Before Anyone Else

As a designer of upscale restaurants, 30-year-old Bailey Ann Edgeworth can go into an empty space and immediately see what it would take to transform it into a beautiful and memorable spot.

She learns transforming her own life is another proposition entirely.

It can get messy, and it doesn’t always go according to a neat blueprint. Bailey’s brother, Henry, and his best friend Griffin are stars in the restaurant field. They are known as the “Color Wheel Boys” because of their renowned Buckhead restaurants Vert, Blanc, and Noir.  Bailey is determined to chart her own course; to not be forever known as Hank’s daughter, Henry’s sister, or “whatever” she is to Griffin.

Bailey’s dreams propel her to New York, where her vision garners accolades and fame. After a perceived rejection by Griffin, she rushes into an impetuous marriage with an enigmatic English chef. Their combined charisma and desire lift them to the top of the culinary world. Just when she seems on the verge of having it all, a shocking betrayal throws Bailey’s world into chaos. She begins a spectacular downfall complete with secretive drug use, shady associates, and her career in turmoil. Just what are the secret ingredients to transforming food, a dilapidated building, and one’s own life into something extraordinary?

Before Anyone Else examines the complicated relationship between love and ambition, and explores how our earliest relationships and experience, shape us into who we ultimately become.

PRAISE FOR BEFORE ANYONE ELSE & LESLIE HOOTON

"Before Anyone Else is the romantic debut we have been waiting for, a coming of age novel that is both deeply moving and creatively beautiful. With wit and dazzle, Leslie Hooton takes us through both a love story and the cutthroat restaurant business. With charm to spare, this novel is a powerful story with a dose of hostess gold woven in for good measure.” –Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis and The Favorite Daughter

"With Before Anyone Else, Leslie Hooton announces herself as a natural-born storyteller, a writer who can evoke character and place with such finely-tuned details that you find yourself pulled completely into the world that she has created. It's a sharp examination of work, how it defines us, how it consumes us, and how much it takes to find meaning beyond it. It's a beautiful book.” ―Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang

"Romantic and deeply moving, Before Anyone Else by Leslie Hooton, is a curl-up-on-the-couch debut novel that keeps the fire burning and the pages turning." ―Lisa Barr, award-winning author of Fugitive Colors

"Like a good tasting menu Leslie Hooton’s Before Anyone Else is full of delicious contrasts and dazzling surprises. It is also wonderfully suspenseful as we watch the fragile and intrepid Bailey make her way in the complicated world of restaurant design. Hooton understands so well how love and work are often intertwined. A splendid debut." ―Margot Livesey, New York Times bestselling author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy

"Before Anyone Else is a wonder of a debut novel, a coming-of-age love story set in the fast-paced and often cut-throat Southern restaurant world, with flesh-and-blood characters that live and breathe. Bailey Ann Edgeworth is an unforgettable heroine, and Leslie Hooton is an immensely gifted writer. I can’t wait to read the next one.” ―Amy Greene, nationally bestselling author of Bloodroot

From the acclaimed author of Before Anyone Else comes a captivating new novel about the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love.

Bailey thought she’d gotten her happy ending. She is married to the man she loves, she has started a family, and her design business is flourishing. But when Bailey’s ex-husband, a famous TV chef, is found murdered with her DNA all over his apartment and body, she is suddenly facing murder charges in a high-profile case. Already burdened by the demands and challenges of marriage, motherhood, and her career, Bailey now must do everything she can to prove her innocence. But it’s the ones she thought would surely be on her side―her enigmatic lawyer and her husband―who might be doubting her innocence the most.

Alternating between the past and present, After Everyone Else chronicles the grip of the past, the challenges of forgiveness, and the resilient love we save for the person we love after everyone else.

