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Flabbergasted #1
Flabbergasted
Ray Blackston's novel will tickle your literary taste buds with a relational gumbo of quirky characters, stirred by the irreverent but sincere Jay Jarvis.
Jay is new in town, young and successful, and not afraid to plop down in a pew to scope out the females. What he finds is a lovely-yet-unusual missionary with a warped sense of humor and a wicked throwing arm. She and a wacky assortment of friends turn Jay's perceptions of life upside down, launching events that leave him and those around him thoroughly Flabbergasted.
By the way, when relational gumbo is on the menu, a South Carolina beach makes for great mood lighting.
336 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2003
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1396 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 294 reviews
April 23, 2009
To defend why I picked this up off the random fiction shelf, look at the cover. What book could possibly look more fun and inviting? Then after reading the summary, I thought, why not? I always think that mormons have the corner on strange, inside cultural idiosyncrasies...so I wanted to see what other religions had that could compare. Anyway, it started off okay...really, their "singles retreat" was exactly like our Single Adult outings in college. Some people were there only to hook up, others were trying to maintain their sanctimonious-ness (?) at the expense of looking stupid, etc. But then the story really degenerated. It just didn't really go anywhere, didn't have a satisfying ending, and the romance that you thought was constantly building...wasn't. LAME! Not worth my time...I'm really glad that I literally started flipping pages and reading like 1 paragraph every 10 pages for the last 70 pages or so!
December 10, 2008
Loved this book. I am from Greenville, South Carolina and loved the references to my own town. This is an hilarious book that will have you laughing through every page. And the most appealing part of this book is faith factor.
A must read.
A must read.
March 12, 2016
I wish there was a warning label on Christian fiction. That way I wouldn't waste my time. Not that there's anything wrong with Christian fiction. It's just not my thing.
Also? This book is so simple, it could have been written by a monkey.
Also? This book is so simple, it could have been written by a monkey.
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June 23, 2014I can't rate this book. It wasn't anything like I expected and I really dislike 'churchy-preachy' novels. There seemed to be very little tension in the story and in the end I stopped reading. Just not my sort of thing.
August 30, 2025
I'll never forget the day in June 2004 in Pryor, OK, when I brought this book home from the library by accident. By accident. Look at that bright cover! I don't know how it was possible that I took it off the shelf, walked it up to the desk to check out, brought it out to the car, and drove it all the way home before I realized which book it was. I had thought I picked up the Terri Blackstock novel next to it. But home was 15 miles away from the library and I had no reason to go back and exchange it. I might as well read it, right? Even though the back cover copy made me groan: "Jay Jarvis just moved east. His dating life's gone south. What else is a guy to do but go fishing?"
Now I'm not sure how well you know me, but that doesn't sound like me at all. What I didn't know then was that God had arranged to get this book in my hands, and that it would be exactly what I needed.
In this zany tale, Jay Jarvis has just completed a work relocation to South Carolina. In order to meet eligible females, he decides to start attending church, even though that is not something he has ever done before. His eye is immediately caught by unassuming Allie, a young missionary home on furlough. When he hears that Allie is helping plan the singles' retreat to the beach, he decides to join in and hopes to spend time with her. As Jay becomes more involved in the church, he meets all varieties of Christians: the hospitable ones, the legalistic ones, the secretive ones, the eccentric ones, and more. But he soon recognizes that they possess something inside of them that he does not, and he's pretty sure he wants whatever it is.
When Jay does come face to face with Jesus, he realizes that it has been God orchestrating these events all along. And as Allie is known to say, "God often has very different plans than what our earthly brains think is best for us." As the book continues, Jay seeks God's will for his life, his job, his relationships, and his location... and is flabbergasted by God's plans.
