It must be summer because there is a new Dorothea Benton Frank book to enjoy!

Reading a book by Dorothea Benton Frank is like sitting on your comfy couch, wearing your jammies and sipping a glass of good wine. It just feels good! in the Hurricane Sisters, we meet three generations of women all of whom are going through a crisis of one kind or another and who feels that they are the only one who is keeping it together. Liz is dealing with her semi-crazy mother, a daughter who won't listen to her and seems to be slipping away and a marriage that is not quite right for reason's she isn't totally sure of. Matriarch Maisie is living in sin with a younger man (sixties compared to her eighty), worried about her daughter and granddaughter all the while feeling put upon by their restrictions. Lastly, Ashley is living in her parent's beach house with her best friend and considering possibly illegal parties to make some money. At the same time she has met the man who might be the one except for some niggling doubts about his true character.
As in all of DBF's books. there is a rich back story that plays out in present time because of the effects the past has on every things that happens. There is a strong theme of domestic violence that slithers under the entire story and comes out in a real shocker in the end for all three women.

I loved this book and all of the twists and turns and glimpses of the everyday lives of a family of interesting folk. And there is llama drama! Great summer read that I couldn't put down until I got to the end.

The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank- One of my favorite authors!

Leslie Anne Greene Carter is The Last Original Wife among her husband Wesley’s wildly successful Atlanta social set. His cronies have all traded in the mothers of their children they promised to love and cherish—’til death did them part—for tanned and toned young Barbie brides.

If losing the social life and close friends she adored wasn’t painful enough, a series of setbacks shake Les’s world and push her to the edge. She’s had enough of playing the good wife to a husband who thinks he’s doing her a favor by keeping her around. She’s not going to waste another minute on people she doesn’t care to know. Now, she’s going to take some time for herself—in the familiar comforts and stunning beauty of Charleston, her beloved hometown. In her brother’s stately historic home, she’s going to reclaim the carefree girl who spent lazy summers sharing steamy kisses with her first love on Sullivans Island. Along Charleston’s live oak- and palmetto-lined cobblestone streets, under the Lowcountry’s dazzling blue sky, Les will indulge herself with icy cocktails, warm laughter, divine temptation and bittersweet memories. Daring to listen to her inner voice, she will realize what she wants . . . and find the life of which she’s always dreamed.

4.5 hearts

When a woman falls and spends 45 minutes in an empty catch basin on a trip to Scotland, you know that things are not going to well in her life. Leslie Carter has seen her friends get cast off by their husbands for wife 2.0 until she feels like she is the LAST original wife.  She has had to put up with dinners and events with these younger women and then finds herself on vacation with the replacement wife for her best friend. Her husband, Wesley has dreamt all of his life about golfing at St. Andrews and off the foursome goes to Scotland.  When Les has her accident, the rest of the group keeps walking back to the hotel and doesn’t even realize she is missing. After she is located, Wes leaves her at the hospital so he doesn’t miss his tee time.

Back home, Les realizes that her life has not turned out to be what she expected it to be. Yes, she is still married but it’s a marriage by rote not of passion or caring. Her two adult children are irresponsible and users.  Wes is a controlling guy and has no appreciation for what Les has done for him over the years.  She discovers that financially they are in a much better situation than she was aware of and this is the impetus for her to take a trip to Charleston to visit her brother.   Les has time to think and really assess what her life means and what she really wants to do with her future.

So many books lately feature the discarded wife being screwed by her cheating ex and having to rebuild her life on nothing but pluck.  Then she gets financial revenge and a new man and everything is great.  I love a good revenge plot as well as the next person, (Note: Pawley’s Island by this author is one of the absolute best of that genre) but this book is different. Les decides to take a break from her marriage after a period of reflection and increased self-awareness. She does meet up with an old flame but that is not the answer to her problems. Les needs to see what it is about herself that put her in the position she is presently in.  How did she become ok with settling for less than she deserved? Why does she let other people make her feel that her wants and needs are less important than her husband’s and children’s? Is fear of what your life will be without your marriage a good enough reason to stay?

