Download or read book Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes written by Cathy Holton and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2007-06-26 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: kud • zu \kud-zü\ n: a ubiquitous vine/weed found in Southern climes that, left uncontrolled, will grow over any fixed object in its path, including trees, power lines, and the entire state of Georgia. deb•u•tante \de-byu-tänt\ n: a young woman making a debut into society, easily spotted in white dress and pearl necklace. Common names include Muffy, Bootsy, and Bunny. Eadie Boone is no shrinking violet. An artist and former beauty queen who married into one of the first families of Ithaca, Georgia, she tackles everything with gusto and flair. But tailing her wayward husband proves to be, well, an exasperating chore. If only Trevor would just see the light, dump his twenty-two-year-old hussy, and return home, Eadie’s creative energy could be put to better use. Now all she has to do is convince him. Nita Broadwell, a good Southern girl from a good Southern family, is jolted out of complacency when she discovers condoms in her husband’s shirt pocket (“Maybe he’d found them on the ground and picked them up”). Between clinging to denial and dodging her overbearing mother-in-law, Nita is also trying to break her addiction to steamy bodice-ripper novels. Only now it appears she’s authoring her own real-life romance tale with a hunky handyman thirteen years her junior. Lavonne Zibolsky–a transplanted Yankee, bless her heart–is saddled with planning the annual Broadwell & Boone law firm party. That and her lackluster marriage have her seeking solace in the contents of her refrigerator. If she could just put down the Rocky Road ice cream and peach pie, she might get around to finding a caterer, dropping sixty pounds, and figuring out how to fall in love with her husband again. Not necessarily in that order. Bonded by years of friendship, these three women discover what else they have in common: lying, cheating spouses. So they heed their collective betrayals as a wake-up call and band together to exact sweet revenge. The take-charge trio will see to it that the punishment is just, exquisitely humiliating, and downright hilarious. Cathy Holton’s debut novel is a delicious yarn of friendship and marriage, secrets and retribution, and how nothing stays hidden for long. Against a Southern backdrop of gentility and decorum, Revenge of the Kudzu Debutantes dares to abandon Junior League social graces in ways that would make even Scarlett O’Hara blush. "It’s great fun reading about these women as they trade their tea for tequila and get smart, get out, and get even, with amusing, and surprising results." --Nancy Thayer, author of The Hot Flash Club "Sly, smart, and full of great characters -- and then there’s that sweet, sweet revenge. Getting even has never been so creative. Or delicious." --Louise Shaffer, author of The Ladies of Garrison Gardens

Download or read book Beach Trip written by Cathy Holton and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2010-06-22 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Break out the tissues, sunblock, and margarita mix as four friends reunite after twenty-three years for a beach party in [this] feast of Southern friendship. . . . [Cathy] Holton refreshes the action with winning humor.”—Publishers Weekly Mel, Sara, Annie, and Lola have traveled diverse paths since their years together at a small Southern liberal arts college during the early 1980s. Mel, a mystery writer living in New York, is grappling with the aftermath of two failed marriages and a stalled writing career. Sara, an Atlanta attorney, struggles with her own slowly unraveling marriage. Annie, a successful Nashville businesswoman married to her childhood sweetheart, can’t seem to leave behind the regrets of her youth. And sweet-tempered Lola whiles away her hours—and her husband’s money—on little pills that keep her happy. Now the friends, all in their forties, converge on Lola’s lavish North Carolina beach house in an attempt to relive the carefree days of their college years. But as the week wears on and each woman’s hidden story is gradually revealed, these four friends learn that they must inevitably confront their shared past, and a secret that threatens to change their bond, and their lives, forever. “A brilliant, bubbly, bracing novel . . . packed with hilarity and heartache.”—Wichita Falls Times Record News

Download or read book Summer in the South written by Cathy Holton and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2011-05-24 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cathy Holton, author of the popular Beach Trip, returns with an intriguing and mysterious tale of dark deeds and family secrets in a small Southern town. After a personal tragedy, Chicago writer Ava Dabrowski quits her job to spend the summer in Woodburn, Tennessee, at the invitation of her old college friend Will Fraser and his two great-aunts, Josephine and Fanny Woodburn. Her charming hosts offer Ava a chance to relax at their idyllic ancestral estate, Woodburn Hall, while working on her first novel. But Woodburn is anything but quiet: Ancient feuds lurk just beneath its placid surface, and modern-day rivalries emerge as Ava finds herself caught between the competing attentions of Will and his black-sheep cousin Jake. Fascinated by the family’s impressive history—their imposing house filled with treasures, and their mingling with literary lions Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner—Ava stumbles onto rumors about the darker side of the Woodburns’ legacy. Putting aside her planned novel, she turns her creative attentions to the eccentric and tragic clan, a family with more skeletons (and ghosts) in their closets than anyone could possibly imagine. As Ava struggles to write the true story of the Woodburns, she finds herself tangled in the tragic history of a mysterious Southern family whose secrets mirror her own.

