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Bad Girl Creek #1
Bad Girl Creek: A Novel
Book by Mapson, Jo-Ann
529 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Jo-Ann Mapson
33 books180 followersJo-Ann Mapson, a third generation Californian, grew up in Fullerton as a middle child with four siblings. She dropped out of college to marry, but later finished a creative writing degree at California State University, Long Beach. Following her son's birth in 1978, Mapson worked an assortment of odd jobs teaching horseback riding, cleaning houses, typing resumes, and working retail. After earning a graduate degree from Vermont College's low residency program, she taught at Orange Coast College for six years before turning to full-time writing in 1996. Mapson is the author of the acclaimed novels Shadow Ranch, Blue Rodeo, Hank Chloe, and Loving Chloe."The land is as much a character as the people," Mapson has said. Whether writing about the stark beauty of a California canyon or the poverty of an Arizona reservation, Mapson's landscapes are imbued with life. Setting her fiction in the Southwest, Mapson writes about a region that she knows well; after growing up in California and living for a time in Arizona and NewMexico, Mapson lives today in Costa Mesa, California. She attributes her focus on setting to the influence of Wallace Stegner.Like many of her characters, Mapson has ridden horses since she was a child. She owns a 35-year-old Appaloosa and has said that she learned about writing from learning to jump her horse, Tonto. "I realized," she said, "that the same thing that had been wrong with my riding was the same thing that had been wrong with my writing. In riding there is a term called `the moment of suspension,' when you're over the fence, just hanging in the air. I had to give myself up to it, let go, trust the motion. Once I got that right, everything fell into place."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews
November 23, 2011
BGC is a real treat. Personally I find this book one of the warmest books on the topic of friendship between women. It’s the story of four very different women who come together on Phoebe DeThomas's newly inherited flower farm and form bonds of love and friendship. As always, Mapson describes the scenery and atmosphere with great talent and the reader has no problem imaging the flower farm and California.
Despite her disability, Phoebe DeThomas has great strength of character and that makes her a warm and an atypical heroine, and you can only root for her when her relationship with the UPS man starts to blossom. I was also fascinated and touched by Phoebe's relationship with her brother, James, who in the beginning of the novel seemed like an simple opportunist, but later became more multi-layered and more understandable. The three woman in the novel who end up on Phoebe's doorstep are complex, and not without heartache and serious problems, but develop strength from each other and their own inner selves. What strikes me the most is that sense of genuine feelings these 4 women have for each other; their strong bond is absolutely sincere, and there’s no place for shallow or misguided feelings. They have one remarkable thing in common: none of them ever had a good bond with their mother. I don’t know, but that struck me as quite odd.
I also observed that this book is about how differently men and women communicate with each other, often miscommunicate.
All the characters are top-notch and there’s not one I disliked. I had a very special fondness for the (secondary) character of Florencio; the old farmer/gardener.
Some eight years ago, when I read Bad Girl Creek for the first time, I didn’t recall sensing the humor and wit that travelled throughout the entire book. Now, so many years later I am finding this humor very refreshing. At the same time, I like to observe that I’m not the same person myself - and that all these wonderful insights and messages this book conveys, have even more impact on me. Oh, but there are grave and heartbreaking moments in there too. This book is not all fun and fluff, on the contrary, there’s room for the contemplative and the reflective. On a last note: one of the most POIGNANT moments is when Ness visits Jake in the hospital. Because it rang so true, I was immensely moved by that encounter.
Despite her disability, Phoebe DeThomas has great strength of character and that makes her a warm and an atypical heroine, and you can only root for her when her relationship with the UPS man starts to blossom. I was also fascinated and touched by Phoebe's relationship with her brother, James, who in the beginning of the novel seemed like an simple opportunist, but later became more multi-layered and more understandable. The three woman in the novel who end up on Phoebe's doorstep are complex, and not without heartache and serious problems, but develop strength from each other and their own inner selves. What strikes me the most is that sense of genuine feelings these 4 women have for each other; their strong bond is absolutely sincere, and there’s no place for shallow or misguided feelings. They have one remarkable thing in common: none of them ever had a good bond with their mother. I don’t know, but that struck me as quite odd.
