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

Dollbaby

Title: Dollbaby Author: Laura Lane McNeal Publisher: Penguin, 2014 Pages: 338

From Amazon:

A big-hearted coming-of-age debut set in civil rights-era New Orleans—a novel of Southern eccentricity and secrets

When Ibby Bell’s father dies unexpectedly in the summer of 1964, her mother unceremoniously deposits Ibby with her eccentric grandmother Fannie and throws in her father’s urn for good measure. Fannie’s New Orleans house is like no place Ibby has ever been—and Fannie, who has a tendency to end up in the local asylum—is like no one she has ever met. Fortunately, Fannie’s black cook, Queenie, and her smart-mouthed daughter, Dollbaby, take it upon themselves to initiate Ibby into the ways of the South, both its grand traditions and its darkest secrets.

For Fannie’s own family history is fraught with tragedy, hidden behind the closed rooms in her ornate Uptown mansion. It will take Ibby’s arrival to begin to unlock the mysteries there. And it will take Queenie and Dollbaby’s hard-won wisdom to show Ibby that family can sometimes be found in the least expected places.

For fans of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt and The Help, Dollbaby brings to life the charm and unrest of 1960s New Orleans through the eyes of a young girl learning to understand race for the first time.

By turns uplifting and funny, poignant and full of verve, Dollbaby is a novel readers will take to their hearts.

 (Warning: This does contain spoilers.) I loved this book! I was hooked from the beginning. I was drawn to Ibby, Fannie, Quennie, and Dollbaby. McNeal paints a nostaligic portrait of 1960's New Orleans from 1964-1972. There were a couple of characters whose actions I did not understand. I don't really understand why Graham was sent to boarding school.(I know the reason, but would Fannie and Norwood really do that?) I couldn't understand why Norwood would abandon Fannie after what happened with Muddy. (Not if he loved her the way he seemed to love her.) And I can't understand Fannie's actions in the end. Even though she did suffer from mental illness, I would think her life with Ibby would keep her from doing that. That being said, I did truly love this book and could not put it down. I look forward to MnNeal's next book. In response to those reviewers who felt it was too much like The Help, Secret Life of Bees, Etc., I disagree. Although they are all southern novels that deal with racial issues, Dollbaby stands on it's own. I highly recommend this book!

Read this book if:

*you love southern fiction

*you love coming of age novels

*you love stories that take place in New Orleans

*you love stories that take place in the 1960's

Whistling Past the Graveyard

Title: Whistling Past the Graveyard Author: Susan Crandall Publisher: Gallery Books Pages: 321

I read this book on my Kindle.

From Amzon:

In the summer of 1963, nine-year-old spitfire Starla Claudelle runs away from her strict grandmother’s Mississippi home. Starla hasn’t seen her momma since she was three—that’s when Lulu left for Nashville to become a famous singer. Starla’s daddy works on an oil rig in the Gulf, so Mamie, with her tsk-tsk sounds and her bitter refrain of “Lord, give me strength,” is the nearest thing to family Starla has. After being put on restriction yet again for her sassy mouth, Starla is caught sneaking out for the Fourth of July parade. She fears Mamie will make good on her threat to send Starla to reform school, so Starla walks to the outskirts of town, and just keeps walking. . . . If she can get to Nashville and find her momma, then all that she promised will come true: Lulu will be a star. Daddy will come to live in Nashville, too. And her family will be whole and perfect. Walking a lonely country road, Starla accepts a ride from Eula, a black woman traveling alone with a white baby. The trio embarks on a road trip that will change Starla’s life forever. She sees for the first time life as it really is—as she reaches for a dream of how it could one day be.

I enjoyed this book. Taking place (mainly) in Cayuga, Mississippi in 1963, this novel follows Starla Claudelle as she runs away from home in a split second decision that will change the direction of her life, as well as the lives of many others.

Abandoned by her mother, Starla lives with her Mamie- her father's mother- while he works at an off shore oil rig. Mamie plainly hates Starla as well as her absent mother and spends most of her time making Starla miserable. When Mamie's cruelties, as well as those of her small town, finally push her over the edge, she runs away, hoping to find her mother in Nashville. On the way, she meets Eula, a black woman traveling in a beat up truck with a white baby. Eula takes Starla home with her. What happens next (I won't include spoilers) sends the three of them on an adventure that will force them to face the hard, cold realities of life and will teach them the true meaning of love and family.

