
Southern by Design
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Narrated by:
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Amanda Stribling
About this listen
"With this Charleston-set debut novel . . . Grace Helena Walz has taken her place among such treasured Southern novelists as Dorothea Benton and Anne Rivers Siddons." --Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times bestselling author of Summers at the Saint
"A story of second chances and long-lost love as atmospheric as the Lowcountry itself, this is a positively charming debut from a stand-out new voice. Add it to your TBR list immediately!" --Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times bestselling author of A Happier Life
Sweet Magnolias meets Fixer Upper in this delightfully refreshing debut about a woman bravely chasing her dreams, building a life on her own terms, and maybe even discovering a second chance at love.
Magnolia "Mack" Bishop is staring down the barrel at single motherhood--thanks to an unsolicited personal picture her husband texted another woman that quickly went viral among every mom group in town. But she's determined to not let it distract her from the professional victory she's inches away from: securing Charleston's prestigious Historic Preservation Design Fellowship, the apple of every local designer's eye.
But when the final house tour is undone by a host of calamities, Mack's shot at the fellowship goes up in flames. Smelling blood in the water, Mack's mother, the original Magnolia Bishop, breezes in with a project lead--strings attached. If there's one thing Magnolia lives for, aside from maintaining her station atop the Southern social ladder, it's to control Mack's life . . . and that includes keeping the identity of the absentee father Mack never knew in the shadows.
While working for her mother is the professional equivalent of moving into one's parent's basement, Mack spots an opportunity to make it her own when a television network puts a call out for local designers. Pitching the home renovation TV pilot of her dreams--one with a historic preservation twist--might just be the way to finally prove herself. Still, she'll have to do it covertly to avoid her mother's interference.
Just when Mack finds her professional footing, at home she spots an impossibly familiar figure unloading his moving truck into the newly sold house next door. She is furious, floored, and regrettably flustered because Lincoln Kelly is the one who got away. Fifteen years earlier he was a summer romance she inadvertently fell in love with, and when he left, following his dreams to New York, Mack was broken-hearted.
Filled with characters who could step off the page and a reminder that nothing worth saving is beyond repair, this charming and delightful debut novel will resonate with listeners of Southern women's fiction by Mary Kay Andrews and Kristy Woodson Harvey.
©2025 Grace Helena Walz (P)2025 Harper MuseListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
Grace Hastings’s dream job at the popular “true love” dating app, Fate, has turned into a nightmare. Her boss is a leech, her career is stagnating, and her fiancé has just brutally dumped her. Her hope for finding her own love story is waning, and she feels like a fraud for promoting a concept she no longer believes in. When the company’s CEO offers her an opportunity to earn a big promotion, she resolves to fight her imposter syndrome to show she deserves a seat at the table. The opportunity? To launch a brand-new app focusing on IRL dating and genuine connection.
By: Annabelle Slator
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The Radio Hour
- By: Victoria Purman
- Narrated by: Jennifer Vuletic
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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A charming and funny look at the golden years of radio broadcasting in post-war Australia that celebrates the extraordinary but unseen women who captivated a nation with their authentic stories of ordinary lives.
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Excellent
- By J. E. on 03-13-25
By: Victoria Purman
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Celebrity Crush
- By: Christy Swift
- Narrated by: Andrew Eiden, Stephanie Willing
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Author Emmy Ellison is a sucker for a page-turning happy ending, but she’s no longer counting on one for herself. If she stays focused on her career goals instead of her love life, she just might find success. And now that her latest novel is about to become a movie, she’s determined to become the latest social media sensation. When her secret celebrity crush (the real-life inspiration for her romantic hero) accepts the starring role in the big-screen adaptation of her book, she’s determined to team up with a fake dating scheme—now that he’s in need of some good PR of his own.
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Witty banter & hilarious pop culture references
- By Amy Storment on 02-27-25
By: Christy Swift
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The Wishing Tide
- By: Barbara Davis
- Narrated by: Courtney Patterson
- Length: 12 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Five years ago, Lane Kramer moved to Starry Point, North Carolina, certain the quaint island village was the place to start anew. Now the owner of a charming seaside inn, she's set aside her dreams of being a novelist and of finding love again. When English professor Michael Forrester appears on Lane's doorstep in the middle of a storm, he claims he's only seeking a quiet place to write his book. Yet he seems eerily familiar with the island, leaving Lane wondering if he is quite what he appears.
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Predictable but a pretty good read.
- By Penny Poston on 03-21-25
By: Barbara Davis
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Once You Were Mine
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Langston
- Narrated by: Austenne Grey
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In a quiet North Carolina town in 1968, a seventeen-year-old girl’s life is forever changed when a summer romance leads to an unplanned pregnancy. She is sent to an abusive “maternity home,” where she is shamed and deceived into signing adoption papers.
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Realistic portrayal of giving your child up for adoption in the late 60s
- By Speed Read on 03-29-25
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Can't Help Faking in Love
- A Novel
- By: Swati Hegde
- Narrated by: Mehr Dudeja
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Harsha Godbole has never felt love from her family, but she’s always been surrounded by their Bollywood business mogul wealth. Now back in Bangalore after studying in America, Harsha is ready to start her adult life without their money. But that becomes impossible when everything she’s worked so hard for comes crumbling down. Fearful of showing up to her cousin’s upcoming wedding as a failure—and worse, a single failure—Harsha decides to put her trust fund to good use . . .