I also observed that this book is about how differently men and women communicate with each other, often miscommunicate.
All the characters are top-notch and there’s not one I disliked. I had a very special fondness for the (secondary) character of Florencio; the old farmer/gardener.
Some eight years ago, when I read Bad Girl Creek for the first time, I didn’t recall sensing the humor and wit that travelled throughout the entire book. Now, so many years later I am finding this humor very refreshing. At the same time, I like to observe that I’m not the same person myself - and that all these wonderful insights and messages this book conveys, have even more impact on me. Oh, but there are grave and heartbreaking moments in there too. This book is not all fun and fluff, on the contrary, there’s room for the contemplative and the reflective. On a last note: one of the most POIGNANT moments is when Ness visits Jake in the hospital. Because it rang so true, I was immensely moved by that encounter.
July 6, 2015
I was actually bereft when I finished Jo-Ann Mapson's "Bad Girl Creek". While reading this book I had been 'living with' the strong, supportive women, or ocelots, as they called themselves, who inhabited the flower farm left to wheel-chair bound Phoebe by her beloved Aunt Sadie.
I had been through the seasonal stresses of planting, cultivating and finally selling the plants; I had worried there wouldn't be any customers, and that the farm would fail to support all those who had found refuge there - humans and animals.
These well-rounded characters quickly found their way into my heart, despite my dislike of books that confuse the reader with multiple principle characters. But I went along for the ride and found myself as charmed by them - and their surroundings - as they were by each other.
There's Ness, who's harboring a dark, life-threatening secret, and who has her beloved horse Leroy with her. Only Leroy doesn't actually belong to her! There's Beryl, whose been to hell and back (i.e. prison) thanks to an abusive partner from whom she could take no more. She works in a bird rehabilitation centre, but there's no rehabilitating her foul-mouthed parrot Verde. Nance comes complete with golden retriever Duchess who quickly adopts all the other women in the house as her own.
There are men too, of course, from the farm hand who keeps the place productive, to Phoebe's brother 'Stinky' who has designs on the property, to the ex-husbands, partners etc. that have impacted these women's lives. All of them, one way or another, continue to have an influence on what unfolds near the waters of Bad Girl Creek.
Having fallen totally in love with the flower farm, the animals and their people, I was delighted to discover that Jo-Ann Mapland subsequently wrote two more novels in the "Bad Girl Creek" series.
I'll be reading them, too.
I had been through the seasonal stresses of planting, cultivating and finally selling the plants; I had worried there wouldn't be any customers, and that the farm would fail to support all those who had found refuge there - humans and animals.
These well-rounded characters quickly found their way into my heart, despite my dislike of books that confuse the reader with multiple principle characters. But I went along for the ride and found myself as charmed by them - and their surroundings - as they were by each other.
There's Ness, who's harboring a dark, life-threatening secret, and who has her beloved horse Leroy with her. Only Leroy doesn't actually belong to her! There's Beryl, whose been to hell and back (i.e. prison) thanks to an abusive partner from whom she could take no more. She works in a bird rehabilitation centre, but there's no rehabilitating her foul-mouthed parrot Verde. Nance comes complete with golden retriever Duchess who quickly adopts all the other women in the house as her own.
There are men too, of course, from the farm hand who keeps the place productive, to Phoebe's brother 'Stinky' who has designs on the property, to the ex-husbands, partners etc. that have impacted these women's lives. All of them, one way or another, continue to have an influence on what unfolds near the waters of Bad Girl Creek.
Having fallen totally in love with the flower farm, the animals and their people, I was delighted to discover that Jo-Ann Mapland subsequently wrote two more novels in the "Bad Girl Creek" series.
I'll be reading them, too.
July 15, 2015
Every Christmas my husband and I have dinner with his parents and his cousin. She's actually closer to his parents' age, and every year she'll have the television on, tuned to the Hallmark channel where they play cheesy, predictable chick-flick films with predictable endings and an excuse of a holiday backdrop. And no matter how hard I try to ignore them...I still can't look away, because they're sweet and good-natured and formulaic and pride themselves on that happy "aawwwww" ending.