Wes is not really a bad guy, just self-absorbed and oblivious.   When the couple goes to counseling, the real difference between them is highlighted.  Les wants to find out if this marriage can be saved and Wes just wants his old life back with no changes on his end.

There is an interesting side story about a woman writer from earlier times in Charleston in whose story Les becomes interested. The descriptions of the “Barbie” wives are funny and pathetic at the same time. One of Ms. Frank’s skills is how she defines her characters and integrates the Southern mystique into her books. I thought that this book was a little less South-centric than some of her other books.   That said, I enjoyed reading this book but I expected no less from one of my favorite authors.

Ladies' Night by Mary Kay Andrews

Rising media star and lifestyle blogger Grace Stanton’s own life gets torpedoed after she drives her cheating husband’s pricey sports car straight into the family swimming pool in a fit of anger. Soon she’s locked out of her own palatial home, checking account, and blog, forced to move in with her widowed mother who lives above, and owns, The Sandbar, a rundown beach bar. Attending court-mandated weekly “divorce recovery” therapy sessions with a group of three other women—marital misfits whose only common denominator is betrayal—Grace and the women soon ditch their therapist and move their Wednesday “Ladies’ Night” sessions to The Sandbar. They begin to help each other, walking a fine line between revenge and justice, as each one finds closure in ways previously unimagined. Can Grace figure out a new way home and how strong she needs to be to get there? ( synopsis from Mary Kay Andrews.com)

I started this book on audio and had to switch to the book because it was making me crazy that it was going so slow. Not the story, just listening to it.  Once I got the actual book, I really enjoyed the story. My only quibble; for a smart person, the heroine was a bit of a doormat after she caught her hubby Ben "being assisted" by her assistant J’Aime.  My aggravation level dropped once she got divorced and had to start rebuilding her life.

Grace loses everything, her husband, blog, and lifestyle after catching her hubby in the act and then destroying his car in a hissy fit (LOL). While she is licking her wounds, he is neatly taking everything away from her and even sabotaging her efforts to recoup her life. She ends up in a touchy feely anger management group with a bunch of other divorced people who had the misfortune of having their cases heard by the same judge. The best part of the story takes place from this point onward as Grace discovers a way to get her self-esteem and even her career back on track.  I like that she realizes that she doesn't need all of the expensive and fashionable things which defined her life and even her blog before the divorce.  Grace gets back to her essential self and rediscovers the joy in rehabbing a  small vintage house not a mcmansion.

She meets Wyatt in her divorce group and they make a real connection after some false starts. He has also been taken for a ride by his ex, but he has a child involved, which makes it worse.  The members of the group start to figure out that there is something fishy going on with their so-called therapist and the judge that heard their cases.  The ways that the group investigates the situation add some real humor to the book.  There are also parts that show just how toxic divorce can really be if the parties don’t work hard to prevent that from happening even after the court hearing is over.

I have to say that Ms. Andrews is a nicer person than I am because I think that Ben and J’Aime don’t suffer enough in the end. But, that is really the lesson that we learn in a divorce.  I remember reading in a book something about the anger you keep in your heart leaving less room for love to come in. Grace learns that lesson and is the better person for learning it.

PS… Now that I have read the book, I am going to re-listen to it because the narrator really did a good job.  It wasn’t her fault that I was too impatient to wait and enjoy the book.

The Biscuit Witch by Deborah Smith

Biscuit witches, Mama called them. She’d heard the term as a girl. She’d inherited that talent. My mother could cast spells on total strangers simply by setting a plate of her biscuits in front of them.–Tal MacBride

Welcome back to the Crossroads Cove where new loves, old feuds, and poignant mysteries will challenge siblings Tal, Gabby, and Gus MacBride to fight for the home they lost and to discover just how important their family once was, and still is, to the proud people of the Appalachian highlands.
Tallulah MacBride hasn’t been back to North Carolina since their parents’ tragic deaths, twenty years ago. But now, Tal heads to cousin Delta Whittlespoon’s famous Crossroads Café in the mountains above Asheville, hoping to find a safe hiding place for her young daughter, Eve.
What she finds is Cousin Delta gone, the café in a biscuit crisis, and a Scotsman, who refuses to believe she’s passing through instead of "running from.” He believes she needs a knight in shining flannel.
When a pair of sinister private eyes show up, Tal’s troubles are just beginning.
For Tal’s brother and sister—Gabby, the Pickle Queen, and Gus, the Kitchen Charmer—the next part of the journey will lead down forgotten roads and into beautiful but haunted legacies.( synopsis from BelleBridge Books.com)

I have been a huge fan of Deborah Smith’s books for years. Her newest book, The Biscuit Witch, takes place in the same small town as one of her previous books.   It’s been about six years since her last book and I was so excited to find out that she is writing a  new series of three novellas about the MacBride siblings. 

