“Sometimes, looking back on things that have happened to me, I can pin down exact moments when certain situations began to unravel,'' reflects Sarah, the insightful protagonist of Katie Crouch's captivating novel Girls in Trucks…. given all the predictable tales about young women, Sarah's genuine imperfection seems refreshing. A-”
—Entertainment Weekly
“In the book's final scene, she leaves her characters in a shared moment of new joy, one that may or may not last, no guarantees, just like in life and in good literature.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“[A] charming debut novel…. Crouch, with exuberant style and in-depth character development, hones in on the disastrous turns a woman's life can take when she's addicted to men, alcohol and illegal substances. She's created a fresh, effervescent story that takes run-of-the-mill despair and instability and churns them into a memorable tale of good girls and bad choices.”
—USA Today
“What sets Girls in Trucks apart is the mordantly self-aware Sarah… [she] becomes more vivid and beguiling as she muddles through her aimless life…Turns out the savviest Camellias—Sarah’s own mother, for example—were smarter and more subversive than anyone knew, and the most exotic and enduring connections can be found right back where it all began. There’s no place like home.”
—Nashville Scene
“A moving story about a funny, frank, and unforgettable chick.”
—Cosmopolitan, “Sexiest New Books”
“The just-published debut novel about Southern debs gone bad is winsome. Crouch possesses a deft comic voice, a gift for observation, and the ending is free from the prince-saves-heroine gimmick of much chick lit.”
—Philadelphia Inquirer
“Crouch’s portrayal of a young woman’s self-sabotage and the pitfalls facing young women in a cold world is wise, wry and heartbreaking.”
—Publishers Weekly
"Katie Crouch has written like a veteran Southern scribe. It's hard to believe Girls in Trucks is her first book. We anticipate our readers will hitch a ride with this 400 horsepower story with characters all in our region will recognize and love."
—Jake Reiss, Alabama Booksmith, on Booksense
“[A] very amusing debut”
—Vanity Fair Hot Type
“A page-turner by every account, Girls in Trucks blends steamy scenes and heartbreak with an infectious, dreamlike prose, to deliver a graceful work of literature--not to be read while wearing white lace gloves!”
—Booksense.com - #1 BookSense Pick April 2008
“Listen up, y’all: Katie Crouch might be new on the literary block, but don’t let the pristine white gown fool you—this is one wise, witty, heartbreaking debutante…. Walters has a fresh and winning voice, and Crouch easily maintains the reader’s interest in her funny, painful journey all the way to the last page…. Girls in Trucks is an exceptional, stylish debut from a refreshing new voice in fiction. An invitation to the ball has been issued, and I strongly suggest you attend.”
—Kristy Kiernan, BookPage
“Sarah's voice is a funny, slim stiletto to the heart of friendship, desire and love. Her spare prose and sharp dialogue flay open a universal need to belong, whether to a place, a person or your own true self.”
—Peggy McMullen, The Oregonian
"Lucky for her readers, Crouch put to use all her cotillion-girl knowledge when she wrote her debut novel, GIRLS IN TRUCKS. . . . In her acknowledgements, Crouch thanks her fifth-grade teacher, Dorothy Rhett, who told Crouch she was a writer. Rhett is surely proud. Maybe her cotillion teacher will be, too."
—Pam Kelley, The Charlotte Observer
“Delving into personal relationships and dissecting love and family, Crouch reveals you can steer your course without a map. Because it’s about the journey, not the destination, y’all.”
—Daily Candy
“Ernest Hemingway said, ‘All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they really happened.’ By Hemingway’s formulation, Katie Crouch has written a great book…. Sarah’s journey from the dreamed-of moth-eaten plantations of her youth to the stark studio apartments of her adulthood is accomplished in similarly spare style… But Crouch’s dénouement is less about developing a new narrative for life and more about appreciating randomness. Her conclusion—a moment’s unreflective happiness on a sprawling porch—is pure Zen. "
—John Minervini, Willamette Week
“Wise, wry and heartbreaking.”
—Publisher's Weekly
“Gentle humor and sharp observation couched in straightforward prose with none of the preening preciosity so often seen in Southern fiction.”
—Kirkus
“There are more gasps, sobs, laughs and surprises in these pages than in most people's entire bookshelves. Love never felt so sharp or real as in Katie Crouch's debut.”
—Andrew Sean Greer, author of The Story of a Marriage and The Confessions of Max Tivoli
“Katie Crouch's hip and saucy debut is exquisite, the best kind of book out there: It seduces you into inhaling it while at the same time begging to be savored. Perfect for beach, bus or rehab.”
—Karen Karbo, author of How to Hepburn: Lessons on Living From Kate the Great
“Girls in Trucks is an extraordinary first novel, one that I'm betting will win the hearts of every reader who has ever sought love or dodged it, and anyone who just plain likes to read a book that's savvy, funny-and-sad, wise, and beautifully written. Katie Crouch has the best ear for dialogue I've come across in years; and she knows how to tell a story that catches us up and spirits us into a world that's achingly familiar but full of surprises. Wow.”
—Josephine Humphreys, author of Rich in Love and Nowhere Else on Earth
"Sarah Walters, the heroine of Katie Crouch's Girls in Trucks, is one of those people who never quite fits in—not with her Southern gothic family, not with her comically flawed lovers, not with her for-better-or-worse society sisters. The question is, at what cost? In spare, confident prose, Crouch perfectly captures the peculiar joys and pain of a life lived mostly alone. She is an author who knows the hunger, and resilience, of the human heart. She's also damn funny.”
—Will Allison, author of What You Have Left
“It’s always exciting to hear a new voice – and Katie Crouch speaks in a funny, spiky, highly original voice that carries a reader happily along through this charming novel. Her “Camellia Girls” carry the sweet scent of Charleston, but they’ve got a lot more going on in their heads than most ladies of Southern fiction. I enjoyed this book from beginning to end.”
—Mark Childress, author of One Mississippi and Crazy in Alabama
“In Girls in Trucks everything is cockeyed and wonderful--white-gloved drunks and stoned debutantes, the social rules of hot Charleston and icy New York. And at the center of it all Katie Crouch has brought us Sarah Walters, a devastatingly funny character trying to figure out not just how to manage the waltz, the cha-cha and various dances of heartbreak—but how to stay alive.”
—Victoria Redel, author of Loverboy
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