings, but I was wrong. What I found in her, despite her many failings, were optimism and faith that would keep her moving forward, fighting her inner demons, and searching for answers to her many questions. Her eternal hope was especially present when the problems in her marriage, challenges faced and posed by her children, and secrets of the past would be easier dealt with by not dealing with them at all. Johnnie Kitchen, this woman with so many secrets to hide, becomes the bravest of all Rodgers’ characters by exposing herself and challenging the shortcomings in those she loves the most.
By the end of the novel, Johnnie Kitchen had become my friend, one that I am sad to be without now that Johnnie Come Lately is off my nightstand and back on my shelf, every word devoured.
Rodgers, Kathleen M. Johnnie Come Lately. Camel Press, 2015.
Visit Kathleen M. Rodgers’s web site or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, orGoodreads.
Jodie Cain Smith, an Army spouse and author, spent her childhood exploring the shores of Mobile Bay with her three siblings. As a teen in Mobile, AL, Jodie’s grandmother told her the gripping story of an adolescence spent in 1930’s rural Alabama, the rumors surrounding her parents, and the murder trial that would alter her life. The tale took root in Jodie’s memory until at last it became The Woods at Barlow Bend, her debut novel to be released November 19, 2014 by Deer Hawk Publications.
While attending the University of South Alabama, where Jodie earned a BFA in Theatre Arts, she met her husband Jay. They began their life on the Army road in 2001 and have not stopped moving since. As an Army Wife, she has lived in six different states from the extreme heat of Texas to the blizzards of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where she earned a MAE in School Counseling at Northern Michigan University.
When she is not living in the fictional worlds she creates via her laptop, Jodie can be found onstage and in the studio working as an actress and teaching artist.
Jodie Cain Smith’s short stories, feature articles, and columns have appeared in The Petigru Review, Chicken Soup for the Military Spouse’s Soul, The Savannah Morning News, and the Fort Hood Sentinel.
To learn more about Jodie Cain Smith and her thoughts on ruling, renovating, and escaping her corner of the world visit her blog The Queendom or her website, jodiecainsmith.com.
Robert Goswitz‘s review
Johnnie Come Lately by Kathleen M. Rodgers
Reviewed by Robert Goswitz author of The Last Man in Vietnam, (available for acquisition).
Taya Kyle and Johnnie Kitchen never served in the armed forces. Yet these women share a deeper understanding of military life than most civilians. They know that not all casualties of war occur on the battlefield and the suffering does not end when the war is over.
Taya Kyle is Chris Kyle’s (American Sniper) wife. The Kyle family story examines the unintended consequences of war.
Kathleen Rodgers story resonates with a similar vibe. Johnnie Kitchen, the heroine in Johnnie Come Lately, never knew her father. He stepped on a landmine in Vietnam, leaving fifteen year old Victoria Grubbs pregnant and alone. The war changed Johnnie’s life before she was born.
The shame of being an unwed mother in 1970’s Texas overwhelms Victoria. She leaves daughter Johnnie with her parents and takes off.
The reader is given an intimate view of Johnnie’s formative issues through the pages of her adult journals. She writes her way to an understanding of her abandonment, bulimia, shame and self-concept issues.
The grace and beauty with which she pulls her life, family and marriage together after years of struggle is inspirational.
Rodger’s character, Johnnie Kitchen is a likeable every-mom who embraces life in a courageous, big-hearted hug.
