Running From Herself

 

Running From Herself

April Tompkins  
$2.99 Kindle, $14.36 paperback 
 
Leah Branch thought a record deal would save her. Instead, it nearly destroyed her. Now she's on the run--from the spotlight, from heartache, and from the version of herself she never meant to become. 
 
 


 

She ran away to find herself—only to become a ghost.

Leah Branch just wanted the noise to stop. After years of watching her band splinter, she welcomes the quiet of Chance, Wyoming. Working shifts at the local saloon, she finally finds a rhythm she can live with—steady work, honest friends, and a shared connection with a local singer named Jared. For the first time in years, she feels safe.

But music has a way of pulling you back.

When a desperate choice to save the saloon forces Leah back onto the stage, a chance encounter changes everything. Suddenly, Nashville wants her. Still reeling from her fractured romance with Jared, Leah takes the leap, viewing the contract as her escape hatch.

Instead, it becomes her cage.

The label doesn’t want Leah's raw, acoustic soul; they want a polished product they can sell. Piece by piece, they dismantle her life. They swap her boots for heels, trade her honest songs for studio-engineered pop, and strip away her actual name.

Now, standing on the edge of a stardom she never asked for, Leah is a ghost to herself. With the industry tightening its grip, she has to decide: keep playing a part that is killing her soul or risk everything to reclaim her voice and find her way home.

"For fans of Daisy Jones & The Six, but with the introspective, character-driven focus on identity found in The Final Revival of Opal & Nev."

 
 
Editorial Review
 
“Running From Herself is ultimately a story about finding home – both literally and figuratively. It’s about learning that sometimes you have to lose yourself to find yourself, and that success doesn’t always look the way you expect it to...(READ MORE)...
 
 
"April Tompkins returns with another emotionally rich and character-driven novel...(READ MORE)... 
 
 


 

About April Tompkins
April Tompkins* always made up stories, but as a kid the stories mostly resided inside her head. She spent her early life on a farm in Minnesota with no siblings close in age, so she hiked along country roads and “imagined”. At age eleven, her family moved to the prairies of North Dakota and she put her stories aside and turned to music. She now lives in Minnesota...(READ MORE...) 
 
 
 
 
 
Genre: Women's Fiction 
Publication Year: 2025
Length: 257 pages
ASIN: B0DVZQD93H
ISBN: 979-8309651573
BISAC: FIC044000  FICTION / Women
BISAC:FIC133030   FICTION / Performing Arts / Music
 
 

 
 

Discussion Guide/Book Club Questions 


 
Character Compendium