"Summer in the South" was awesome...I didn't want to put this book down. I even kept trying to sneak and read it at work, it was so good. Ava Dabrowsk...more"Summer in the South" was awesome...I didn't want to put this book down. I even kept trying to sneak and read it at work, it was so good. Ava Dabrowski is so over her life and horrible love life so when Will Fraser, an old college friend of hers, extends to her the opportunity to come down south for the summer and work on her novel, she jumps at the chance. After all, how often do you get to live in a "writer's like colony" for FREE! But, when she gets to Woodburn, she soon discovers that everything that glitters ain't gold. There are secrets in this small town...secrets that the Woodburn family wants to keep buried, but Ava finds herself always wanting to search and find and bring them up. And, when she does, she discovers history is not always what it seems to be and sometimes secrets that have been dead, buried and layed to rest should stay just that! I give it 5 stars.(less)
"The Peach Keeper" by Sarah Addison Allen was a delicious read and right up my alley! Willa Jackson was born and raised in Walls of Water, North Carol...more"The Peach Keeper" by Sarah Addison Allen was a delicious read and right up my alley! Willa Jackson was born and raised in Walls of Water, North Carolina, and, when she left for college, she had no intentions of ever looking back...but, when he father died, and her grandmother was left alone in her old age, she knows that coming back home is the best thing to do...so, she does. She moves back into her father's house and even opens up a business of her own. Soon, she finds herself immersed into the life she thought she had left behind and becomes involved with the people and things she thought she had left in high school. Then, when she realizes that The Blue Ridge Madam, the house that her grandmother grew up in is being renovated, she finds herself in all kinds of predicaments, and she soon discovers that long-lost secrets kept are meant to stay down forever... "The Peach Keeper" is a definite must-read for readers who love Southern Fiction... I give it 5 stars.(less)
"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett was one of the most interesting books I've read...not only was it southern fiction, which is becoming one of my favorit...more"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett was one of the most interesting books I've read...not only was it southern fiction, which is becoming one of my favorite genres, but it was filled, from the very first page, with everything that I like in a "goodread" - drama, suspense, mystery, romance, controversy...if I was eating this book, it would really hit the spot. It was about a young woman who longed to be a writer and, while longing for this dream, she decided that she didn't care for the way things were around her and so she set out to try and change things the only way she knew how...by writing. She wanted to write from a point-of-view that noone ever asked before or cared...she wanted to help "the help" to be heard. As she started she only had the help of two, but, by the time she got going, she had the assistance of the number of maids she needed and was able to get the book published. One of the things I liked most about this book was the relationship between Minnie and Celia Foote. Celia was set apart from the other women in the book, ostracized and excluded by them because she didn't come from the same side of the tracks, but, to me, she was the most honest character in the book, even more than Ms. Skeeter. She befriended her maid, Minnie and cared about her, and her actions showed it. To me, "The Help" was just an awesome book. I also redboxed the movie this weekend. I was real excited because I really wanted to see what the characters would be like acted out. And, in my opinion, the movie was okay, but the book was way, way better. I give it 5 stars.(less)