Review - - The Not So Nice List

The Not So Nice List

A Christmas Novella

by Sally Kilpatrick

Publisher: NYLA

Release Date: November 1, 2022

Reviewed by PJ

Marketing exec Cole Frost needs a win. And he can finally get a big one if he can finally close the endorsement deal he’s been working on for months. Too bad his roommate is Aubrey, lover of loud music and messy art projects. She may be adorable, but she’s annoying. And off limits. If he can get the deal ironed out, he’ll be able to buy out both Aubrey and her brother and have the charming bungalow full of warm holiday memories all to himself.

Aubrey Longfellow hates her boss, but she can’t quit her job—even if this one requires her to dress in a skimpy dress and sit on Santa’s lap. Further complicating her bid to prove she’s adulting like a champ is her infuriating stick-in-the-mud roommate, otherwise known as her older brother’s best friend. He disapproves of her choices almost as much as her brother does. Things can’t get worse—until one petty misstep lands Aubrey on the Not So Naughty List.

Now she has to do three selfless things by Christmas Day or be doomed to the Naughty List. Could helping Cole be her ticket to making the Nice List? Or will the attraction suddenly brewing between them lead to something naughty?

PJ's Thoughts:

Sally Kilpatrick's The Not So Nice List is a delicious treat and just the right length for my busy holiday season. This novella bubbles with humor, heart, endearing characters, plenty of Christmas spirit, Kilpatrick's signature sass, and the real Santa. Twinkling eyes and all! 

I loved the chemistry between Aubrey and Cole as they navigated the path from friends (frenemies?) to lovers. The tension between them had been there for ages but neither of them had acted on it. He's a planner; she's impulsive. He's neat and organized; she's a slob. He has a solid career; she can't figure out what she wants to do. He's her brother's best friend. She's always felt judged. Truth be told, he has judged her in the past. But that all begins to change once he sees her candy cane underwear during a "questionable" photo shoot, her subsequent actions land her on Santa's Not So Nice list, her boss takes his repulsive behavior one step too far, and a game of one-on-one basketball lands Aubrey in Cole's arms...maybe for good?  

Using heart-tugging realizations and impeccable comedic timing, Kilpatrick leads her characters on a journey of growth that reveals there's more to each of them than the other guessed, that sometimes the best things in life are right down the hall, that Santa knows what he's doing, and that candy cane boxers are always appropriate when love is in the air. 

Add this one to your holiday shopping list. It's a quick read and a bundle of fun. 

 

Review, Q&A, Giveaway - - Much Ado About Barbecue

Much Ado About Barbecue

by Sally Kilpatrick

Publisher: NYLA

Release Date: September 2, 2021

Reviewed by PJ

Return to Ellery, Tennessee for Sally Kilpatrick’s saucy new novel about two warring barbecue houses.

Emma Sutton promised herself three things: she would never move back to Ellery, never work in the family barbecue restaurant, and never have anything to do with Ben Cates ever again. Losing her job and her home might’ve forced her to break the first two, but she’s determined to keep the third.

Unlike Emma, Ben Cates has made peace with his hometown. He wants nothing more than to make his restaurant something his father couldn’t: a success. But between his hellraising little sister and Emma Sutton’s return to Ellery, his dream could easily be snatched away.

Emma and Ben might’ve made each other’s childhood a living hell with their endless pranks, but the only way to finally get rid of the other is to win the coveted contract for Ellery’s annual barbecue festival. Seems easy enough—until attraction ignites like a charcoal flame, and happiness seeps in like a surprising new flavor.

Can they find the courage to forgive bitter past mistakes and let trust into the mix, or will devastating secrets burn everything down again?

PJ's Thoughts:

I haven't read a Sally Kilpatrick book yet that I didn't enjoy. Her humor is infectious and her characters are authentic. I'm fully convinced that Emma, Ben, and their friends are somewhere in Tennessee perfecting their own varieties of barbecue and sides and having a darn good time doing it. 

In Much Ado About Barbecue, Kilpatrick not only brings mouth-watering culinary delights but she fills her story with snappy banter, downhome advice, laugh-out-loud humor, and a depth of emotion that at times caught me off guard but enhanced my overall enjoyment of the book. Emma and Ben have a long history of antagonistic behavior toward one another. As the book progresses, the reason for that behavior is revealed, leading to truths uncovered and eventual healing, but not without some rocky obstacles to overcome first. 

