Thank you,NetGalley and Harper Muse for this ARC. I thought this was going to be a light hearted and fun book which is what I was in the mood for.

Posey isn't happy with her life. She wasn't happy with her husband or their lifestyle. She wanted more and thought she was better than everyone else. Her daughter seemed to be trapped under her controlling mother, but at least her father supported her with her dreams.

Now the book didn't end the way I thought it was going to. I felt like the last couple of chapters were the best part of the book. Just wish it had that pace throughout the book.

*4.5 stars

This was a great debut. This ended up being much more than what I thought it was going to be. I was expecting a comedy, but it went a little darker. Posey is a woman who has spent her life wanting something more & not appreciating what she had. A stable home, a kind husband, & a devoted daughter. Instead she pined for years for a man who wasn’t her husband, wanting to be rich and a huge house. Well……Posey is about to learn a few things. Is she a little narcissistic? Oh, yes. Entertaining to watch her mess her life up though.

Mom wants to manage every aspect of daughter’s life. Daughter realizes she can’t follow the path her mother has chosen for her.

The book grabbed me from the first page and I found myself looking forward to having some alone time with the story. I despised Posey from the very beginning, while admiring her at the same time for being a strong woman and a go getter. I was rooting for Callie Jane the entire time, hoping she’d found her way.

The Empress of Cooke County by Elizabeth Bass Parman was a great book to read on a lazy Sunday - I didn't want to put it down and spent the entire day immersing myself in Cooke County and Posey's world.

Posey imagines that she is the Empress of Cooke County and that everyone is basically there to give her what she wants, when she wants and if not, she tries to manipulate the people and situations so that she gets what she wants, especially her husband and daughter.

When she unexpectedly inherits a crumbling old mansion, she maneuvers it so that she will host the upcoming class reunion at the mansion, and her moves to get it ready in time end up with her life crumbling around her.

As the daughter of someone from the South, I could relate to so many of the secondary characters in this book and it was fun (even when it shouldn't have been). I so enjoyed Callie Jane finding her voice and gumption in the face of changing her life due to what everyone else once and Posey getting her comeuppance.

All of this together is a great read and I want to read more from this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in return for an honest review.

I loved the Empress of Cooke County and happily read it in 12 hours. Posey Jarvis fancies herself the empress of Cooke County. She certainly has an opinion on everything expecting her daughter Callie Jane and husband Vern to fall in line with whatever she dictates. She demands her daughter marry her childhood friend, and her husband leave his family home to move to a bigger, more prestigious place. In her mind that is. When her family and friends start to say no and see through her, Posey’s self appointed kingdom starts to crumble which makes the novel. Funny, poignant, set in the south, this is a book to be throughly enjoyed.