Caney Paxgon wanted his cafe to have the biggest and brightest sign in Eastern Oklahoma--the "opening soon" part was supposed to be just a removable, painted notice. But a fateful misunderstanding gave the wheel chair bound, Vietnam vet, Caney the flashiest joke in the entire state.
Twelve years later, the once-busy highway is dead, the joke is old, and the sign is as worn a Caney, who hasn't ventured outside the diner since it opened. The regulars at the Honk, still gabbing and crabbing over hot java and eggs easy, haven't changed much either.
Then one day a thirtyish Crow woman blows in with a half-dead three-legged dog in her arms and a long-buried secret on her mind. Hiring her as a carhop, the first in many years, Vera Takes Horse is soon shaking up business, the locals, and Caney's heart...as she teaches them all about generosity of spirit, love and the possibility of promise---just like the sign says.
"It serves up laughs and tears while reminding the reader that it is never too late to find what you always wanted."
---San Antonio Express News

A very good book, with memorable characters that you come to care about. I had the definite feeling that I knew these people, because each one reminded me closely of someone from my past or present. Highly recommended!

A great read! when I got to the end, I hoped for a sequel. Thoroughly entertaining! A collection of intracate lives exposed in all of their vulnerability!

Filled with humor and fascinating twists and turns. You will remember thes characters long after you have finished the last page.

I really enjoyed this book. The Honk and Holler Opening Soon is a little cafe owned by Caney, a Nam vet who fell out of a helicopter and broke his back. He is now in a wheelchair. Molly O is his waitress who also raised him when he was a child. A woman named Vena shows up one day to ask for a job. Before long, Caney and Vena fall in love. Molly O is destined to fall in love too. Molly O's daughter Brenda is 17 and has run away to make it big as a country singer. She comes backs now and then to reek havoc on her mother's life. Bui is a Vietnamese man who can hardly speak any English that is good at fixing things. He gets a job at the Honk, but all he does is burn toast. I really like the way Ms. Letts entwines all of her characters' lives and how everything works out for the better at the end of the book. If you liked her first book, you will definitely like this one.

The "Honk," as it is lovingly called by its paraplegic owner and eccentric customers, is fictitious. It is patronized by a mix of characters the figment of Billie Letts' imagination. However, as I read, I felt like I was sitting at the counter sipping coffee with them. Perhaps that is because "The Blue Bird," "The Sweet Basil," "The Blue Rose," and "Mohr's" are real places I have been. There is a little of "The Honk" in each of these and other such places across America.

I felt welcomed there and part of the lives of each person: I struggled with Bui to become accepted; I felt Molly O's longing for her daughter; understood Vena's search for the meaning of her life; and somtimes, I'm as seemingly crazy as Big Fib. I was welcomed. I felt at home. You will,also. Just visit the "Honk and Holler Opening Soon" and see.

Cliched and predictable, nonetheless The Honk is perfect summer reading; plenty of "oh, my, what's going to happen?" and delightfully oddball characters. It's a classic feel good story; a few tears, plenty of chuckles, and certainly worth a quick read.

In the small town of Sequoyak, OK forge friendships and become like family to each other. Detailed emotional descriptions. Good story.

If I need to read something comforting and uplifting, I'll pick up this book. There's nothing difficult or surprising about it, but it's like chicken soup on a sick day.

ISBN 0446675059 - I find myself put off by books that have a Reading Group Guide, which strikes me as wildly presumptuous on someone's part. That alone didn't have me thinking highly of this book, but it did get better.

Caney Paxton, wheelchair bound but broken in far more important ways, returned home from Vietnam and opened a cafe. One drunken phone call changed the name from "The Honk and Holler" to "The Honk and Holler Opening Soon", a name that - considering the people it is home to - is more appropriate than you'd think. Caney lives in a room in the back and hasn't been out of the cafe since it opened. His waitress, Molly O, pines for the return of her high-school-dropout daughter, who ran off to seek fame and fortune as a country singer. The regulars come and go like clockwork, new customers are rare and nothing really ever happens. So when the door opens for Vera Takes Horse, no one is prepared for the changes she will bring to the Honk.

A nice, if not particularly great, story about fairly average people whose dramas are bigger in their own minds than they are in reality, The Honk and Holler Opening Soon distracts the reader from the story with some of the unusual names and characters' weird behavior. Not a book I'd recommend, but it's not terrible, either.

- AnnaLovesBooks

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This book was a little hard for me to become committed to, but about half way through I HAD to find out what happens to these characters! Well written.

Good read. Author write "Shoot the Moon" which is excellent!

this book brings you in touch with the characters, draws you in, a very good read.

Great story. Loved the characters. It draws you into their world of triumps and troubles.

This is the second book by her that I have read and once again I am thrilled. The story has a nice easy flow and the charcters are believible. I look forward to hearing more from this author.

Quirky characters and liked their interactions. Good book to read in one or two sittings.

I liked this book. The characters were well developed and you really started to care about them. I have read other books by this author and have liked them as well.

read this book because I like the first one. I found this one moderatly interesting and read it in it's entirty, but have not read much more of Ms. Lett's later books.

I just finished reading this wonderful book and now I'm so disappointed that it has finished! Billie Letts has a firm, terrific way with her characters. No BS - these are real, breathing people here; charmingly portrayed and skillfully plotted for a wonderful story! Please Billie - more - more - more!

Great book. First time I read a book that I wished a movie had been made of it. Great characters, story is interesting and not predictable (like so many others). I really enjoyed reading this book.

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