Download or read book Solace Island written by Meg Tilly and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A contemporary novel with a strong suspense element from Oscar-nominated actress Meg Tilly set on a peaceful island village in the Pacific Northwest. Dumped on the eve of her wedding and looking for a quiet place to lick her emotional wounds, Maggie Harris joins her sister on Solace Island, where she hopes to recover from the stunning betrayal. At first, Maggie resists Eve's impassioned argument about relocating permanently so the sisters can open their own local bakery. What she definitely doesn't need on her road to recovery are Eve's efforts to fix her up with their mysterious and alluring neighbor, Luke Benson--even if he is incredibly handsome and desirable. Just as Maggie starts to get comfortable in her new surroundings, a car tries to run her down in the middle of the street. If it weren't for Luke's extremely quick reflexes, Maggie could have been killed, leading her to wonder just who exactly Luke Benson really is... Luke thought he'd left the violence of the high risk security world behind. But he can't stand by while Maggie's life is threatened. Luke will do anything to keep her safe--even moving Maggie and her sister into his house with its state-of-the-art security features. But with the secrets between them and an unknown threat stalking her heels, Luke will have to think fast to prove to Maggie that she can trust him with her life--and with her heart.

Download or read book The Secret Lives of the Kudzu Debutantes written by Cathy Holton and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2008-12-10 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cotillion: A formal gathering of bright young women on the verge of entering adulthood, the society pages, and prospective high-tax-bracket marriages. Think a Civil War reenactment with crisp, clean white dresses. Catfight: An impromptu gathering of not-so-young women on the verge of losing their cool. Think a cotillion with hair-pulling. It’s been more than a year since the Kudzu Debutantes exacted sweet, merciless revenge on their cheating husbands, but the repercussions are still palpable throughout Ithaca, Georgia: Nita is anxiously preparing herself for marriage to Jimmy Lee, a man thirteen years her junior; Lavonne, despite having dropped her husband–and eighty pounds–and launched her own business, longs for love; and while Eadie remains married to Trevor, she feels more neglected than ever. So the occasion of Nita’s second wedding seems like just the ticket to cheer up the disconsolate Debs. But they’ve made a formidable enemy in Virginia Broadwell, first lady of Ithaca and the bride’s ex-mother-in-law. Hell-bent on vengeance and determined to restore old-school social mores, Virginia hatches a plan so devious it makes her pedicured toes curl in anticipation. Soon enough, the women are knocked for a loop–but you can keep a Kudzu Debutante down for only so long. The one thing stronger than Virginia’s wrath is the bond between the three friends, who soon learn that one of Virginia’s Jimmy Choos contains an irresistible Achilles’ heel. With spirit, wit, and down-home gumption, the take-no-prisoners trio decides it’s time to ditch their cotillion manners as they rally to save Nita’s marriage, Lavone’s business, Eadie’s sanity . . . and the honor of Kudzu Debs the world over. Packed with authentic Southern flavor and characters as colorful as an azalea in full bloom, The Secret Lives of the Kudzu Debutantes serves up stinging one-liners and earthy wisdom in equal measure.

Download or read book The Supremes at Earl s All You Can Eat written by Edward Kelsey Moore and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-03-12 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STREAMING ON HULU • A warmhearted, "complex, believable, and always intriguing story” (The New York Journal of Books) that celebrates female friendship and second chances This diner in Plainview, Indiana is home away from home for Odette, Clarice, and Barbara Jean. Dubbed "The Supremes" by high school pals in the tumultuous 1960s, they’ve weathered life’s storms for over four decades and counseled one another through marriage and children, happiness and the blues Now, however, they’re about to face their most challenging year yet. Proud, talented Clarice is struggling to keep up appearances as she deals with her husband’s humiliating infidelities; beautiful Barbara Jean is rocked by the tragic reverberations of a youthful love affair; and fearless Odette is about to embark on the most terrifying battle of her life. With wit, style and sublime talent, Edward Kelsey Moore brings together three devoted allies in a warmhearted novel that celebrates female friendship and second chances.

