No, Joshilyn Jackson is not the Bad Blogger. In fact her blog, Faster than Kudzu, is an incredibly entertaining read. I am the Bad Blogger, because in all of the hullabaloo of New York Observer and radio interviews and daily giveaways and romance diva-ing and secret celebrity/beer news — not to mention that little deadline coming up next month — I completely forgot to tell you all about her latest book, Between, Georgia.
And let me tell you — I am DYING to read this book. I have heard nothing but completely rave (occasionally even raving, slavering, positively lunatic fangirl) reviews of this book. It’s got a starred review from Booklist, a starred review from Kirkus, and is a #1 Booksense Pick. People are LOVING it all over the place. I had a friend call me up the other day and berate me for not having read it yet. And this friend is pretty much the opposite of Southern, so if you think this book is only for folks south of the Mason-Dixon, think again.
This is what it’s about:
There’s always been bad blood between the Fretts and the Crabtrees. After all, the Fretts practically own the tiny town of Between, Georgia, while the Crabtrees only rent space in its jail cells.
Stacia Frett is a deaf artist with a genetic condition that is causing her to slowly go blind. She’s lost the love of her life, and when her vision goes, she’ll lose her career as well. She’s asking God why He keeps her breathing in and out, until the night fifteen year old Hazel Crabtree shows up on her doorstep brandishing a stomach swollen with a pregnancy she’d hidden for nine months. Stacia thinks Hazel’s unwanted baby might be God’s answer, and so the Fretts decide to steal it…
Thirty years later, Nonny Frett is a successful interpreter living in Athens, Georgia. She understands the meanings of “rock” and “hard place” better than any woman ever born. She’s got two mothers, “one deaf-blind and the other four baby steps from flat crazy.” She’s got two men; Her husband is easing out the back door and her best friend is laying siege to her heart in her front yard. She has a job that holds her in the city, and she’s addicted to a little girl who’s stuck deep in the country. And she has two families; The Fretts, who stole her and raised her right, and the Crabtrees, who lost her and can’t forget that they’ve been done wrong.
In Between, Georgia, population 90, the feud that began before Nonny was born is escalating, and a random act of violence will set the torch to a thirty-year old stash of highly flammable secrets. This might be just what the town needs, if only Nonny wasn’t sitting in the middle of it…
Sadly, this is another book I’m not allowed to read until I finish SSG2. A little more than a month, now! So go ahead and read it first. Make me jealous. Grrrrrrr…
(PS: No contest in this comment section. Move along.)
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