Ok: Bad Girl Creek is like that. But just like those Hallmark movies, it was a warm little hug in a book. The four women who highlight the story all have man troubles to varying degrees. They come together and-through the bonds of sisterhood, lovable pets, flowers, wine, and better men-they all come a little closer to contentment, fulfillment, and the lives they dreamed about. Most importantly, they create a family of friends and no one goes it alone.
Sure. some of it will make you cringe. [Why on earth does the author feel the need to drop comical turns of the phrase such as "doing it" and "har dee har" then commense f-bombs later on? Your guess is as good as mine.]It's the type of book that maybe you want to read if you have insomnia or anxiety or just want to escape into a cozy world where problems are never too bog to be conquered and love supersedes all.
Ok: Bad Girl Creek is like that. But just like those Hallmark movies, it was a warm little hug in a book. The four women who highlight the story all have man troubles to varying degrees. They come together and-through the bonds of sisterhood, lovable pets, flowers, wine, and better men-they all come a little closer to contentment, fulfillment, and the lives they dreamed about. Most importantly, they create a family of friends and no one goes it alone.
Sure. some of it will make you cringe. [Why on earth does the author feel the need to drop comical turns of the phrase such as "doing it" and "har dee har" then commense f-bombs later on? Your guess is as good as mine.]It's the type of book that maybe you want to read if you have insomnia or anxiety or just want to escape into a cozy world where problems are never too bog to be conquered and love supersedes all.
June 13, 2012
This was a fun read.....a rag tag group of women who end up living together. Each, of course, has "a story". This is a trilogy and as book 2 and then 3 moved along the stories got a bit much. So, first one was good, "Along Came Mary" was okay, and by the time "Goodbye Earl" was done, I was glad.
March 16, 2021
I liked much more than anticipated! Thought this would be too light and fluffy, but the characters hooked me, and the touches of humor and sarcastic comments from the characters kept this from being too sappy. An enjoyable read.
February 24, 2018
This author doesn't usually disappoint. And she didn't again! Going to get the next 2 books in this Bad Girl series.
August 8, 2018
Rated 4.5 out of 10. Characters and story were unbelievable. It certainly did not make me want to read any more in the series.
November 14, 2020
My first Jo-Ann Mapson book, but it wont be my last!
What bettter place, than on a flower farm, can four women, with issues, find purpose and maybe all that life has to offer?
What bettter place, than on a flower farm, can four women, with issues, find purpose and maybe all that life has to offer?
June 18, 2023
This is the first book in the series. Phoebe is shocked to find out that her aunt has left her the flower farm in her will, while her brother James received her aunt’s investment accounts. While she loves the farm, as she uses a wheelchair, she has no idea how she will manage to keep it. Starting out with an idea to rent out rooms to pay some of the bills, she ends up renting out to three women, each with a companion animal. Ness has a horse that she rescued from her boyfriend and is harboring a secret about her health, Beryl was previously in prison for killing her abusive spouse and now works in a bird sanctuary and has adopted a foul mouthed parrot, and Nance has her beloved golden retriever and works as a photographer. Each of the women contribute hours to working on the farm and they have pinned their hopes on a poinsettia crop to keep them solvent. As they work through issues and hardships, each woman begins to find a way to move forward in life. Even James, who is initially antagonistic to the arrangement, starts to come around and support the endeavor. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
October 3, 2021
I wanted a book that "felt like the Golden Girls", and, in a lot of ways, this book delivers. This book is about four wildly different women finding a home with each other and their pets, so female friendship is the prominent theme. Another similarity between this book and Golden Girls is that some of the plot points make 0 sense beyond putting these women in wacky situations, which you'll either tolerate or find annoying or both. Mapson hits on some darker themes, so it isn't all sunshine and flowers, and there are one or two open-door sexy scenes that felt a little out-of-character for the book? I enjoyed the book, overall, but I didn't feel the writing was as strong as it could have been. A few parts of the book seemed to "tell" instead of show, and the writing was a little jumpy at points. The romances were underdeveloped. But Mapson succeeded in keeping me interested, and if I can find a copy, I may just read the sequel to see where these women end up. I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about friendship and camaraderie.
