Book review and giveaway!

Backseat Saints, by Joshilyn Jackson

I received this book from Librarything Early Reviewers, and I was soooo excited! I love Joshilyn Jackson. She is also the Author of "Gods in Alabama" and "Between Georgia" which is one of my favorite books! And "The Girl Who Stopped Swimming" which I own but have not read yet. Joshilyn is a wonderful Author and she certainly did it again! I did not realize until I finished the book that Rose Mae Lolley ( the main character of this book) is taken from "Gods in Alabama" where she is a minor character. So if you haven't already, after you read this you might want to go back and read that.

Her debut, gods in Alabama, won SIBA's 2005 Novel of the year Award and was a #1 BookSense pick. Jackson won Georgia Author of the Year for her second novel, Between, Georgia, which also a #1 BookSense pick, making Jackson the first author in BookSense history to receive #1 status in back to back years. Her third novel, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, was a Break Out book at Target and has been shortlisted for the Townsend Prize for Fiction. All three books were chosen for the Books-A-Million Book Club.

About the book -

Rose Mae Lolley grew up in a small town in Alabama. Her father abused her mother, until her mother finally left. Leaving Rose to suffer under her father's hand. When Rose turned 18 she hit the road never to be seen in that part of the country again. Now living in TX as Ro Grandee, she is suffering under the abusive hand of her husband, Thom. He almost kills her, several times! She feels doomed and trapped being a battered wife forever. When she meets a gypsy at the airport she learns she has to kill or be killed! So she takes her Pawpy's old gun that she has carried around her whole life and starts to plan her future. Does she have what it takes to actually kill her husband?

My Review - There are some books that are just important for women to read, you know what I mean? This is one of those books - it is about family, abuse, survival, and reconnecting with your past. (to tell you truth, I am in tears just writing this review).

This is an expertly crafted tale of three generations of abuse. Joshilyn weaves in the past and present into an absolutely riveting story. Half way through the book, I found I could not put it down. Although it grabbed me with the very first sentence - "It was an Airport gypsy who told me that I had to kill my husband." and also a line from one of the last chapters of the book - "No" I tell her. "I think I lived." Nobody is more surprised than me. From beginning to end, this book will have you on the edge of your seat. I could picture Rose as this cute little southern gal with spunk and I was rooting for her all the way. Joshilyn does a great job of turning Thom into a creepy villain that you hate right from the start. I seriously wanted the man dead! Then later in the story you meet Parker, Ahhh Parker. How can you not picture him a a hunk? He is the strong silent neighbor of "the gypsy". The whole time I pictured him as Sam Elliott in "Road House". Then there is "the gypsy" I put that in quotes because you do learn later in the story who she really is and she becomes a very significant character. My first line was that this was an expertly crafted tale because this book is "crafted" not merely written. If you do not win this copy from me, please find a copy and read it! You won't be sorry!

To win my Hard cover copy of this book -

*Either comment to this post or email me

*You must be from either the US or Canada

*I will choose a winner on July 15th

*Please help spread the word!

Don't forget to sign up for my other giveaway - Love on a Dime