By: Swati Hegde
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The Welcome Committee of Butternut Creek
- By: Jane Myers Perrine
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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The first novel in a charming new series, award-winning author Jane Myers Perrine's The Welcome Committee of Butternut Creek is an amusing, warmhearted look at a small town's reception of its newly ordained minister. The mission of committee members Miss Birdie and Mercedes is to educate Adam Jordan on how things should be done in town. But soon the ladies decide on a new goal - to find him a wife.
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Would that it were possible!
- By Sara on 09-24-13
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The Moonlight Healers
- By: Elizabeth Becker
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Bailey Carr
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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For generations, the Winston women have possessed an unspoken magical gift: they can heal with the touch of a hand. It’s a tradition they’ve always had to practice in secret, in the moonlight hours, when the fireflies dance and the whippoorwill birds sing. But not every healer has rightfully passed on this knowledge to her descendants, and for young Louise Winston, the discovery of her abilities comes in less-than-ideal circumstances—she brings her best friend back from death following an accident, the day after he professed his long-held feelings for her.
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Perfect for book clubs!
- By Rayanne on 03-21-25
By: Elizabeth Becker
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Welcome to Jubilee
- Jubilee, Book 1
- By: Rachel Hanna
- Narrated by: Anne Smith
- Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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At fifty-five, Madeline Harper faces an unexpected plot twist in her own life, much like the romantic tales she pens. Once a celebrated romance author, she now confronts a crumbling marriage and a career at the brink of collapse. Her latest manuscript is rejected, and her agent delivers an ultimatum: reinvent your writing or risk fading into obscurity.
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Heartwarming
- By Tracy L. Bush on 12-16-24
By: Rachel Hanna
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Where the Rivers Merge
- A Novel
- By: Mary Alice Monroe
- Narrated by: Mary Alice Monroe, Jenna Lamia, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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1908: The Lowcountry of South Carolina is at the cusp of change. Mayfield, the grand estate held for generations by the Rivers family, is the treasured home of young Eliza. Free spirited, she refuses to be confined by societal norms. Instead, Eliza revels in exploring the golden fields and sparkling ponds of Mayfield, observing wildlife, and riding horses. But her halcyon days are cut short by the Great War, coastal storms, and unexpected challenges to Mayfield.
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Change of Heart
- By: Falon Ballard
- Narrated by: Carly Robins
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Campbell Andrews despises exactly three things in life: incompetence, tardiness, and love stories. Making partner at her law firm at thirty-four, she has no time for anything or anyone else. And certainly no respect for those who choose love over work. That is, until she wakes up in Heart Springs—her own personal hell. The good news? She’s not dead. She’s been magically transported to a small town straight out of the Hallmark channel, complete with a meddling mayor, seasonal festivals, and friendly townsfolk.
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Vibing Hallmark Movie!
- By Gina Dutton on 03-08-25
By: Falon Ballard
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That Last Carolina Summer
- By: Karen White
- Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie, Kimberly Farr
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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As a child, Phoebe Manigault developed the gift of premonition after she was struck by lightning in the creeks near her Charleston home. Plagued throughout her life by mysterious dreams, and always living in the shadow of her beautiful sister, Addie, Phoebe eventually moves to the West Coast, as far from her family as possible. Now, years later, she is summoned back to South Carolina, to help Addie care for their ailing mother. As Phoebe’s return lures her back into deep-rooted tensions and conflicts, she is drawn toward Celeste, whose granddaughter went missing years ago.
By: Karen White
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Counting Backwards
- A Novel
- By: Jacqueline Friedland
- Narrated by: Amanda Stribling, Carolyn Jania
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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New York, 2022. Jessa Gidney is trying to have it all—a high-powered legal career, a meaningful marriage, and hopefully, one day, a child. But when her professional ambitions come up short and Jessa finds herself at a turning point, she leans into her family's history of activism by taking on pro bono work at a nearby ICE detention center. There she meets Isobel Pérez—a young mother fighting to stay with her daughter—but as she gets to know Isobel, an unsettling revelation about Isobel's health leads Jessa to uncover a horrifying pattern of medical malpractice within the detention facility.
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WOW what a great timely book.A must read for every women.I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have.
- By EJ Silber on 03-15-25
What listeners say about Southern by Design
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-24-25
Magnolia Sr Could Be My Grandmother
I loved this story! It was the perfect combination of lightheartedness and drama. I didn’t want it to end.
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- Sara Burger
- 02-12-25
Great story, great narration!
A relatable, strong female character with a story that you can’t put down. Highlights the best of southern charm.
I was sure the narrator was Reese Witherspoon. Sounds just like her, certainly just as talented!
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- KS Parker
- 02-27-25
Great Story. Struggled with narrator.
I loved the book. Great story. I had a hard time understanding the narrator during the first part of the book but it got easier as the book went along. I recommend this book.
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- Mary L.
- 02-16-25
Sweet, Sad Romance
Really sweet story about missed chances and tough family relationships. Ending was a little heavy handed, but I think most romance lovers are usually okay with layin' it on thick at the end.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-20-25
Low country story.
I loved this book. Can’t wait for her next book to come out. The narration was so good.
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