When I first read this book I was very much in a place of transition. 2004 was the year we lived in four different states. I didn't know what God was doing in my life, and I certainly had no idea what was around the corner, or that it would be as blessed as it has been. This book is laugh-out-loud funny and you'll never think of the color lime green the same way again. It was a bright spot in an uncertain time, and was an encouragement to my spirit. Now I've had the chance to be flabbergasted myself at God's work in my life, and I still love Jay Jarvis and the part he played in my journey. That was why I chose to do this 10th Anniversary reread, although it's far from the first time I've opened its pages again. I've bought this book in paperback and hardback. I've bought the audiobook. I have it on my Kindle, too! Ray Blackston's debut (and best!) novel shines in all mediums. It will never stop being one of my favorite stories.
This review originated at http://reviewsbyerin.livejournal.com
**Oct. 2018 Reread: On a family roadtrip we listened to 2/3rds of this book on audio (read by the fantastic Andrew Peterson) and then I had to finish the final 1/3 after we arrived home!
**Summer 2025 Reread: Shared the audiobook with my husband for the first time. He loved it! I still love Jay and Allie so much.
Now I'm not sure how well you know me, but that doesn't sound like me at all. What I didn't know then was that God had arranged to get this book in my hands, and that it would be exactly what I needed.
In this zany tale, Jay Jarvis has just completed a work relocation to South Carolina. In order to meet eligible females, he decides to start attending church, even though that is not something he has ever done before. His eye is immediately caught by unassuming Allie, a young missionary home on furlough. When he hears that Allie is helping plan the singles' retreat to the beach, he decides to join in and hopes to spend time with her. As Jay becomes more involved in the church, he meets all varieties of Christians: the hospitable ones, the legalistic ones, the secretive ones, the eccentric ones, and more. But he soon recognizes that they possess something inside of them that he does not, and he's pretty sure he wants whatever it is.
When Jay does come face to face with Jesus, he realizes that it has been God orchestrating these events all along. And as Allie is known to say, "God often has very different plans than what our earthly brains think is best for us." As the book continues, Jay seeks God's will for his life, his job, his relationships, and his location... and is flabbergasted by God's plans.
When I first read this book I was very much in a place of transition. 2004 was the year we lived in four different states. I didn't know what God was doing in my life, and I certainly had no idea what was around the corner, or that it would be as blessed as it has been. This book is laugh-out-loud funny and you'll never think of the color lime green the same way again. It was a bright spot in an uncertain time, and was an encouragement to my spirit. Now I've had the chance to be flabbergasted myself at God's work in my life, and I still love Jay Jarvis and the part he played in my journey. That was why I chose to do this 10th Anniversary reread, although it's far from the first time I've opened its pages again. I've bought this book in paperback and hardback. I've bought the audiobook. I have it on my Kindle, too! Ray Blackston's debut (and best!) novel shines in all mediums. It will never stop being one of my favorite stories.
This review originated at http://reviewsbyerin.livejournal.com
**Oct. 2018 Reread: On a family roadtrip we listened to 2/3rds of this book on audio (read by the fantastic Andrew Peterson) and then I had to finish the final 1/3 after we arrived home!
**Summer 2025 Reread: Shared the audiobook with my husband for the first time. He loved it! I still love Jay and Allie so much.
May 21, 2010
Flabbergasted, by Ray Blackston, is a breath of fresh air. I laughed and laughed. It's not often that I give 5 stars, but this one gets my 5 stars fair and square. Also it's not often I mail a book to someone, but I've got just the friend to mail this one to.
Jay is a young professional man recently relocated to South Carolina. To meet girls, he checks out the Presbyterian church and ends up on a singles trip. Packed with hilarity, Jay narrates the events, his spiritual questions, his observations, and of course his attraction to a particular young missionary.
This is a fresh book, a light read that covers significant theological ground. I highly recommend it.
Jay is a young professional man recently relocated to South Carolina. To meet girls, he checks out the Presbyterian church and ends up on a singles trip. Packed with hilarity, Jay narrates the events, his spiritual questions, his observations, and of course his attraction to a particular young missionary.
This is a fresh book, a light read that covers significant theological ground. I highly recommend it.