July 26, 2023
4.0 First book in this series and Phoebe De Thomas has been left Phoebe her flower farm in her will. Phoebe has spent most of her life confined in a wheelchair but now she is faced with keeping the flower farm solvent. Phoebe's brother James wants her to sell him the land so he can develop it but Phoebe is stubborn and is determined more than ever to turn around the financial aspects of the farm but first she must find some help and it comes in various ways ending with three women roommates all who own animals, one a horse, one a dog and another with a foul mouth parrot. These three gsals prove their worth and all come from hardship backgrounds but pull together and make a team that works hard. Phoebe finds herself attracted to the UPS driver and a romance begins. Friendships are formed and the women come into their own.
November 24, 2024
When Phoebe's aunt leaves her a California flower farm, she imagines she'll be happy living in the house she loves. But she soon discovers problems like taxes, equipment failure, and a shortage of help could snatch the farm from her hands. When Ness Butler arrives looking for a place to board her horse, it sets in motion a cascade of events and unfolding connections among a diverse group of women knocked around by life and disappointed in most human relationships. The story of the friendships that develop, set against the changing seasons, scents, and sensations of the California coast, is deeply moving, a fitting tribute to the healing power of compassion and acceptance.
June 18, 2022
Friends
I just finished this book and I’m already missing Phoebe, Ness, Nance and Beryl and I’d really like to know what happened next. The setting, Bayborough-by-the-Sea (Carmel-by-the-sea?) seems lovely though the name is a bit unwieldy. The farm where the unlikely friendships form is a refuge for these four women who support and encourage each other, listen with open hearts and allow the friends all to heal in their own time. I will soon be reading another book by this author, Jo-Ann Mapson.
I just finished this book and I’m already missing Phoebe, Ness, Nance and Beryl and I’d really like to know what happened next. The setting, Bayborough-by-the-Sea (Carmel-by-the-sea?) seems lovely though the name is a bit unwieldy. The farm where the unlikely friendships form is a refuge for these four women who support and encourage each other, listen with open hearts and allow the friends all to heal in their own time. I will soon be reading another book by this author, Jo-Ann Mapson.
July 30, 2018
"I went wherever I could go to learn how to make it through each day...I survived. When I got out, I realized that if I live ever day that way, if I press the sucker flat like I've ironed all the good stuff out just for me, I sleep like a baby."
December 9, 2021
I was pleasantly surprised as I hadn’t heard of this author, but she writes a wonderful tale of four broken women who form their own sort of family. There’s laughter and tears, loyalty and betrayal - a good read.
March 7, 2025
I didn’t realize this was book #1 in a series. That explains some of how unfinished it seemed at the end. I liked the book in the beginning, but as the story progressed, I cared less and less about the characters. No more from this author for me.
December 4, 2017
This story creates awareness about people who are homeless for a season, for an animal, for grief. What a wonderful world it would be if we all could find the home we need when we need it!
June 26, 2018
another great read!
July 2, 2019
Such a good story and writing. Enjoying rereading my favorite authors.
Read
September 27, 2019loved it
January 20, 2020
Really enjoyed this novel about 4 women, each with their own struggles.
April 7, 2020
Well written, feel good story.
January 9, 2023
I loved the relationship between the characters. The housemates are so different but become so close as they battle their personal demons.
July 4, 2012
This is a book with vivid women characters that is also interesting and leaves you hungering for more of the story (and I am sure there has to be another book to finish all the parts of the story line)
The main character is Phoebe DeThomas who has used a wheelchair all of her life. Phoebe is a rich character and not to put in the book to make you feel sorry or inspired for her. At the beginning of the book, Phoebe inherts the flower farm where she has been living with her colorful aunt, Sadie. What is Phoebe (who uses a wheelchair) going to do with a flower farm that needs to be brought back to life? One day a woman, Ness, comes and ask to board her horse at the flower farm. Phoebe realizes that both the woman and horse need a place to live and asks them to move in with her in exchange for working on the flower farm. They place an ad and ask people to apply to live with them. They come up with Nance, who is just leaving a sad long term relationship (which also means she mainly has no job or place to live) and Beryl, who just got out of prison after murdering her abusive husband and Beryl's parrot.....who only knows cuss words and speaks them loudly and often.