Love of Family, Love of Country, as well as Love of God
By Johnnie Dale
After I read Johnnie Come Lately, I turned around and read it again. Kathleen’s book and I have a thing or two in common. The main character in the book is Johnnie and her husband is Dale. My name is Johnnie Dale. The oldest son’s name in the book is D.J. and my oldest grandson is D.J. Kathleen and I did not know each other when she started writing JCL. I think we were “meant” to meet and become friends. Kathleen is so good at making her characters come to life as real people. Kathleen wrote how Johnnie was a loving mother to two sons that she adored, loved and worried over, especially with Cade going to war. Even with a marital problem, Johnnie was able to show love, respect and forgiveness to her husband, Dale, who didn’t deal with the problem well. After years of going through bulimia, overcoming the disease, Johnnie was able not to fall back into it when she had the urge to during difficult times. I loved the mystery of Victoria, Johnnie’s mother who abandoned her as a child and then we didn’t know if she were around town or not years later. Victoria playing the piano made me have goose bumps. The mysteries of Uncle Johnny, Johnnie’s dad, keeps you wanting to read ahead to find out what happens. Whit, Johnnie’s good friend and Brother Dog brought the lighter side of the book. Brother Dog loved everyone and was a happy soul throughout the book. Johnnie’s grandmother, Granny Opal, was such a sweet person, finding the good in everyone. Mr. Marvel was something else…another mystery in the book and a sadness about him. Kathleen is good at bringing emotions to her characters. I found myself getting weepy, laughing, feel sad, sometimes a feeling of what’s going to happen next, feeling aggravated, especially at Dale, feelings of compassion, happiness, and much more. Throughout the book, the cardinal played an important part in the story. When you read this book, you will see how the cardinal ties so much of it together and makes the story so sentimental. Besides the hummingbird, the cardinal has now become my favorite bird thanks to Kathleen. Kathleen writes so well about love of family and love of country, as welI as love of God. I felt so good after reading Johnnie Comes Lately. That’s why I read it twice.
Great Story
By C. E. Milne (Escondido, CA USA
I just finished Johnnie Come Lately. First off guys, it’s not a Romance Novel. It is a compelling story about things every family has to deal with every day. There are some elements to the story that I`ve dealt with, wether it`s the Mother leaving the Daughter at a young age, or Bulimia.
I started reading the book on a Saturday at work. If I had been home, I would have finished it in one day. The first four chapters sucked me in and I couldn’t wait to read the next chapter.
I liked how Kathleen would finish most chapters with an entry in Johnnie’s journal. The way it would tie in flashbacks to the present day (2007) really made the story flow.
I can`t wait for the sequel.”
Nearly finished reading “Johnnie Come Lately” for the second time. Kathy uses all our emotions in this story. Love, love, love it.
* Johnnie Dale Massey Norris
Johnnie wrote: “Jeanie Loiacono, I am a lucky girl to have Kathy’s characters’ names and totally coincidence because Kathy and I didn’t even know each other when she started “Johnnie Come Lately.” Also, our oldest grandson is named D.J. and my brother is a very good carpenter here in Nacogdoches. Kathy saw my name on facebook and contacted me and we’ve been great friends ever since. ♥ :)”
“Have a tissue handy as you will feel lots of emotion while reading”
Reviewed by Sharon Salituro
Johnnie always hated her name. Johnnie was named after her uncle who died a few months before she was born. This isn’t the worst problem she has. Johnnie went through her young life with a mother who always disappeared, sometimes weeks, sometimes months before returning home. Johnnie also has an eating disorder.
Johnnie has overcome the eating disorder, due to the help of her husband Dale. Then one day everything comes crashing down around her. Back when they were first married, Dale was gone a lot on business, leaving Johnnie at home and very alone. Johnnie had a short affair with a man that Dale hated.
While trying to straighten her life a new problem arises. Her mother seems to be hiding out in town. Johnnie is only getting glimpses of her here and there, but can never catch up with her.
Kathleen M Rodgers’ book is truly an inspiration to anyone who has gone through an eating disorder. I did have a cousin who had this same problem, so JOHNNIE COME LATELY really touched me.
Eating disorders is not the only issue facing young people today that Rodgers talks about in JOHNNIE COME LATELY. She also discusses the effect that war has on those who go to fight and the family they leave behind, as Johnnie’s son enlists and this is one more problem Johnnie has to learn to deal with.
JOHNNIE COME LATELY is a great book. It’s a little hard to read this and not feel for the characters.