In this first book, Tal MacBride and her daughter Eve make their way to the small town where her fellow biscuit witch and cousin Delia owns the Crossroads Café. On the run from her ex-lover and trumped up legal issues, she doesn’t plan to stay in town but merely to make a short visit before moving on.  When the first encounter she has in town is with a bear trying to eat cupcakes out of her back seat and lick frosting off her knees, she has her first inkling that things aren’t going to go as planned.  Tal is saved by local veterinarian Doug Firth, a few hundred sheep, a goat named Teasel and two gay women who run a shelter/farm for abused women.

While in Asheville, Tal finds herself drawn to the easy going Doug and becomes part of the fabric of the town. She discovers that the town holds the key to her future and the answers to some big questions about her family’s past.

I loved this book.  The romance between Tal and Doug is sweet and unfolds perfectly. There are quirky town folk who are part of the healing that happens for both Tal and Doug. There are parts of the book that will just make you laugh out loud (I will never look at fondant in the same way again) and parts where you just feel like you would love to live in Asheville and be part of the community.

Since this is the first book in a trilogy, it sets up the next book by ending with a mini cliffhanger. I can’t wait for the book to come out!

Folly Beach by Dorothea Benton Frank

Home is the place that knows us best. . . .
A woman returns to the past to find her future in this enchanting new tale of loss, acceptance, family, and love.
With its sandy beaches and bohemian charms, surfers and suits alike consider Folly Beach to be one of South Carolina's most historic and romantic spots. It is also the land of Cate Cooper's childhood, the place where all the ghosts of her past roam freely. Cate never thought she'd wind up in this tiny cottage named the Porgy House on this breathtakingly lovely strip of coast. But circumstances have changed, thanks to her newly dead husband whose financial—and emotional—bull and mendacity have left Cate homeless, broke, and unmoored.
Yet Folly Beach holds more than just memories. Once upon a time another woman found unexpected bliss and comfort within its welcoming arms. An artist, writer, and colleague of the revered George Gershwin, Dorothy Heyward enjoyed the greatest moments of her life at Folly with her beloved husband, DuBose. And though the Heywards are long gone, their passion and spirit lingers in every mango sunset and gentle ocean breeze.
And for Cate, Folly, too, holds the promise of unexpected fulfillment when she is forced to look at her life and the zany characters that are her family anew. To her surprise, she will discover that you can go home again. Folly Beach doesn't just hold the girl she once was . . . it also holds the promise of the woman she's always wanted—and is finally ready—to become. (Synopsis from HarperCollins.com)


Dorothea Benton Frank does it again! Her latest book tells the story of Cate Cooper, a widow whose husband left her broke, humiliated, and with a soiled piano ( you'll understand once you read it). She heads down South to Folly Beach to stay with her crotchety Aunt Daisy and Daisy's partner Ella.These two ladies are wonderfully drawn characters! Cate goes to live in a cottage once owned by a couple who worked with George Gershwin on one of his musicals. Each chapter starts with a vignette about Dorothy Heywood and her husband Dubose, all of which tell a sub-story in itself. Cate finds the inspiration to start a new life, career, and romance on Folly Beach. I especially enjoyed her interaction with her son Russ and his obnoxious wife, Alice. As usually happens when I finish one of Ms. Benton Frank's books, I want to head for the beaches of South Carolina and soak up the south and all of its ways !

RPL Notes: This book can be found in the Adult New fiction section. It will be available soon as an audiobook as well. We have several of Dorothea Benton Frank's earlier books in the Adult Fiction section and on the Audio CD shelves.