These women become close friends and a wonderful support system. And believe me when I say that their many challenges in their lives require each of them to need and give support.
Now you ask, where did the title "Bad Girl Creek" come from? It is a creek that runs by the flower farm, but you will have to read the book and see what the hired man who has worked on the farm much of his life has to say about the creeks name.
The main character is Phoebe DeThomas who has used a wheelchair all of her life. Phoebe is a rich character and not to put in the book to make you feel sorry or inspired for her. At the beginning of the book, Phoebe inherts the flower farm where she has been living with her colorful aunt, Sadie. What is Phoebe (who uses a wheelchair) going to do with a flower farm that needs to be brought back to life? One day a woman, Ness, comes and ask to board her horse at the flower farm. Phoebe realizes that both the woman and horse need a place to live and asks them to move in with her in exchange for working on the flower farm. They place an ad and ask people to apply to live with them. They come up with Nance, who is just leaving a sad long term relationship (which also means she mainly has no job or place to live) and Beryl, who just got out of prison after murdering her abusive husband and Beryl's parrot.....who only knows cuss words and speaks them loudly and often.
These women become close friends and a wonderful support system. And believe me when I say that their many challenges in their lives require each of them to need and give support.
Now you ask, where did the title "Bad Girl Creek" come from? It is a creek that runs by the flower farm, but you will have to read the book and see what the hired man who has worked on the farm much of his life has to say about the creeks name.
December 7, 2013
I just love Jo-Ann Mapson books, and not just when I'm hormonal. Sure, they're predictable as all get-out, and they do leave me feeling a little dirty, like I've just watched a Lifetime miniseries starring Ally Sheedy trying to be Bette Midler with cancer. But they just feel so right, like cuddling up near the fire with a chenille binky, warm, cozy and safe...despite the fact that men are unreliable and women are a minefield. A good Mapson book will make me laugh, neglect my family for a few chapters, swell me up with girl-power vibes, and maybe even cry a little when I think that no one's looking.
Bad Girl Creek deals with four Mapsonesque characters: desperate, lonely, stubborn and independent women who need a whole lot of self-esteem smacked into them. I found myself reluctantly identifying with a little bit of each character, and didn't feel like any of them were clichéd. As someone who was raised by a woman in a wheelchair, I found Mapson's character of Phoebe in particular to be pretty spot-on.
In fact, I am recommending this book to my free-wheelin' mother, despite the naughty bits contained within. She's Catholic, but she'll get over the five pages worth of pure smut. It's a full-on Chick Book, but it's worth the read if you're in the mood for an estrogen surge.
Bad Girl Creek deals with four Mapsonesque characters: desperate, lonely, stubborn and independent women who need a whole lot of self-esteem smacked into them. I found myself reluctantly identifying with a little bit of each character, and didn't feel like any of them were clichéd. As someone who was raised by a woman in a wheelchair, I found Mapson's character of Phoebe in particular to be pretty spot-on.
In fact, I am recommending this book to my free-wheelin' mother, despite the naughty bits contained within. She's Catholic, but she'll get over the five pages worth of pure smut. It's a full-on Chick Book, but it's worth the read if you're in the mood for an estrogen surge.
September 12, 2015
I read this book way too young to truly understand its depths, but having re-read it somewhat recently, I can understand why I recommended it then. I still would recommend this book.
Bad Girl Creek has diversity without feeling forced. It has companionship, friendship, loss, loneliness, love, the whole gamut of human experience (in the Western world, anyway).
I picked this book up when I was 10 years old at the library in San Jose. I picked it because it had "Bad Girl" in the title, and that's what reading felt like to me: being a bad girl. Reading adult books was the form my childhood rebelliousness took.
I thought it would be a cheeky adult-themed candy book - one that women who don't have a lot of time to read would read on a vacation near a pool side. Simple, easy to read, and sarcastic.
It was so much more than that. Bad Girl Creek was my introduction to the real world. I learned the word "cocksucker" and what it means to live with HIV.
I've since recommended this book to all of my family friends. They all loved it, but I'm sure they were all thinking it was inappropriate for me to read.
Bad Girl Creek has diversity without feeling forced. It has companionship, friendship, loss, loneliness, love, the whole gamut of human experience (in the Western world, anyway).