Claudia‘s review
Joy Davis rated a book
I’ve just finished reading Johnnie Come Lately, a novel by Kathleen Rodgers. After three days of living in Johnnie’s “kitchen” I feel as if I have been ripped, torn, redeemed, and healed!
It is not easy for me to become so absorbed in a character that she creeps into my thoughts throughout the day, but Johnnie Kitchen did just that. Once I started reading, I couldn’t get her character out of my mind. Even now, I see her standing at the Soldier’s Statue or peering out the attic window with her husband’s arms around her. As a former food abuser, I identified with Johnnie’s earlier struggles with food, with herself, her husband, her three children….and her mother. I recognized the hard-won battle to rid herself of this terrible malady and was impressed by her show of strength. Reading Johnnie Come Lately is a bit like being introduced in person to new people because from the moment I began reading, all of the characters sprang from the page and came to life: Johnnie, Dale, Mr. Marvel, and Mama became real people to me. So, to call this book engrossing is an understatement. By the time I’d finished, I knew every inch of Johnnie’s kitchen, every struggle with her loving husband, Dale, and every sassy comment made by Cade, DJ, and Callie Ann. I felt Johnnie’s pain and grief and rejoiced in her satisfaction when, at last, Mama talked! This is a rare and wonderful book about a military family that took me along on a roller-coaster ride through the life of an ordinary woman living an extraordinary life. I have a feeling that Johnnie Kitchen will stay with me for a long time. Well done, Kathleen. Well done! |
Katherine’s Bookshelf Midwest Book Review
Johnnie Come Lately
Kathleen M. Rodgers
Camel Press
PO Box 70515, Seattle, WA 98127
9781603812153, $14.95, www.amazon.com
Kathleen M. Rodgers captures several life-changing events in Johnnie Come Lately with empathy, seriousness and humor. Her characters are well-defined; her plot is very credible and her use of schemes to further her story all combine to make this a completely entertaining read.
I was captivated by Johnnie, Dale, Granny Opal (Johnnie’s grandmother), D.J., Cade, Callie Ann, and even Mr. Marvel. Brother Dog, the Kitchen’s faithful dog is interspersed within the story as a memorial to Kathleen Rodger’s Chocolate Lab, Bubba Dog.
Then we are introduced to the furtive character of Johnnie’s mother, Victoria. This shadowy figure is very intriguing — what made her leave home? In her story lies the answers to so many of the other characters life choices. Compassion for the failings of the characters; alcoholism, bulimia, promiscuousness and several more are threaded throughout the story. The events and choices are enriched by Johnnie when she writes to the characters in her journal. This journal is Johnnie’s way of coping with her own deficiencies.
To be able to treat such unpleasant situations with the understanding they deserve and then add believable humor to some of them takes a very talented writer and Kathleen is one of the small group of authors who can do it. As an example, the mental picture of an elderly man digging a hole in his yard for no apparent reason and then throwing a shovel in front of a fast moving vehicle for another “no apparent reason” is oddly humorous.
This is definitely a book you want to read!
Kathleen M. Rodgers’ first novel, The Final Salute, has been featured in USA-Today, The Associated Press, Military Times and many other publications. The novel soared to #1 on Amazon’s Top Rated War Fiction in 2012, and the original paperback edition hit #2 on Amazon’s Bestselling Military Aviation list in 2010. Deer Hawk Publications republished The Final Salute in both e-book and paperback in 2014.
She is a recipient of a Distinguished Alumna Award from Tarrant County College/NE Campus 2014.
Kathleen lives in Colleyville with her husband, Tom, a retired fighter pilot/ airline pilot and Denton, their shelter dog who adopted them after they lost Bubba Dog. She is the mother of two grown sons, one an award winning artist and the other a First Lieutenant in the US Army.
