When We Were Worthy

Written by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

Narrated by Joshilyn Jackson

“Evoking Emmy limited-series winner Big Little Lies, Whalen’s novel is about a Georgia town ripped apart when an outcast boy kills three cheerleaders in a car accident, bringing secrets and simmering tensions to the surface.” —The Hollywood Reporter

When the sound of sirens cuts through a cool fall night, the small town of Worthy, Georgia, hurtles from triumph to tragedy. Just hours before, they’d watched the Wildcats score a winning touchdown. Now, they’re faced with the deaths of three cheerleaders—their promising lives cut short in a fatal crash. And the boy in the other car—the only one to survive—is believed to be at fault. As rumors begin to fly and accusations spin, allegiances form and long-kept secrets emerge.

At the center of the whirlwind are four women, each grappling with loss, regret, shame, and lies: Marglyn, a grieving mother; Darcy, whose son had been behind the wheel; Ava, a substitute teacher with a scandalous secret; and Leah, a cheerleader who should have been in the car with her friends, but wasn’t. If the truth comes out, will it bring redemption—or will it be their downfall?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Sep 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781531877668

Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

Marybeth Mayhew Whalen is the author of the forthcoming novel Every Moment Since (out fall of 2024) and nine previous novels. Marybeth received a BA degree in English with a concentration in Writing and Editing from NC State University a long time ago and has been writing ever since. She is the co-founder of The Book Tide, an online community of readers where "a rising tide raises all books." Marybeth and her husband Curt are the parents of six children, with only one left at home. A native of Charlotte, NC, Marybeth now calls Sunset Beach, NC home. Visit her online at: https://linktr.ee/Marybethwhalen  

Reviews for When We Were Worthy

[Debra Middleman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really liked it! Wasn't my usual genre but will look for other books by this author. Relatable and easy to follow. Makes you think. Started & finished in one day.

[zmagic69 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow, much better than I had thought. I liked all of the subplots swirling around. The story is a little predictable and things wind up solved to nearly everyone’s liking, but the build of the story was believable, and with a story like this, that becomes seriously important.
I would definitely read another book by this author.

[Kristin Obert · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyed this sweet book but didn’t love love the narrator. Muddle through though…

[purple_pisces22 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Powerful. The one word that comes to mind after reading this book, my first by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen. How quickly life can change, no warning whatsoever. We have all known the popular kids in high school who seem to have it all. When a group is getting ready to go out for the school football game, they have no idea it will be their last night alive.
The ripple effects are profound and so many in the town are affected regardless of their place in life. I personally enjoyed the ghostly element to the book especially since it was not overdone.

[lorikboyd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Small town, Friday night lights, football players are gods, cheerleaders are popular, one accident and 3 lives are lost, but others are destroyed. Author does a great job of explains life in a small town, especially when lines are drawn. Told by different characters so you can see all positions. Great read, couldn’t put it down.

[beamis12 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I live in a small town, though not as small as Worthy, the Georgia town portrayed in this novel. Worthy is a big football town, as is mine, but while the football players and cheerleaders rule the school in Worthy, I don't feel that was the case in my town. Three varsity cheerleaders, the cream of the crop, are killed in a horrific car accident. Theyoung boy driving the other car, seriously injured but still alive, becomes the focus of the towns rage. As the others greive the loss of their daughters, we are treated to an inside view of how this town handles the accident.So,all well and good up to this point, interesting and I was finding the viewpoints of the four mother's involved realistic and poignant. This is where is started t derail for me, pictures on a cell phone, another town target. Too much going on, the focus shifting before shifting back again. Worthy just had too much going on, and it began to seem like an episode of Knots Landing or any soap opera of your choice. A definite feeling that less instead of more would have been better, at least for this reader. A more focused rendering.Then we have voices from the beyond, did we really need more? Then the emotions came off as over the top,too dramatic, just too much. I gave this a three because there were a few characters I really liked,among them sixteen years old Leah, who should have been in the car with the other cheerleaders. She has a big secret, though I guessed really early what that was, but through the course of the book she grows up and changes. These are just my views, never been much for overdramatized speech and emotions, but you may find them perfectly to your liking. This is a good story, but I'm could have been better if the author had just pulled back a little.ARC from Netgalley.

[tamidale · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Marybeth Mayhew Whalen has captured so perfectly the small town atmosphere and what it is like when that town has a winning football team. Here in Worthy, a town of about 4,000 people, the football players are so popular that some of them begin to think they are gods.After the football game one night, some of the cheerleaders are on their way to a party when they get involved in a tragic accident with another student. What should have been a car of 4 cheerleaders, is a car of only three and people are left wondering why the fourth cheerleader, Leah, wasn’t with her friends that night. The story is told from four viewpoints: Ava, a young teacher; Leah, the friend who wasn’t in the accident; Marglyn, mother of one of the victims and Darcy, the mother of Graham, a teenager who was driving the other vehicle.This story is not so much about football as it is about the accident and what the tragedy reveals about the townspeople, the football team and the students. It was like a domino effect in the lives of many and through the four narrators, the whole story is revealed.It’s a book that is hard to put down because readers will want to know the mystery about what happened with Leah and what she knew about the football players. Also, why did the accident happen? Was Graham racing, was there alcohol involved, or was the young driver at fault? It’s also very difficult to read about because the subject matter is one that so many communities have experienced.Whalen delivers a big twist at the end. I liked the ending, but some aspects of it did not ring true for me, maybe because I grew up in an atmosphere much like Worthy. Even so, I look forward to reading more of Whalen’s work.Many thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

[kimkimkim-7 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As I read this book I kept thinking it was a bit reminiscent of Beartown by Fredrik Backman. Many of the same elements were employed to highlight teenagers making bad choices and their parents dragging the broom right behind them cleaning and covering up.

The story is set in a small town where football is the backdrop of all things good and evil. There are pretty cheerleaders and football heroes who are the least interesting characters in this book. The story is all about being a survivor after the disaster, after you have lost more than you ever thought was possible, after the fall from grace, after life hits you full in the face and takes it measure of who you are and who you may be allowed to be. The author uses every teenage ploy to add tension and drama to her story. There is underage drinking, abominable peer pressure, improper relationships, just think of a negative scenario that has been in the press and it is probably in this book.

So much of this book was troubling and uncomfortable. But the upside and the balancing effect for me was in a beautiful quote from Emily Dickinson: “Truth is so rare that it is delightful to tell it.” And once it was told and accepted the story preached love and salvation; “She looked into his eyes, saw kindness there, acceptance. Maybe that's what everyone in the world was searching for - someone who, when they felt vulnerable and exposed and afraid, would meet them in the doorway with a look of love so pure it made all the other stuff fall away.”

While this would not be a favorite book I think it is a solid 3-1/2 stars. Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for an ARC.