February 28, 2008
I absolutely loved this book. It's about single life in the southern churches. Fabulously entertaining. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a good read.
June 20, 2019
Twenty-seven-year-old, single stockbroker Jay Jarvis has just moved from Texas to South Carolina. His real estate agent points him to the local churches as places to meet women in town. On Jay's first Sunday at the singles Sunday School class, he's knocked off his feet by beautiful Allie, a missionary, home on furlough from Ecuador. And when Jay joins the single's group on a weekend trip to the beach, it turns out to be much more than he bargained for.
Jay gets acquainted with a great group of guys, from married surfer Ransom, to laid back Steve, to straight laced Stephen. Jay and Allie hang out and get to know each other better. She causes him to think a great deal about his goals in life as well as his plans for the future, challenging both his belief in God's hand in his life and his materialistic tendencies. As Jay learns more, he finds himself utterly flabbergasted. His life will never be the same again. This is a light, fun read with a lot of underlying meat. The faith message is strong but not overbearing. Jay is a down-to-earth character who endears himself to the reader from the first page. His transparency makes him a person, with whom anyone can identify. Allie is a solid, strong Christian, whose beliefs are completely opposite to where Jay begins his journey. But she doesn't force anything on him and their friendship is authentic.
I laughed out loud at many scenes in the novel. Ray Blackston is obviously writing from familiarity, because I recognized the single's group I used to attend in his descriptions. I have nothing but good things to say about Flabbergasted, and highly recommend it. I certainly hope to hear more from its author in the future.
Jay gets acquainted with a great group of guys, from married surfer Ransom, to laid back Steve, to straight laced Stephen. Jay and Allie hang out and get to know each other better. She causes him to think a great deal about his goals in life as well as his plans for the future, challenging both his belief in God's hand in his life and his materialistic tendencies. As Jay learns more, he finds himself utterly flabbergasted. His life will never be the same again. This is a light, fun read with a lot of underlying meat. The faith message is strong but not overbearing. Jay is a down-to-earth character who endears himself to the reader from the first page. His transparency makes him a person, with whom anyone can identify. Allie is a solid, strong Christian, whose beliefs are completely opposite to where Jay begins his journey. But she doesn't force anything on him and their friendship is authentic.
I laughed out loud at many scenes in the novel. Ray Blackston is obviously writing from familiarity, because I recognized the single's group I used to attend in his descriptions. I have nothing but good things to say about Flabbergasted, and highly recommend it. I certainly hope to hear more from its author in the future.
October 3, 2014
I do not normally read Christian fiction as I normally find it very lame and pushing an agenda. However, I accidentally started this book and quite enjoyed it. It was a light hearted, easy to read story.
July 16, 2014
Being a lover of stories, I am often known to push through several chapters of a slow read in order to unearth a gem of a book. Pushing through this one, however, lasted far more than several chapters and proved to be much harder than I thought it would. I think the only thing that kept me actually continuing through to the end was the mystery of the main character's love interest and my own wanting to see the story resolve in some pleasant ending. I suppose it did after all, but it took me so long to get there that by the time the resolve actually happened I was only hanging on by my sheer determination to finish what had taken up so much of my time! Sheesh.
May 29, 2025
I loved this way more than I thought I would. I actually put it off for the better part of a year! I am glad to have finally taken the time to read it, my full review is here: https://cindysbookcorner.blogspot.com...
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February 19, 2023A fun and easy read.
May 27, 2025
Y'all! The only thing I am gonna say is, Go right now, and read this book!! I had an awesome time rereading this, Ray Blackston did such an amazing thing when he wrote this book!! 🤩😍
December 24, 2014
I had read some good reviews of this book but I think they read another book and confused it with this one. I very rarely give up on a book but I gave up on this one halfway through the book. The characters seem very one dimensional to me. I don't see where this story is going. I see no reason why Jay is even remotely attracted to Allie, who just acts very odd from the get go. I find nothing endearing about her. What is with her weird behavior? I know plenty of people who have served as missionaries and act perfectly normal when they return. I just don't get how this book got so many good reviews. I am really disappointed, I really wanted to like this book.
