Gods In Alabama - Joshilyn Jackson

Rating:4 Tell a Friend over a Derby Pie (ääää)

Pages: 320

Challenges: Summer Thing

Review (from BN.com)

When Arlene Fleet headed off to college in Chicago, she made three promises to God: She would never again lie, never fornicate outside of marriage, and never, ever go back to her tiny hometown of Possett, Alabama (the "fourth rack of Hell"). All God had to do in exchange was to make sure the body of high school quarterback Jim Beverly was never found. Ten years later, Arlene has kept her promises, but an old schoolmate has recently turned up asking questions. And now Arlene’s African American beau has given her a tough ultimatum: introduce him to her family, or he’s gone. As she prepares to confront guilt, discrimination, and a decade of deception, Arlene is about to discover just how far she will go to find redemption--and love.

Review

If you like books on relationships you will love this book! It's not your average relationship book. There is a love interest but that isn't the interesting relationship. There is also a mystery - what happened 10 years ago to drive Arlene away and why has she made a deal with God...and is the mystery really what she thinks it is? This is one of those books that is hard to put down. I enjoyed this one much better than The Girl Who Went Swimming.

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming - Joshilyn Jackson

Rating: 3 Will make a good movie (···)

Pages: 320

Challenges: Pub Challenge, Summer Thing

Synopsis (from BN.com)
Laurel Gray Hawthorne needs to make things pretty, whether she's helping her mother make sure the literal family skeleton stays in the closet or turning scraps of fabric into nationally acclaimed art quilts. Her estranged sister Thalia, an impoverished Actress with a capital A, is her polar opposite, priding herself on exposing the lurid truth lurking behind middle class niceties. While Laurel's life seems neatly on track--a passionate marriage, a treasured daughter, and a lovely home in suburban Victorianna--everything she holds dear is suddenly thrown into question the night she is visited by the ghost of a her 13-year old neighbor Molly Dufresne. The ghost leads Laurel to the real Molly floating lifelessly in the Hawthorne's backyard pool. Molly's death is inexplicable--an unseemly mystery Laurel knows no one in her whitewashed neighborhood is up to solving. Only her wayward, unpredictable sister is right for the task, but calling in a favor from Thalia is like walking straight into a frying pan protected only by Crisco. Enlisting Thalia's help, Laurel sets out on a life-altering journey that triggers startling revelations about her family's guarded past, the true state of her marriage, and the girl who stopped swimming.

Review

I really liked the characters in the book and the funny happenings with Laurel's back woods relatives. I also liked the relationship with her and her sister and I thought that the mysteries developed well!