This book wasn't for me and it isn't because of the premise or the story the author was trying to tell it was how she was telling it. Firstly, I already knew this book was going to rub me the wrong way when the author describes a Black woman as having molasses skin. Comparing Black people to food is something that rubs me the wrong way. I would have been 100% content on the author simply saying the Black housekeeper, who had a chance to leave to a better/different life but couldn't make it and decided to come back. Granted I don't really like that either but that is what it is.

This book is Southern down to how everyone talks. For instance, have you ever watched Spongebob Squarepants and heard Sandy speak? How she always say some form of metaphor to describe what she is going to? i.e. "I'll be there faster than a jack rabbit in heat" This was all of the book and it got tiring very fast. Again this book is extremely Southern more specifically extremely white Southern. Do I have an issue with this? Absolutely not. This was a story that has way more truth in it than a reader would initially think.

I loved the fact that it is told in different perspectives, so the reader gets the full story. I loved the details of this book but I struggled with wording and the setting.

Overall, I know that there are some readers that would love this book. I just don't happen to be one of them.

2 Pickles

I am hooked on Kristy Woodson Harvey’s southern charm. While reading I was actually hearing the characters with southern accents, picturing them in their houses with wraparound porches, and drinking sweet tea.

The Secret to Southern Charm is the second book in The Peachtree Bluff Series. I think that the books are better read in order. Book two starts off exactly where book one ended. The storyline continues with Ansley, Caroline, Sloane, and Emerson all back in Georgia together.

We learn about Sloane’s life as a military wife and the fears she had when she was first married. I saw Sloane’s strength when dealing with her husband’s MIA status, while she needed a little push to get out of her own head and back into the real world I could see her figuring out how to put one foot in front of the other getting back to living. She took care of her children, she painted again, and she found out what was missing of herself even before the MIA.

While this is mostly Sloane’s story the spotlight is shared with the rest of her family. I loved catching up with Ansley and her long ago love Jack, seeing Emerson and Mark being together, and watching Caroline figure out if James is who she is meant to be with. These are storylines that are not quite done. There is more in store for each of these characters.

I am excited for more of Peachtree Bluff series and the amazing Southern Charm.