The Story of Land and Sea by Katy Simpson Smith: Book Review
The Story of Land and Sea opens with young Tabitha contracting yellow fever on her tenth birthday. Her father and grandfather, having already lost her mother in childbirth, are desperate to save her despite the limitations of 18th century medicine. Her father takes to the sea with her in tow, thinking that the sea air […]
All Over but the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg: Book Review
4.5 Stars. Mostly what I took away from this book is humor and grace. Somehow Rick Bragg’s first memoir is the last one I’ve read and I have literally laughed ’til I cried in every one. I’ve read my family members bits here and there and retold stories I remember and made everyone listening to me laugh too. Maybe they’re just […]
I Am One of You Forever by Fred Chappell: Book Review
Jess, his mom, dad, grandmother and farmhand/adoptive brother, Johnson, live a quiet life in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. They farm, visit with relatives, play some baseball, and get up to a whole lot of no good, as my grandmother would say. Jess’s dad is a mischief-maker. He just can’t help it. Johnson […]
gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson: Book Review
Arlene left her hometown of Possett, Alabama after she graduated from high school and never looked back. She has withstood bribery, threats, and guilt trips from hell from her Aunt Florence and remained in Chicago for ten years. But now Alabama seems to have found her. A face from Arlene’s past shows up on her […]
Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen: Book Review
3 Stars. When I first read this, I thought it was another solid four-star book from Sarah Addison Allen. But now that months have passed, it’s faded away and I’m only left feeling that it was a decent entry in her body of work. I’m bumping it back to three stars. Devin may have been my favorite character. She’s a bright child […]
Season of the Dragonflies by Sarah Creech: Book Review
The Lenore women grow a rare flower that is the secret ingredient in their powerful perfume. Each generation, only a few women are chosen to wear their coveted scent. These women inevitably rise to the top of their professions and become the envy of the world. But Willow, Mya, and Lucia Lenore, the current generation, […]
The Sunday Wife by Cassandra King: Book Review
Dean Lynch is a Methodist preacher’s wife, a role she finds nearly impossible to fill. She comes from a “white trash” background, to use her description, so saying the right thing at the right time and being peaches and cream in all situations just doesn’t come naturally to her. When her husband is sent to […]
Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews: Book Review
4 Stars. I just adore Mary Kay Andrews’s books because they are so much fun to read! The characters generally come to life for me, I find myself laughing at the trouble they inevitably get themselves into, and the settings feel real. Spring Fever is no exception. Annajane is not perfect by any […]
Salt by Isabel Zuber: Book Review
Title: SaltAuthor: Isabel ZuberGenres: Historical Fiction, Southern LiteratureFormat: Paperback Synopsis: John Bayley meets Anna Stockton when she’s in her late teens. He decides right away that he’s going to marry her. She looks to be a strong woman who knows how to work. After burying two wives, that combination appeals to John. The rest of […]
This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash: Book Review
Talk about shades of gray! The whole book just drifts around in this nebulous area that left me unsure as to what the right thing to do and the best thing to do really were. I don’t think they were ever the same thing. Why should these girls be left in a system that rarely seems to turn out well for anyone when they have a […]
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman: Book Review
Synopsis from GoodReads: Steel Magnolias meets The Help in Beth Hoffman’s New York Times bestselling Southern debut novel, Saving CeeCee Honeycutt Twelve-year-old CeeCee Honeycutt is in trouble. For years, she has been the caretaker of her mother, Camille, the town’s tiara-wearing, lipstick-smeared laughingstock, a woman who is trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as […]