In a time when polished stories often smooth over real pain, Rissa Starr emerges with something different—something raw, haunting, and true. Her debut novel, The Ville, doesn’t ask for your attention. It demands it.
Set in the rugged hills of West Virginia, The Ville pulls readers into a small town that’s been forgotten by the world but never by its people. A place where secrets spread faster than brush fire, where addiction clings to lives like kudzu, and where loyalty is a currency more dangerous than cash.
At the heart of the story is Jay—a small-town cop, quiet observer, and reluctant accomplice to the unraveling of a hometown hero, Rodney LeMaster. Once a football legend, Rod’s fall from grace is as public as his glory days were celebrated. And as Rod descends into addiction, recklessness, and charm-fueled manipulation, Jay finds himself caught in the crossfire between law and loyalty, friendship and survival.
But The Ville isn’t just Rod’s story—it’s the story of a whole place, a whole generation raised on Friday night lights and front porch gossip. It’s about Amy, the girl who gave everything to a man who never stopped chasing more. It’s about Carrie, the beautiful mystery everyone loved but no one ever really knew. And it’s about the ones who stay when everyone else leaves.
Rissa Starr doesn’t write fairy tales. She writes what’s real.
She writes Appalachia.
“I don’t write pretty stories,” she says. “I write the kind that bleed a little—stories about broken people in forgotten towns, fighting like hell to matter.”
The Ville is one part Southern noir, one part emotional reckoning, and one part love letter to the hills and hollers that made us who we are. It’s not sanitized. It’s not sugarcoated. But it’s honest—and sometimes, that’s more powerful than hope.
🎉 Now Available
You can get your copy of The Ville by Rissa Starr now at RissaStarr.com or on Amazon. Follow along on social media for excerpts, behind-the-scenes content, and upcoming author appearances.
If you’ve ever loved someone who couldn’t stop falling…
If you’ve ever stayed behind when everyone else left…
If you’ve ever needed a story that felt like yours—
Then The Ville is waiting for you.