The cast of characters is large and diverse with each one having a purpose in moving the story and/or the main characters forward. Fans of the series will no doubt enjoy the appearance of Presley Cline, lead female character of Kilpatrick's Better Get to Livin'. Presley provides a conduit to a very important person from Emma's past.

One of my favorite secondary characters is Jeremiah. I love the adult relationship Emma and Jeremiah form; how he mentors her with his barbecue lessons that seem to always have hidden life lessons. Emma grows quite a bit in this book and a large part of the credit for that growth goes to Jeremiah.

Ben also has a significant growth arc. Kilpatrick skillfully guides both him and Emma through their reckoning with the past and into a brighter future, tackling deeply emotional obstacles, meddling relatives, fiercely contested barbecue competitions, collegiate film makers, and that pesky attraction with humor and heart. 

If you love barbecue, if you love Southern literature, or if you just love a fun, fast, well-written story that will tickle your funny bone and warm your heart, don't miss Sally Kilpatrick's Much Ado About Barbecue. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Q&A with Sally Kilpatrick

Hi Sally! Thanks for chatting with us today. Congratulations on the recent publication of Much Ado About Barbecue. What would you like readers to know about this book?

This is another one of my love letters to the South, especially West Tennessee. I love pulled pork barbecue, and I love Much Ado about Nothing. I wasn’t surprised when an idea for warring barbecue houses came to me. I got a little excited when Presley from Better Get to Livin’ walked through the door of The Flying Pig. (My characters sometimes surprise me) Most importantly, this was my pandemic book, the one that kept me sane. I hope others ultimately find it as fun to read as I did to write.

The characters portrayed in your Ellery series are so vividly depicted. Do they come to you fully formed? Have you based them on actual people you’ve encountered in your life or are they purely the creation of your fertile imagination?

I never intentionally base a character on someone I know, although Jeremiah has some shades of my father. These characters pop up and then run roughshod over me. I don’t have any control over them, as you can see above with Presley’s surprise appearance. They show up and show out as I write. I’ve been known to gasp and say, “Oh no you didn’t!” while writing.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I pretty much drooled through this entire book, along with looking up local barbecue joints and recipes for sides, so I have to ask: how much barbecue was consumed in the name of research for this book? Do you have a favorite kind? What about sides?

Barbecue was consumed before, during, and after writing this book, but I also read books and even took a class called Pork U. Lord have mercy, that was good eating. I am partial to pulled pork, but I like mine leaner than the average bear. I’ve learned to love brisket, too, but it’s harder to get right so I’m very picky about it. For both meat and sides, you can’t beat Sam’s BBQ-1 in Marietta, GA. I based Emma’s slaw and Ben’s beans on his side dishes. His mac and cheese is the best I’ve ever eaten, and that’s what I had in mind for Jazzy’s version. As for the chocolate pie, there’s a little French restaurant down in Decatur where they put a little cayenne in their chocolate gateau. That’s where I got the idea for the filling of Grammy Ruth and Shero’s pie. For Release Day I went to Sam’s, and I swear I’ve been planning that celebration since I started this book.

You’re one of the funniest people I know, both on the page and in real life. While you’re busy making the rest of us laugh, what brings joy and laughter to your life?

You are too kind! My family definitely brings me great joy and much laughter. People will tell me I’m funny, and I’ll think, “You should see the rest of this crew.” If we’d been born around the turn of the century, I think we would’ve been a Vaudeville act because the zingers fly around here. I also love reading, history, and travel. Ryan, my husband, has gotten me interested in old movies. I love the banter.

Do you have ideas brewing for future books? Any more Ellery characters waiting for their stories to be told?

I have more ideas than I can shake a stick at, but that means I have to decide which one. At the moment, I’m not planning on more Ellery novels, but there are some short stories still to be told, I think. I also have another super-secret book that’s being shopped around. We’ll see what happens there.

Where can readers connect with you online?

I spend entirely too much time on Twitter as @Superwritermom. I’m also at www.sallykilpatrick.com where I’m getting back into the habit of blogging. Finally, I’m learning Instagram where I’m also @superwritermom. (It should be noted that I am a mom and a writer, but the super was meant rather ironically)

Thanks for chatting today, Sally. Would you like to add anything or ask our readers a question?

Thank you so, so much for having me. The word barbecue means so many different things to so many different people, so I’ve been fascinated by replies to this question: What does barbecue mean to you?

Sally will be giving away two copies of Much Ado about Barbecue. Print available only to US residents, but e-copies to any who can read an epub or Kindle file. Winner’s choice!

