Southern as a Second Language

Idgie Says:

This is the third book in a series revolving around a Southern Belle finding her way in life.
 
Leelee has been fun to follow on her life adventures as she moved North, experienced some pretty awesome culture shock and then fled back home again, working to pull her life back together.  I can't believe she's stuck dealing with that idiot ex-husband again.  ;)

As always, I truly enjoy the side characters in her story, they sparkle with personality. 

There's sassiness, sweetness and smarts in this novel and it's a great way to escape your life for a while as you sink into Leelee's.  

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Southern as a Second Language
Author: Lisa Patton
Third in the Dixie Series
Thomas Dunne Books (October 15, 2013)

Book Description:

Not only do Southerners talk slowly, but sometimes the whole language is hard to understand. No one realizes that more than Memphis belle Leelee Satterfield. Since she debuted in Whistlin’ Dixie in a Nor’easter, Leelee has entertained tens of thousands of readers. Watching her tackle life and love in Vermont was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to antics, charades, mischief, and romance. Now that she’s back in Memphis, and starting a new relationship with Peter, the Yankee chef from her New England inn, you’d think she’d sit back and enjoy her newly crafted life back home in Dixie. But that just wouldn’t be as much fun.

Opening up a new restaurant with Peter isn’t as easy as she had anticipated, especially when it comes to the differences between the North and the South. When Leelee’s ex-husband, Baker, returns unexpectedly, everything else goes haywire. Throw her three crazy best friends into the mix; Riley, her meddlesome next-door neighbor who sells Pampered Chef for a living; and Kissie, Leelee’s beloved second mother who claims Riley sits on her “last raw nerve,” and you have the perfect recipe for a sassy, Southern delicacy.

Southern as a Second Language is an endearing and chuckle-inducing tale that keeps us guessing up to the very last page how it all works out in the end. Whether among maple trees in Vermont or magnolia-filled Memphis, Leelee’s charm, heart, and laughter will delight readers in any climate.

The Heavens Rise

Idgie Says:
I was excited when I received this book as I don't often get creepy, supernatural type books and they're fun to read.  It did start off with a lot of promise and I was sucked in quickly, but about halfway through I felt that it started to lose it's way a bit.  The story devolved into half-hearted explanations of what was going on and how it occurred.  To me it went from creepy to borderline fantasy-based. By the end of the novel I had the "head-tilt" going on while explanations were being shared with the reader as to what was happening.  I will say I did finish the book, I did want to know what happens in the end..... I just didn't necessarily "get it."

Again, just my opinion.

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The Heavens Rise
Author: Christopher Rice
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Gallery Books (October 15, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1476716080

Book Description:

New York Times bestselling author Christopher Rice brilliantly conjures the shadowed terrors of the Louisiana bayou—where three friends confront a deadly, ancient evil rising to the surface—in this intense and atmospheric new supernatural thriller.

It’s been a decade since the Delongpre family vanished near Bayou Rabineaux, and still no one can explain the events of that dark and sweltering night. No one except Niquette Delongpre, the survivor who ran away from the mangled stretch of guardrail on Highway 22 where the impossible occurred…and kept on running. Who left behind her best friends, Ben and Anthem, to save them from her newfound capacity for destruction…and who alone knows the source of her very bizarre—and very deadly—abilities: an isolated strip of swampland called Elysium.

An accomplished surgeon, Niquette’s father dreamed of transforming the dense acreage surrounded by murky waters into a palatial compound befitting the name his beloved wife gave to it, Elysium: “the final resting place for the heroic and virtuous.” Then, ten years ago, construction workers dug into a long-hidden well, one that snaked down into the deep, black waters of the Louisiana swamp and stirred something that had been there for centuries—a microscopic parasite that perverts the mind and corrupts the body.

Niquette is living proof that things done can’t be undone. Nothing will put her family back together again. And nothing can save her. But as Niquette, Ben, and Anthem uncover the truth of a devastating parasite that has the potential to alter the future of humankind, Niquette grasps the most chilling truths of all: someone else has been infected too. And unlike her, this man is not content to live in the shadows. He is intent to use his newfound powers for one reason only: revenge.

When Will The Heaven Begin

Idgie Says: 
I didn't have it in me to read this story, inspirational as it.  As a mother with three teens, I wasn't ready to touch this.  But if you're stronger than I am, you may really get something from this book.  Chock full of photos of Ben and his family - what a beautiful boy he was, inside and out.

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When Will The Heaven Begin
This is Ben Breedlove's Story
Told by Ally Breedlove and Ken Abraham
Publisher NAL, October 29, 2013

Do you believe in Angels or God?  I do.  With those two sentences, Ben Breedlove touched the lives of 12 million people around the world. In the two-part video on YouTube entitled “This is My Story (part 1 and part 2),” Ben used note cards to movingly tell the story of living with a life-threatening heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), and the four times he “cheated death.” Now for the first time ever, Ben’s oldest sister Ally Breedlove is here to share his story.

Just seven days later, after uploading his video at the age of eighteen, Ben suffered cardiac arrest and passed away on Christmas Day 2011.  Upon his passing, his family and close friends discovered the gift that Ben left behind, the moving and intimate videos that confirmed Ben’s belief in heaven.  They began to read the thousands of heartfelt comments left by viewers from around the globe.

