Helpful Score: 4
Great story, read it for a book club and it was highly rated. Great character development. People magazine says "As slice of life stories go, this is an extraordinary generous one: rich and satisfying
Helpful Score: 3
A stunner, a page-turner of a story that's at the same time smart nd funny and alert to the nuances of the complicatesd South. Dean Lynch in the title role will absolutely steal your heart. - Josephine Humphreys
Helpful Score: 3
Finely drawn characters and complicated social intrigue make King's second novel (after Making Waves in Zion) a charming read. When Dean Lynchs ambitious preacher husband, Ben, is assigned to a pulpit in the small Florida town of Crystal Springs, Dean is resigned to the prospect of yet another church-owned house and the necessity of putting aside her own beloved music (she plays the piano and the dulcimer) in favor of the congregations choir. Orphaned as a child, the retiring Dean has spent 20 years of marriage in the shadow of her overbearing, charismatic husband, always feeling out of place. But when she befriends Augusta, a wealthy, well-born, caustic beauty whose attendance at the Crystal Springs Methodist Church would be Ben's greatest coup, Dean finds herself coming out of her shell and tangled up in secrets she is not prepared to handle. The only false note comes from the gay couple Augusta befriends, who border on stereotype. The rest of King's secondary cast, which includes a sympathetic psychic and the magnetic but sinister former preacher at Ben's church, is a captivating bunch. King has written a truly heartwarming story, a tale of turbulent emotions and the vagaries of public opinion in a small Southern town; she has a sure winner here.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
Helpful Score: 3
Moral of this book is be yourself....Don't change into something you aren't, or you risk losing the real of you. A great read.
Helpful Score: 2
The wife of a minister, newly relocated, must try to gain acceptance and some kind of personal fulfillment despite the bias of the church members, community and her own husband. For fans of Oprah Club books, this is a perfect read!