“Kathleen Rodgers had me from the moment I read the first sentence. Johnnie leaps off the page as a woman who is real, tangible, and someone women in all walks of life can certainly relate to. As each nuance of her character was revealed, I found myself cheering, crying, and, at times, laughing. Rodgers has written a book that will long stand for what it truly means to go after your dreams.”
* Melissa Seligman, author of The Day After He Left for Iraq and co-founder: www.herwarhervoice.com
“The Kitchen family could be any wholesome All-American family, and like any family, they have secrets. In Johnnie Come Lately, Kathleen Rodgers brings to life an extended family that could be yours or mine. Their secrets will draw you into this book, and Rodgers’ characters — from Johnnie Kitchen to her lovable chocolate lab, Brother Dog — will jump off the page, grab your heart, and won’t let it go until the very end.”
–Terri Barnes, author of Spouse Calls: Messages From a Military Life and a columnist for Stars and Stripes
Barbara White‘s review
Sep 21, 14
5 of 5 stars
I had the privilege and joy of reading an advanced copy of this beautifully crafted story about family secrets, a marriage in crisis, and second chances.
Former bulimic, Johnnie Kitchen, is one of the best heroines I’ve met in years. She battles insecurity and doubt but never lets failure win. I loved her imperfections; I marveled at her strength and courage; and as someone who lives in the dark world of an anxiety disorder, I cheered through many of her insightful and compassionate comments, including this one: “Some wars were fought on foreign battlefields, like the one that ruined Steven’s face. Others raged in the mind of her classmate, Beverly. Which wars are the hardest to win? she wondered.”
There is much in this wonderful, uplifting novel to fuel lively book club debate, which touches on real issues families have to deal with every day. I can’t recommend it enough.
“With Johnnie Come Lately, Kathleen Rodgers has crafted a story that hits every emotion and is, in many ways, cathartic. This deeply-felt family drama resonates on multiple levels, ultimately leaving you inspired.”
— Angela Ebron is a former magazine editor and the author of Blessed Health: The African-American Woman’s Guide to Physical and Spiritual Health
“Johnnie Come Lately is a thoroughly compelling story of a family in crisis. Rodgers has combined humor, tragedy and ultimately love, in what is an uplifting story of the human spirit. There were times that I laughed and cried and shouted for joy, and I am not ashamed to say it.”
— Dwight Jon Zimmerman, New York Times #1 bestselling and award-winning author, Lincoln’s Last Days, radio show host, producer, and president of the Military Writers Society of America;
“Kathleen M. Rodgers captures several life-changing events in Johnnie Come Lately with empathy, seriousness and humor. Her characters are well-defined; her plot is very credible and her use of schemes to further her story all combine to make this a completely entertaining read.”
— Katherine Boyer, Retired Librarian and Book Reviewer
“Johnnie Come Lately evokes the pathos of family life—secrets, betrayals, misunderstandings, heartbreak, and just enough love and forgiveness to make it all worth it. Kathleen M. Rodgers treats her haunted characters with keen insight and empathy, offering them the second, third, fourth chances that all of us flawed human beings need.”
— Siobhan Fallon, author of You Know When the Men Are Gone
“Johnnie Come Lately is why humans have gathered for eons around the fires to listen to the Storyteller. Kathleen M. Rodgers masterfully unfolds the faded, damaged petals of her flawed characters to reveal their glorious essence in this gripping story about the soul’s risk and its inevitable redemption.”
— Parris Afton Bonds, New York Times bestselling author of Deep Purple & cofounder of Romance Writers of America and Southwest Writers Workshop
“A beautifully crafted story about family secrets and second chances, Johnnie Come Lately is a guaranteed book club favorite. Former bulimic, Johnnie Kitchen, battles insecurity and doubt but never lets failure win. I loved her imperfections; I marveled at her strength. Reminding us of the true nature of courage, Johnnie is one of the best heroines I’ve met in years.”
—- Barbara Claypole White, author of The In-Between Hour, The Unfinished Garden and Easy to Love, but Hard to Raise