I picked this book up when I was 10 years old at the library in San Jose. I picked it because it had "Bad Girl" in the title, and that's what reading felt like to me: being a bad girl. Reading adult books was the form my childhood rebelliousness took.
I thought it would be a cheeky adult-themed candy book - one that women who don't have a lot of time to read would read on a vacation near a pool side. Simple, easy to read, and sarcastic.
It was so much more than that. Bad Girl Creek was my introduction to the real world. I learned the word "cocksucker" and what it means to live with HIV.
I've since recommended this book to all of my family friends. They all loved it, but I'm sure they were all thinking it was inappropriate for me to read.
March 10, 2008
Women making friendships and learning to work with each other and their pet companions: a likable yellow lab, a thoroughbred gelding, a cursing macaw. The setting was the farm where they lived & worked attempting to make a go selling potted plants and cut flowers to the California moneyed set while each keeping their day job. This wasn't a stroll through the tulips it was described with real accuracy as to the difficulties of bringing a profit from a small farm versus the benefits from living with like minded people, with reasonable goals.
They each had to set aside a few pet perspectives to reach accommodation but they gained friends well beyond the immediate circle of women.
One of the parts I like was that only some of the situations resolved others were works in progress but seen as such. Very much a brief window on a believable group brought together by a common difficulty. They all need a place to live that allows pets. One common thread leads them to find commonality in many facets. In this way they build a mature working and living relationship.
They each had to set aside a few pet perspectives to reach accommodation but they gained friends well beyond the immediate circle of women.
One of the parts I like was that only some of the situations resolved others were works in progress but seen as such. Very much a brief window on a believable group brought together by a common difficulty. They all need a place to live that allows pets. One common thread leads them to find commonality in many facets. In this way they build a mature working and living relationship.
October 9, 2010
I had forgotten about Mapson, whose novels I enjoyed several years ago (“Hank and Chloe,” “Loving Chloe,”) and I was excited to find that she had written other books. Phoebe Thomas, confined to a wheelchair because of a twisted spine and heart problems, inherits a flower farm in California from her Aunt Sadie, who raised Phoebe. In order to keep the farm in business, Phoebe decides that she requires help, but doesn’t know quite where she’ll find any, until a homeless black woman with a horse knocks on the door wondering if she can board her horse there. Phoebe takes in both Ness and the horse, and together they advertise for other homeless women and their pets to come and live at the farm and work there part time. Nance has left her abusive boyfriend and comes with her dog, Duchess. Beryl accidentally killed her husband and has just spent a year in jail; she comes with a parrot that knows an impressive string of curse words.
So here we have four women of different backgrounds with different problems. And then along comes the UPS man who falls in love with Phoebe!
So here we have four women of different backgrounds with different problems. And then along comes the UPS man who falls in love with Phoebe!
March 13, 2011
I enjoyed this book. It is a bit dated, especially in regard to the medical information but well developed and entertaining. Four women end up sharing a large house on a flower farm that one of them has inherited. All of them go thru a period of growth and change together. Each is very different but they bond and are unseperatablyn bound together emotionally. I enjoyed this book because it was entertaining but I equate the work to a TV movie sort of product. I found the central theme a bit hard to swallow since I don't know that many women who are that alone (all four hate their mothers) or that are open and ready to bond with people so different from themseleves. Also, who gets out of prison and justs gets to pick up living without having to report to a probation officer? Hallmark channel materiel at best.
October 15, 2015
This book was first published in 2001, but I only recently discovered it. Part of what I loved about this story, which is an intertwined compilation of women's lives, was the focus on the main character, Phoebe DeThomas. She is a young woman confined to a wheel chair. But having said that, the reader should delete any stereotype one might have about physical limitations. Mapson gives us the full life of a woman discovering love, sexuality, and personal power. I particularly liked that we get to see Phoebe in all the grittiness of her disability as well as a sexual person. The relationships that the women find are not predictable, just as they are in life. The characters themselves are surprised by who and how they love. She is an author to explore (if you haven't already) and once you do, the good news is that Mapson has written a lot of novels to keep you busy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 113 reviews