Growing up in Erob, Alabama, Nina "Little Bit" Barnes Enloe lived in the shadow of her imposing and harsh grandmother, Nina "Biggie" Barnes Enloe. If she wasn't being bossed around by Biggie, then the task fell to her best friend Win...who did win. At everything. Bit never seemed to share Win's lifetime supply of “lucky dust.” Perhaps the only thing Bit has ever chosen for herself is her friendship with Avery, the out-of-towner who showed up on the saddest day of her life―unpretentious and decidedly un-Southern―with a funeral casserole in hand.

Bit believes she can escape her grandmother’s controlling grip once and for all by moving somewhere where she is the only Nina Enloe listed: New York. Yet her world is turned upside down when an unexpected loss forces her to leave her new life in the city and return to Erob, where she must face everything―and everyone―she left behind. In the process, Bit discovers her true identity, learns the hard lessons of acceptance and forgiveness, finds herself falling in love in unexpected places, and finds comfort in the secrets of rainy days.

Leslie Hooton, author of Before Anyone Else, brings her signature wit and Southern charm to the page again in this triumphant coming-of-age story.

PRAISE FOR THE SECRET OF RAINY DAYS & LESLIE HOOTON

"Equal parts funny and profound, The Secret of Rainy Days will have you laughing and crying both at once. Leslie Hooton's extraordinary second novel firmly establishes her place as a major new voice in Southern literature." –Amy Greene, nationally bestselling author of Bloodroot

"Leslie Hooton, her writing vibrant and alive, so wonderfully harkens back to the grand tradition of southern storytellers. She writes with that potent mixture of humor and grace, and The Secret of Rainy Days has all the makings of a book club darling, a story that you can't help but share with someone else. This is a book suffused with a lifetime supply of "lucky dust", that intangible quality that makes you want to be close to it." –Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here and The Family Fang

"Heartbreaking and heartwarming, The Secret of Rainy Days examines the intricacies of small town livin’ ('OKOP'–Our Kind of People). It is a coming-of-age tale chock full of Southern charm, love, tragedy, and unbreakable family ties. Leslie Hooton’s world brings us colorful, witty characters and intricate friendships–those we choose, and those who choose us. The Secret of Rainy Days is a reminder that you can escape your roots but never really leave. And yet...if you look hard enough–all the answers are right there under the 'Welcome' mat." –Lisa Barr, award-winning author of Fugitive Colors and The Unbreakables

"The Secret of Rainy Days is a coming-of-age novel that is both deeply moving and beautifully crafted . Witty and charming, The Secret of Rainy Days is a gem.“ –Patti Callahan New York Times bestselling author of Becoming of Mrs. Lewis and the upcoming Once Upon A Wardrobe

In distinctly Southern prose, Leslie Hooton captures the complexity of family dynamics and the difficulty of sudden loss in her sweeping sophomore novel. The Secret of Rainy Days explores what it truly means to come home again, especially when we think we have left forever—and how, sometimes, it’s the most difficult days and the lessons they bring that teach us who we truly are. Fans of coming-of-age stories will find themselves immersed in every page. Kristy Woodson Harvey, NYT Bestselling author of Under the Southern Sky

The world that Leslie Hooton creates in The Secret of Rainy Days is both big-hearted and wise; it is a celebration of lasting love and friendship and an exploration of family ties and the many losses and secrets along the way. Hooton's eye for memorable details and her sharp sense of humor is a delight." — Jill McCorkle, New York Times best-selling author of Hieroglyphics and Life after Life

"Like the best Southern novels, The Secret of Rainy Days reminds us when searching for your place in the world, you may find it where you least expect it. And that sometimes to move forward, you have to go back to where you came from." —Colleen Oakley, USA Today bestselling author

"Hooton utilizes vivid description, a strong sense of place, and unparalleled comparisons to paint an accurate portrait of life in the South, both complex and multilayered." –Shelf Unbound

"[A] sweet meditation on letting ourselves find happiness....if you love Hallmark movies, you’ll love it." –Manhattan Book Review