VACANCY: Secrets and Second Chances in Small-Town Texas
By Jann Alexander
Women’s Fiction / Mystery and Crime
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Publication Date: September 24, 2026
*** SYNOPSIS ***
A struggling single mother and a suspicious widow, at odds. Both have a habit of hiding from hard truths.
INSPIRED BY REAL EVENTS
Helen is childless and widowed after a long marriage and gets a second chance with a long-lost love. But she’s grieving her hidden regrets. She bonds with her quiet kindergarten student and doubts the girl’s struggling single mother, Charlene, is fit to parent.
Charlene’s hiding a secret of her own, and she resents Helen’s interference. She’s determined to make a better life for her young daughter, the teenage boy her ex left behind, and the baby on the way when a scarred veteran offers to lend a hand.
A tragedy no one sees coming forces the two women to unite, as small-town bias threatens to destroy innocent lives. But first, Helen and Charlene must confront the vacancy in their hearts. As they do, can they find new strength, acceptance, and a second chance at love?
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*** REVIEW ***
When Helen McCabe, the widowed kindergarten teacher, becomes entangled in the life of one of her students, Jillie, she opens herself to more grief, although she isn’t aware of it at first.
Charlene, Jillie’s mother, is in an abusive relationship with Ray who is Jillie’s father and the father of the baby Charlene is carrying now. When a tragic accident takes the child’s life, the two women grieve the loss, but not always together; and the parallels of their grief drives much of this story.
Other major characters are Mick, Ray’s teenage son from a prior relationship; Spence and Fiona, who own the old motel where Charlene finds refuge, and their son Jack. There’s also Dave, an old flame from Helen’s past, who invites her to love again.
They all have secrets from their past, and those secrets affect their actions and relationships, creating the romantic drama as new bonds attempt to form. While those secrets are integral to the plot, some of the backstories of characters are too detailed, with some repetition of the same, or similar, information given at different times. Tightening that would have made the pacing of the story a little stronger.
Helen’s conversations with Hal, her deceased husband, showed her emotional instability, but some of his supposed responses to her questions at the site of his accident stretched believability. As did Charlene’s confusion about baby Sarah at her birth followed so quickly with a sudden clarity.
I did enjoy the descriptions, especially how the struggling, dusty West Texas town of Hartless came to life. That corner of the world can be very harsh when it comes to the weather, and the setting is deftly presented in all seasons of the year. It was also pleasurable to read some descriptions of characters that so vividly illustrated their personalities. For instance, this way Jack remembered Fiona from when he was a young boy. “She would arrive like a hallucination in her two-tone Ford Fairlane Skyliner. Good times followed Fiona like fleas on a farm dog.”
Despite the minor craft issues, this is a pleasurable read with very satisfying endings to all the threads of romance and characters finding personal stability in their lives. I recommend Vacancy to readers who enjoy a character-driven story with strong female leads.
*** ABOUT THE AUTHOR ***
Jann Alexander is an author, photographer, and public speaker on all things Texas history. She’s a 22-year resident of central Texas and creator of the Vanishing Austin photography series. Her lifelong storytelling habit and her more recent passion for Texas history merged in 2025 to become the historical novel Unspoken, set in the Texas Panhandle during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, and is her first book in The Dust Series. Vacancy, releasing in September 2026, is the second novel in the series. She holds a B.S. from the University of Maryland. When Jann is not reading, writing, or creating, she bikes, hikes, skis, and kayaks. Jann always brakes for historical markers.
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