August 12, 2014
I probably didn't give this book a fair chance but put it down after only a couple of chapters. I would categorize it as a contemporary Christian romance with humorous overtones. However, do people REALLY act/behave like that? Again, I apologize for my peculiar sensibilities because it is probably a great read for most of you. However it was slow, plodding and boring to me.
October 31, 2017
So boring! Took me two years to finish it.
January 11, 2025
DNF after about 20%. Not bad per se, just not my cup of tea.
June 21, 2022
His brand of humor isn't for everyone, but I found it relatable and engaging. I identified with him so I loved it!
February 20, 2025
Ahh such a good book. Refreshing, hilarious, witty, and nostalgic. I read this book in high school and remembered loving it then, and I loved it just as much now. The cheeky writing style had me smiling the whole way through. (Second half got a little slow, but overall such a good one!)
February 9, 2025
Okay this book is pure nostalgia for me.
It was one of my favourites in high school and rereading it now the sarcasm and humour still found its mark.
It was one of my favourites in high school and rereading it now the sarcasm and humour still found its mark.
January 3, 2023
Very funny!
June 20, 2020
I didn’t think I was going to like this book. A friend had recommended it to me and told me that it was funny, but as I read, I couldn’t see what had been so humorous. Nevertheless, I prevailed, and soon this quirky book took hold of my heart and melted the ice.
Jay is a stockbroker who has almost zero knowledge of the Bible or God. However, after the girl he moved across the country to be with dumps him, Jay enters a Presbyterian church in hopes of finding someone new. Little does he know that the girl he would meet would stretch his mind and be the spark to an adventure that would change the course of his life!
For most of the book, I asked myself when it was going to go somewhere, but by the last eight chapters, something clicked, and everything began making sense. Even that strange quote at the end of the prologue had meaning!
“There are potholes on the road less traveled. Some deep, some not so deep, some you dig yourself. Most are filled with mud. Many contain rocks. Once in a while, however, you’ll be walking along and step on one a bit more accommodating...shabby, green, and pulsing with life. It’ll tickle your feel, like clover.”
Jay is a stockbroker who has almost zero knowledge of the Bible or God. However, after the girl he moved across the country to be with dumps him, Jay enters a Presbyterian church in hopes of finding someone new. Little does he know that the girl he would meet would stretch his mind and be the spark to an adventure that would change the course of his life!
For most of the book, I asked myself when it was going to go somewhere, but by the last eight chapters, something clicked, and everything began making sense. Even that strange quote at the end of the prologue had meaning!
“There are potholes on the road less traveled. Some deep, some not so deep, some you dig yourself. Most are filled with mud. Many contain rocks. Once in a while, however, you’ll be walking along and step on one a bit more accommodating...shabby, green, and pulsing with life. It’ll tickle your feel, like clover.”
August 14, 2011
I think I've decided that I like female authors better than male authors when it comes to fiction. This book was ok, but listening to the romantic details from a man's point of view left me blah and wishing for more. I guess the word "details" is not the right word! But the part I did like was how he slowly came to accept Christ. That part of the story was very realistic and took the whole book to unfold.
October 29, 2017
This author is on my never-again list. The correct title for this book would be “Nothing Happens”.
November 18, 2021
Listened to the audiobook and laughed more than I have with any other book in years.
June 24, 2025
Five Stars!!! Love this book!!!!!
February 14, 2018
I expected this to be funnier. It was entertaining, just not quite as funny as I'd hoped. I've been in a singles group in a church so a lot of this was very familiar. The bit about church-hopping looking for dates was pretty dead-on. I know people who do this periodically (although most church-hop within a chosen religion, not across denominations as some did in the book). The ranking of churches was new to me though.