Download or read book The Book of Polly written by Kathy Hepinstall and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-03-14 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For readers of Saving CeeCee Honeycutt, Joshilyn Jackson, and Fannie Flagg, with a touch of Terms of Endearment A laugh-out-loud funny yet poignant novel about a daughter determined not only to keep her mother among the living but to find out the secrets of her long-buried past Willow Havens is ten years old and obsessed with the fear that her mother will die. Her mother, Polly, is a cantankerous, take-no-prisoners Southern woman who lives to shoot varmints, drink margaritas, and antagonize the neighbors--and she sticks out like a sore thumb among the young, modern mothers of their small conventional Texas town. She was in her late fifties when Willow was born, so Willow knows she's here by accident, a late-life afterthought. Willow's father died before she was born, her much older brother and sister are long grown and gone and failing elsewhere: it's just her and her bigger-than-life mom, Polly. Willow is desperately hungry for clues to the family life that preceded her, and Polly has her own secrets that she won't reveal. Why did she leave her hometown of Bethel, Louisiana, fifty years ago and vow never to return after a mysterious and terrible incident? Who is Garland Jones, her long-ago suitor who possibly killed a man? And will Polly be able to outrun The Bear, the illness that finally puts her on a collision course with her closely guarded past and a final trip back to Bethel that will end with them, like Huck Finn, riding a river raft back home? THE BOOK OF POLLY has a kick like the best hot sauce, and a great blend of humor and sadness, pathos and hilarity. This is a bittersweet novel about the grip of love in a truly quirky family and you'll come to know one of the most unforgettable mother-daughter duos you've ever met.

Download or read book The Definition of Wind written by Ellen Block and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2011-06-28 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Independence: the freedom to be yourself—or a day for fireworks, depending on your point of view Summer has come to Chapel Isle, the quaintly quirky island that Abigail Harker has called home since she moved into the caretaker’s cottage at the local lighthouse. The season ushers in sweltering temperatures, along with throngs of tourists who are turning the sleepy town into pandemonium. The world Abigail fled after tragedy struck is descending upon her doorstep, and she isn’t sure she can stand the heat. Tourists and natives alike are buzzing about a sunken treasure in the treacherous shoals off the coast, and clues to its location are supposedly hidden in the caretaker’s cottage. Soon Abigail is the focus of everybody’s attention, including that of a handsome, seductive bachelor. Amid the swarm of vacationers, it’s hard to tell harmless visitors from those harboring dark intentions. As Independence Day nears, Abigail must decide: Should she stay on Chapel Isle—risking another heartbreak and even her own safety—or allow the ghosts of her past and the dangers of the present to chase her away?

Download or read book The Language of Sand written by Ellen Block and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2010-04-06 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A magical novel that unravels one of life’s greatest mysteries—how to go on after a devastating loss—through the power of words and their ability to heal, to transform, and to touch the heart. Luck: an event that could be for good or ill, depending on your interpretation. As a lexicographer, Abigail Harker has always taken refuge in the meaning of words. But when fate erases in one tragic moment what she loves the most, the very foundations of her life vanish. Abigail retreats to Chapel Isle, a secluded island in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. As caretaker of a run-down lighthouse, she hopes to redefine herself. But as a resident soon remarks, “If you came to Chapel Isle for normal, you came to the wrong place.” For on Chapel Isle, no one can be neatly defined. From a scientific genius to the feuding fishermen’s wives, from a handsome hothead to the ghost said to be haunting the lighthouse, everyone is struggling to find meaning where meaning seems lost. And when a series of mysterious crimes strikes the island, Abigail finds that she must face down her deepest fears if she is to save herself, her neighbors, and the new life she’s unexpectedly come to cherish.