The video quickly went viral, and Ben’s hopeful message of positivity, faith, and peace inspired millions of people.  The incredible story was picked up by media outlets around the world, including Good Morning America, The Early Show, MTV News, People, and The Huffington Post.  To date, “This Is My Story” has received more than 12 million views and Ben’s YouTube channels have 100,000 dedicated subscribers.

In WHEN WILL THE HEAVEN BEGIN? This is Ben Breedlove’s Story (New American Library; October 29, 2013; simultaneous hardcover and trade paperback publication; HC: $24.95/TR: $15), Ben’s older sister Ally Breedlove shares memories of growing up with Ben, whose illness never kept him from being “just a regular kid,” and recalls the close relationship enjoyed by the entire Breedlove family. Ben’s parents, Deanne and Shawn, allowed him the freedom to live his life fully, encouraging his love of wakeboarding and wake surfing and supporting the video production and filmmaking he started as a young boy.

WHEN WILL THE HEAVEN BEGIN? is the remarkable and uplifting story of Ben Breedlove’s short life—a loving testament to the power of faith and family that only Ben’s sister could tell.  It is a beautiful family memoir, a touching tribute to a courageous young man, and sure to be a source of comfort for readers searching to know what follows our lives on Earth.

Co-written with Ken Abraham—who has collaborated on several New York Times bestsellers, including Lisa Beamer’s Let’s Roll and Joel Osteen’s Your Best Life Now—When Will the Heaven Begin? is a touching and inspirational story about one young man’s short but full life that will appeal to readers of Proof of Heaven and Heaven is For Real.

Inspiring and poignant, WHEN WILL THE HEAVEN BEGIN? is ultimately about living each day to the fullest, and keeping faith and hope alive. 

The Melody of Secrets

Idgie Says:
Jeffrey has a special talent.  He takes the most mundane task or event and describes it in such a technicolor manner that you can feel the breeze, smell the clean linen, while also being able to embrace the character's every emotion.  This is his third book and he doesn't disappoint. Once again the story practically jumps from the page.  I was drawn into Maria's life from page one.  

Set in Alabama, you not only stay on the edge of your seat as Maria deals with the secrets that have been hidden so long slowly unraveling in front of her in regards to her past in Germany, the camps, her husband's possible SS affiliation and the love she lost at 18 suddenly walking back into her life.... but  she also sets herself directly in the middle of a race relations situation.  Who better to try to make a change than a woman that watched human beings sent to death camps for the color of their hair?

 I read this book in a single sitting, unable to put it down and wait for the next day to find enough time to finish it.  It might at first come across as a long lost love story, but it's much more than that. 

I definitely recommend it.

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The Melody of Secrets
Jeffrey Stepakoff
Thomas Dunne Books (October 29, 2013)

Book Description:

Jeffrey Stepakoff's The Melody of Secrets is an epic love story set against the 1960s U.S. space program, when deeply-buried secrets could threaten not just a marriage, but a country.

Maria was barely eighteen as WWII was coming to its explosive end. A brilliant violinist, she tried to comfort herself with the Sibelius Concerto as American bombs rained down. James Cooper wasn't much older. A roguish fighter pilot stationed in London, he was shot down during a daring night raid and sought shelter in Maria’s cottage.

Fifteen years later, in Huntsville, Alabama, Maria is married to a German rocket scientist who works for the burgeoning U.S. space program. Her life in the South is at peace, purposefully distanced from her past. Everything is as it should be—until James Cooper walks back into it.

Pulled from the desert airfield where he was testing planes no sane Air Force pilot would touch, and drinking a bit too much, Cooper is offered the chance to work for the government, and move himself to the front of the line for the astronaut program. He soon realizes that his job is to report not only on the rocket engines but also on the scientists developing them. Then Cooper learns secrets that could shatter Maria’s world...

Mother of Rain

Idgie Says:
This is such a sad story.  So many times the characters in this story work hard to rise above their circumstances and make a better life for themselves and their family only to be knocked down again.  It's a sad novel, but a strong one.  These people live in a world where being weak is not allowed. 

The overwhelming theme of this novel is the strength and endurance of  the characters.  No matter what happens, they strive to overcome and survive.  Even a deeply saddening event, while horrific in the telling, occurs to help ensure the safety of others.  These people don't think twice about stepping up and doing what needs to be done.  They depend on each other and their wits to survive.

A deeply gripping novel  with a strong sense of place and time that you don't want to miss.


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Mother of Rain
Author: Karen Spears Zacharias
Publisher: Mercer University Press
Publication Date: September 4, 2013

Book Description:

"Maizee Hurd was an easy target for hard times," according to Burdy Luttrell, the town healer. Burdy is a Melungeon woman with striking features and mysterious ways who owns the land the Hurds leased following their marriage on June 3, 1940.

Maizee moved upriver at the age of ten after tragedy struck, and she was sent off to be raised by a childless aunt and her doctor husband. Shortly after Maizee's arrival in the rural mountain community of Christian Bend--carrying only a small suitcase, her mama's Bible, and her doll Hitty--the young girl began hearing voices.

It was the tender love of her husband Zeb and their shared passion for the Appalachian hills and rivers of East Tennessee that helped quiet the voices. But, as Zeb prepares for deployment, Maizee's life is rocked by the ripples of World War II. Despite the love that carried her through the birth of their son, Rain, and the boy's subsequent illness that rendered him deaf, Maizee can't silence the demons in her own head.