My heart went out to Starla. A young girl who was clearly unloved and unwanted by those around her. Her mother wasn't the only one who had abandoned her. Those around her had clearly abandoned her as well. Although it had some harrowing moments, this story warmed my heart. Crandall gets deep inside the minds of her characters and the motives behind their actions. I look forward to reading more of her books.

Read this book if...

*you enjoy southern fiction

*you enjoy books about racial issues 

*you enjoy stories that take place in the 1960's

*you enjoy stories that take place "on the road"

The Midwife of Hope River

Title: The Midwife of Hope River Author: Patricia Harmon Publisher: William Morrow Pages: 382 Copyright: 2012

From the back cover:

Midwife Patience Murphy has a gift:  a talent for escorting mothers through the challenges of bringing children into the world. Working in the hardscrabble conditions of Appalachia during the Depression, Patience takes the jobs that no one else wants, helping those most in need- and least likely to pay. She knows a successful midwifery practice must be built on a foundation of openness and trust- but the secrets Patience is keeping are far too intimate and fragile for her to ever let anyone in.

I loved every page of this book. I was drawn in from the first page to the descriptive imagery of Depression Era Appalachia. This was a very hard novel to put down. Patience is strong, yet vulnerable. She is brave, yet fearful of her past catching up with her. Her lack of prejudice and openness make her different from her neighbors in West Virginia.  Many of them view her with mistrust, yet they need her in a community where the only doctor refuses to help black people or poor people.

It wasn't just the midwife aspect that made this book appealing. The everyday life of two women- Patience and Bitsy (a young black woman)- making their way in rural Appalachia makes this book a page turner. There is so much more to this book than just the midwife aspect. The book deals with prejudice, spousal abuse, exploitation of Coal Miners, heartbreak, and redemption. 

I love Harman's simple writing style.  I look forward to reading more of her work.

This one is definitely a keeper.

Read this book if....

*you love novels set in Appalachia

*you love southern fiction

*you love novels about midwifery

*you love novels set in the Depression Era

*you love novels about race relations and racial issues in the early 20th century

The Southern Chapter of the Big Girl Panties Club

Title: The Southern Chapter of the Big Girl Panties Club: A Frankilee Baxter Story Author: Lynda Stephenson Publisher: Outskirts Press Pages:357

I received this book from the author.
From Amazon:
Sassy, Witty, And Painfully Honest, Frankilee Baxter Will Steal Your Heart With Her Nerve And Verve...The year is 1958, and schools in the South are rebelling against the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education. In the beginning, Frankilee Baxter, a freshman at Athena College, is not concerned with racial issues. Instead, she is determined to improve her looks, pledge a sorority, find a steady boyfriend and make her name as a journalist at the college newspaper. Her plans are changed, however, when she befriends Eleanor Wilson, the only Negro student on campus. Eleanor is the daughter of a northern minister who is a prominent leader in the NAACP. When life becomes almost more painful and confusing than they can bear, Frankilee and her friends in the dormitory form The Southern Chapter of the Big Girl Panties Club, and they invite Eleanor to join. The BGPC members stand together to protect Eleanor from acts of discrimination. The story also deals with the blossoming love of Frankilee for Trace Godwin, a popular star basketball player and the pledge trainer of his fraternity. When a boy in Trace's fraternity is seriously injured during a campout, the narrative takes a dark turn of mystery and deceit. More complications arise when Frankilee spends Easter weekend with Trace's wealthy, dysfunctional family. A quirky story of love, discrimination, forgiveness, and redemption, The Southern Chapter of the Big Girl Panties Club follows Frankilee and her friends during their freshman year.


I admit, it took me a minute to get into this story, but once I got into it, I couldn't put it down.
Frankilee Baxter is a lovable character. A little naive, but lovable. A college freshman in 1950's Texas, Frankilee longs for womanhood, while at the same time,  she is still a little girl in many ways. When small-town Frankilee falls in love with a rich boy from Houston, there are bound to be differences. Add this to the fact that Frankilee befriends, and becomes roommates with, the only black student on campus, and sparks are bound to fly.
A budding journalism student, Frankilee becomes deeply involved when a fraternity student is badly injured during a hazing incident. And who is making harassing phone calls to their dorm each night?
Although the story has some intense moments, it is told with a sense of humor. (I laughed out loud several times.) It realistically portrays college freshman life and the ins and outs of making it in the (semi) real world.
I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next episode in Frankilee's crazy life.


 Read this story if...
*you love southern fiction.
*you love stories that take place in the 1950's.
*you love stories about racial issues and integration.