Allie was my favorite character, even if we didn't see a lot of her. Our society really is too wrapped up in our stuff. Not sure I want to sell it all and live in a hut on skinny stilts in an Ecuadorian rain forest, but I wouldn't mind a trip up the steps the ornithologists built. I've been seriously thinking of selling/donating/giving away most of my stuff and buying a winnie to travel around in. Now that I have a degree and passed my test for certification, there are lots of jobs out there all over the country. The possibilities are endless and I'm getting that itch to move on...
Allie was my favorite character, even if we didn't see a lot of her. Our society really is too wrapped up in our stuff. Not sure I want to sell it all and live in a hut on skinny stilts in an Ecuadorian rain forest, but I wouldn't mind a trip up the steps the ornithologists built. I've been seriously thinking of selling/donating/giving away most of my stuff and buying a winnie to travel around in. Now that I have a degree and passed my test for certification, there are lots of jobs out there all over the country. The possibilities are endless and I'm getting that itch to move on...
December 11, 2021
Fun to read, albeit a bit slow at times due to its slice-of-life nature. The dialogue was entertaining, maybe a teeny bit contrived, but easy to forgive. Vivid imagery and a nice amount of detail- you can tell that the author did a lot of research for his book. (After the story ends, in the acknowledgements section the author spells out where his inspiration came from. I don't usually read this section in books, to be completely honest, but this author's writing is so easy to read and full of easy-going humor that I couldn't stop myself!) The themes are sound- for example, a relationship with God is bigger than anything this world can offer. I loved that this book felt like a honest look at the lives of Christian people and their relationships, even though the story was fictional. (Can I also just add that it was so refreshing to step back in time to the 90s? The references to technology were fun.) I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes to read.
October 30, 2020
I read this some time ago. It was given to me randomly because I was hitting that "dating age." So perhaps I came in with the wrong expectations. But seriously I didn't get the point of this book. I was confused by the story, disappointed by the romance, and found the writing mediocre. Perhaps if I read it again it'd be different, but I really couldn't be bothered. It didn't even leave a "oh I felt happy at the end of that" feeling. I didn't even feel anything at the end of it.
Do note that I'm not an American and I struggle to appreciate a lot of the content they create. So perhaps it is simply that I don't get the cultural references and norms that this book portrays.
Also, if it was trying to get some kind of story across of getting to know Christianity and the gospel, it flew straight over my teenage head. But maybe that's just me.
Anyways. Wouldn't recommend it.
Do note that I'm not an American and I struggle to appreciate a lot of the content they create. So perhaps it is simply that I don't get the cultural references and norms that this book portrays.
Also, if it was trying to get some kind of story across of getting to know Christianity and the gospel, it flew straight over my teenage head. But maybe that's just me.
Anyways. Wouldn't recommend it.
February 3, 2020
Good lord is this book boring.
I was expecting some sort of fun little beach romp, something simplistic yet entertaining. What I got was knocked over the head by religion. This book isn't preachy, but nearly every page has to mention church in some fashion. Not to mention, the female protagonist (the missionary) is so up in her own ass about how great missionary work is, I wanted to throttle her.
I made it just over 200 pages in, but that felt like a marathon. This is one of the few books I've read where I found myself distracted and zoning out every single time I tried to read it. I didn't care about any of the characters and the writing itself was plodding.
Don't be fooled by the bright colors and funny name. This book is snore city.
I was expecting some sort of fun little beach romp, something simplistic yet entertaining. What I got was knocked over the head by religion. This book isn't preachy, but nearly every page has to mention church in some fashion. Not to mention, the female protagonist (the missionary) is so up in her own ass about how great missionary work is, I wanted to throttle her.
I made it just over 200 pages in, but that felt like a marathon. This is one of the few books I've read where I found myself distracted and zoning out every single time I tried to read it. I didn't care about any of the characters and the writing itself was plodding.
Don't be fooled by the bright colors and funny name. This book is snore city.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 294 reviews