Download or read book The Shortest Way Home written by Miriam Parker and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-07-31 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Named a Best Book of 2018 by Real Simple and Redbook "Delightful... effervescent, heady and intoxicating." -Elin Hilderbrand How far would you got to find the place you belong? Hannah is finally about to have everything she ever wanted. With a high-paying job, a Manhattan apartment, and a boyfriend about to propose, all she and Ethan have to do is make it through the last couple of weeks of grad school. But when, on a romantic weekend trip to Sonoma, Hannah is spontaneously offered a marketing job at a family-run winery and doesn't immediately refuse, the couple's meticulously planned forever threatens to come crashing down. And then Hannah impulsively does the unthinkable - she takes a leap of faith. Abandoning your dream job and life shouldn't feel this good. But this new reality certainly seems like a dream come true--a picturesque cottage overlooking a vineyard; new friends with their own inspiring plans; and William, the handsome son of the winery owners who captures Hannah's heart only to leave for the very city she let go. Soon, the mission to rescue the failing winery becomes a mission to rescue Hannah from the life she thought she wanted. Crackling with humor and heart, The Shortest Way Home is the journey of one woman shedding expectations in order to claim her own happy ending.

Download or read book Riding Lessons written by Sara Gruen and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 411 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a world-class equestrian and Olympic contender, Annemarie Zimmer lived for the thrill of flight atop a strong, graceful animal. Then, at eighteen, a tragic accident destroyed her riding career and Harry, the beautiful horse she cherished. Now, twenty years later, Annemarie is coming home to her dying father's New Hampshire horse farm. Jobless and abandoned, she is bringing her troubled teenage daughter to this place of pain and memory, where ghosts of an unresolved youth still haunt the fields and stables—and where hope lives in the eyes of the handsome, gentle veterinarian Annemarie loved as a girl . . . and in the seductive allure of a trainer with a magic touch. But everything will change yet again with one glimpse of a white striped gelding startlingly similar to the one Annemarie lost in another lifetime. And an obsession is born that could shatter her fragile world.

Download or read book Little Big Love written by Katy Regan and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-06-12 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Real Simple's Best Books of 2018 Liam Jones was the love of Juliet’s life. He was her brother’s best friend, then her best friend, then the father of her little boy. In those shining weeks after Zac was born, she had never been happier and neither had Liam. And then one night, Liam disappeared without a trace. Ten-year-old Zac Hutchinson collects facts: octopuses have three hearts, Usain Bolt is the fastest man on earth. But no one will tell him what happened to his father and where he went. When Juliet, inadvertently admits that his father is the only man she's ever loved, Zac decides he is going to find him and deliver his mom the happily ever after she deserves. But Liam left for a reason, and as Zac searches for clues of his father, Juliet begins to rebuild what shattered so many years ago. An unforgettable, heart-stopping story of the secrets we keep and of love in all of its many forms.

Download or read book The Sisters Montclair written by Cathy Holton and published by . This book was released on 2012-06 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The last thing twenty-one-year-old Stella Nightingale wants is a job as a caregiver for wealthy Alice Montclair Whittington. Alice, a ninety-four-year-old Southern grande dame with a dry sense of humor and a wicked tongue, has already run off a long line of caregivers. But Stella, a former runaway from a broken home who's only recently begun to put her life back together, is desperate for work. And she figures she can handle Alice. But strange things are happening at Alice's rambling mountaintop estate. As an unlikely friendship develops between the two women, Alice, whose memory comes and goes, begins to reveal long-ago tales of her illustrious past, tales that pose more questions than they answer. Who is her mysterious sister, Laura? Why won't Alice and her sister, Adeline, ever speak of her? And why are the other caregivers afraid to go down in the basement? As Stella tries to separate fact from fiction in Alice's life, she struggles to overcome her own devastating family secret, compelled by a deepening friendship that will change the lives of both women forever.

Download or read book Everyone Is Beautiful written by Katherine Center and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A hugely entertaining, poignant, and charming novel about what happens after happily ever after—from the New York Timesbestselling author of How to Walk Away and Things You Save in a Fire “Everyone Is Beautiful is for every woman who has ever struggled to find, hold on to, and nurture authenticity in the midst of that wild, messy, wonderful thing called motherhood.”—Brené Brown Lanie Coates’s life is spinning out of control. She’s piled everything she owns into a U-Haul and driven with her husband, Peter, and their three little boys from their cozy Texas home to a multiflight walkup in Boston. She’s left behind family and friends—all so her husband can realize his dream of becoming a professional musician. But somewhere in the eye of her personal hurricane, it hits Lanie that she once had dreams too . . . if only she could remember what they were. These days, Lanie always seems to prioritize herself last—and when another mom accidentally assumes she’s pregnant, it’s the final straw. Fifteen years, three babies, and more pounds than she’s willing to count since the day she said “I do,” Lanie longs desperately to feel like her old self again. It’s time to rise up, fish her moxie out of the diaper pail, and find the woman she was before motherhood consumed her entire existence. Lanie sets change in motion—joining a gym, signing up for photography classes, and finding a new best friend. But she also creates waves that come to threaten her whole life. Balancing motherhood and me-time, marriage and independence, and supporting loved ones while also realizing her own dreams, Lanie must figure out once and for all how to find herself without losing everything else in the process.

