The Almost Sisters by: Joshilyn Jackson

The Almost Sisters Author: Joshilyn Jackson Publisher: William Morrow Pages: 384

From Amazon:

Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs’s weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comic-book convention, Leia is swept off her barstool by a handsome, anonymous Batman. She remembers he was tall, black, and an excellent French kisser—but not much else.

The Caped Crusader leaves her with more than just a fond, fuzzy memory. She’s having a baby. Though Leia always wanted to fall in love and have a child, as a young woman she learned exactly what betrayal felt like. Before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood to her conventional lily-white Southern family, her perfect stepsister Rachel’s marriage—to the very man who broke Leia’s heart all those years ago—implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, has been hiding her dementia.

Heading seven hundred miles south to Birchville, Alabama—the small town her family founded generations ago—Leia plans to put her grandmother’s affairs in order and clean out her big Victorian house. Just when Leia thinks she’s got it all under control, she learns that Birchie is hiding more than her illness. A dangerous secret with roots that reach back to the Civil War is tucked away in an attic trunk. Its exposure threatens the family’s reputation and freedom, and will forever change the way Leia views her ancestors, herself, and her baby’s future.

This book is about as honest as it gets when it comes to viewing the south as it really is. I don't mean how outsiders see it. I don't mean how we wish it was. I mean as it is. I'm not a fan of comics, so I wasn't much into that aspect, but I love how it all ties in together. This book is a beautiful story of family and race relations in the modern south as seen through the eyes of a 38-year-old white woman, a comic nerd (her words), who is pregnant with a bi-racial child. When her grandmother becomes ill, she travels to the small town of Birchville, Alabama with the intention of shutting down and selling out the family home. Instead, she uncovers a terrible family secret that changes the way she sees herself, her family, and her own unborn child. I don't want to include spoilers. I will just say that I could not put this one down. It has been a long time since I have read a book that didn't bore me.I highly recommend this book.

Read this book if:

*you love southern fiction

*you love mysteries

*you love family fiction/ sisters

*you love stories about race and race relations

The Witch of Belladona Bay

Title: The Witch of Belladonna Bay Author: Suzanne Palmieri Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Pages: 367 pages

I absolutely loved this book! I knew I would. I loved The Witch of Little Italy. In this novel, Palmieri writes even closer to my heart- in the south. Bronwyn left Alabama at age 16, the night of her mother's funeral. Daughter of  a wealthy, privileged family plagued with addiction (her father to alcohol, her mother to opium), Bronwyn runs away from her life and the only people she has ever known and loved. She is also running away from a supernatural heritage- the women in her family are all witches. Fourteen years later, she is in a loving interracial relationship in upstate New York. A successful photojournalist, she has truly left her past life behind. Then, she gets a call from her father asking her to return home. Her brother has been sent to prison for murdering her best friend from childhood. Her niece, who possess more supernatural power than anyone knows how to handle, is running wild. Bronwyn returns to her childhood home to face the ghosts of her past (literally) and to find the truth that will set her brother free. In order to do this, she must face her past and accept her own supernatural abilities.
This is an amazing story, full of surprising twists and turns. The setting adds to the supernatural mystery. I could not put this book down! Palmieri's books are believable. The supernatural element blends flawlessly into the story, making it intriguing and intoxicating. Now for the sad part...we have to wait until she finishes the net one.

Read this book if...
*you love southern fiction
*you love books with a supernatural element

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion

Title: The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion Author: Fannie Flagg Publisher: Random House Copyright: 2013

I've loved Fannie Flagg's writing since I first read Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man years ago. Still, when I first started this one, I wasn't sure. A reunion of filling station workers didn't sound all that appealing to me. Luckily, I gave it a chance and discovered this is NOT what the story is about. 

Sookie is a typical wealthy southern belle- nice home on the bay, high-ranking social status, and secure in her place in one of the "old southern families". SO... imagine her surprise when she finds out  that she was adopted. Not only was she adopted, she was born a yankee- and a Catholic at that. Thus begins Sookie's adventure in finding out her true identity and how she came to be who- and where- she is.

As and adoptee and adoptive mom, I found this story to be heart warming. However, at times I found it irritating. In the year 2013, I find it quite surprising that anyone with a small modicum of political correctness would still be caught dead using the term "real mother". (The term, in case you have been hiding under a rock, is "birth mother".) Real mothers raise their children, care for them, nurture them... birth mothers give birth. But, I digress...

(Now that I think about it, we southerners have been well known for our lack of political correctness...maybe this is another example...)

In spite of the insulting terminology, I truly did love this story. I laughed, I cried.. (we already know I got annoyed). Not only was this great southern fiction, but it was great historical fiction as well. Anyone who loved Jennifer Niven's Velva Jean Learns to Fly will also love this story of women pilots in WWII. I fell in love with Fritzi (the birth mother) and her wild and crazy ways.

I do highly recommend this book to lovers of southern fiction and Fannie Flagg. I will continue to eagerly await all her novels. She is a true writer of great southern fiction.

Read this book if-

*you love southern fiction

*you love stories of adoptive families or adoption

*you love historical fiction

*you love stories from the WWII era