Download or read book After the Rain written by Karen White and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-12-31 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From New York Times bestselling author of the Tradd Street novels comes the sequel to Falling Home, a novel set in the picaresque town of Walton, Georgia, where one woman is about to discover that the best journey is the one that brings you home.… Freelance photographer Suzanne Paris has been on her own since she was fourteen—and she has no intention of settling down, especially not in a tiny town like Walton. She’s here to hide out for a little while, not to form connections. Her survival depends on her ability to slip in and out of people’s lives, on never staying in one place for too long. But Walton is a town where everyone knows everyone else—and they all seem intent on making Suzanne feel right at home. She can’t help but feel drawn to this tight-knit community—or to the town’s mayor, Joe Warner, and his six kids. But Suzanne can’t afford to stick around, even if she’s finally found a place where she belongs. Because someone is looking for her—someone who won’t stop until her life is destroyed… CONVERSATION GUIDE INCLUDED

Download or read book The Ladies of Garrison Gardens written by Louise Shaffer and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2005-05-31 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Valley’s legendary dowagers, the three Miss Margarets, have lost one of their own: Peggy Garrison, who married into a huge fortune but was constantly overshadowed by the legacy her husband’s first wife, the great Myrtis Garrison. When Peggy’s will is read, the news of who will take over the Garrison fortune shakes the town to its core. To everyone’s shock, Peggy has left all of the Garrison holdings–the world-famous botanical gardens, the massive resort, and the lovely Garrison “Cottage,” where FDR once visited–to the town’s down-and-out wild child, Laurel Selene McCready. Laurel was like a daughter to Miss Peggy, but the last thing she wants to do is step into Miss Peggy’s shoes as the wealthiest, most powerful person in town, especially since the Garrison fortune never bought Peggy any happiness. On top of that, when Laurel reluctantly explores her hew home, the storied Garrison Cottage, she discovers that mysteries abound when it comes to the great Miss Myrtis. What clues are hidden in an old suitcase containing a child’s dress and sheet music dating back to the Southern Vaudeville circuit? Who is the elderly woman outside Atlanta who has been keeping track of the Garrison estate’s every development via the Charles Valley Gazette? And how will Laurel avoid the fate of her two predecessors whose secrets have far greater implications than Laurel could ever have imagined? Culminating in an unforgettable sleight of hand, proving that behind every great fortune there is a great crime, The Ladies of Garrison Gardens is as page-turning and irresistible as its predecessor.

Download or read book Devoured written by Ayurella Horn-Muller and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2024-03-06 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kudzu abounds across the American South. Introduced in the United States in the 1800s as a solution for soil erosion, this invasive vine with Eastern Asian origins came to be known as a pernicious invader capable of smothering everything in its path. To many, the plant’s enduring legacy has been its villainous role as the “vine that ate the South.” But for a select few, it has begun to signify something else entirely. In its roots, a network of people scattered across the country see a chance at redemption—and an opportunity to rewrite a fragment of troubled history. Devoured: The Extraordinary Story of Kudzu, the Vine That Ate the South detangles the complicated story of the South’s fickle relationship with kudzu, chronicling the ways the boundless weed has evolved over centuries, and dissecting what climate change could mean for its future across the United States. From architecture teams experimenting with it as a sustainable building material, to clinical applications treating binge-drinking, to chefs harvesting it as a wild edible, environmental journalist Ayurella Horn-Muller spotlights how kudzu’s notorious reputation in America is gradually being cast aside in favor of its promise. Weaving careful research with personal stories, Horn-Muller investigates how kudzu morphed from a miraculous agricultural solution to the monstrous archetypal foe of the southern landscape. Devoured is a poignant narrative of belonging, racial ambiguity, outsiders and insiders, and the path from universal acceptance to undesirability. It is a deeply reported exploration of the landscapes that host the many species we fight to control. Above all, Devoured is an ode to the earth around us—a quest for meaning in today’s imperiled world.