Sally will also be giving away two e-book copies of Better Get to Livin' which features Presley (mentioned in the Q&A). You do not want to miss this one! 

Giveaways end 11:00 PM, September 9.

Birthday Giveaway #7

I have a signed, print copy of Better Get to Livin' for one randomly chosen person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, September 9.

*U.S. only

*Must be 18

*Void where prohibited

 

Spotlight and Giveaway - - Much Ado About Barbecue

Much Ado About Barbecue

by Sally Kilpatrick

Publisher: NYLA

Release Date: September 2, 2021

Return to Ellery, Tennessee for Sally Kilpatrick’s saucy new novel about two warring barbecue houses.

Emma Sutton promised herself three things: she would never move back to Ellery, never work in the family barbecue restaurant, and never have anything to do with Ben Cates ever again. Losing her job and her home might’ve forced her to break the first two, but she’s determined to keep the third.

Unlike Emma, Ben Cates has made peace with his hometown. He wants nothing more than to make his restaurant something his father couldn’t: a success. But between his hellraising little sister and Emma Sutton’s return to Ellery, his dream could easily be snatched away.

Emma and Ben might’ve made each other’s childhood a living hell with their endless pranks, but the only way to finally get rid of the other is to win the coveted contract for Ellery’s annual barbecue festival. Seems easy enough—until attraction ignites like a charcoal flame, and happiness seeps in like a surprising new flavor.

Can they find the courage to forgive bitter past mistakes and let trust into the mix, or will devastating secrets burn everything down again?

PJ says:

If you enjoy sassy, Southern humor, heart-tugging emotion, drool-worthy food, and an enemies-to-lovers romance between two characters with a complicated past (Boy howdy, is it ever complicated!), you'll want to pick up a copy of Sally Kilpatrick's next novel: Much Ado About Barbecue. It's filled with all the snappy banter, quirky characters, complex emotions, and down-home wisdom you could ask for. Plus, barbecue, baked beans, mac and cheese, and more. The descriptions of the food are so vividly depicted, I swear I could smell the pork smoking. Fair warning: reading this book will make you hungry!

Kilpatrick's books all have a place on my keeper shelf where I can turn to them when I'm in need of a feel-good story that lifts my spirits.  Her characters tickle my funny bone, touch my heart, and are as authentically Southern as the author herself. 

Much Ado About Barbecue releases September 2. It will be available in print but is currently available for preorder only in e-book format at the following locations: 

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

Apple

Google

Readers, Ben and Emma have opposing opinions on barbecue, how it should be cooked, and how it should be served. So tell me...

What kind of barbecue do you enjoy? Pork, beef, chicken, ribs? All of the above?

Do you like sauce with your barbecue? What kind?

For most people, the meat is the star, but for others it's all about the sides. What's your favorite side dish to accompany your barbecue?

Sally Kilpatrick has generously offered two giveaways today. 

One person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, August 14 will receive an e-ARC of Much Ado About Barbecue. 

One person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM,  August 14 will receive a print copy of Bless Her Heart. 

*U.S. only

*Must be 18

*Void where prohibited

 

Review - - Bless Her Heart

Bless Her Heart

By Sally Kilpatrick

Publisher: Kensington

Release Date: October 31, 2017
Reviewed by Janga

 

Posey Adams Love has spent much of her life proving to herself and to the people of Ellery, Tennessee, that she is a good girl, one worthy of their respect and not just “the daughter of a legendary hippie girl who ran away from home and came back pregnant.” Her life hasn’t turned out exactly the way she planned. At thirty-two, she had planned to be the mother of two children with ten years of teaching to her credit. Instead she is the receptionist at the church headed by her husband, who left First Baptist because it was too liberal for his taste. Five years ago, he founded Love Ministries with its emphasis on the husband’s unassailable position as head of his household and the wife’s duty to submit. Posey has been a dutiful wife in the office, in the kitchen, and in the bedroom. If she has her small rebellions, no one else knows about them.

The life Posey has valued for its stability vanishes one day when Chad leaves town with another woman, Posey’s car is repossessed, her house has been sold, and she is without a job. Forced to return to her grandmother’s house and to work in her mother’s yoga and natural foods store, Posey makes a decided turn—no more good girl. She gives up church for Lent and sets out to develop an up-close and personal relationship with each of the deadly sins. Along the way, she finds herself again, and she also finds a new closeness with her mother, her siblings, her best friend, and a sexy piano tuner who has been increasing her heartbeat since eighth grade. And she is leaving the good people of Ellery too shocked at her behavior to utter a single, pitying “Bless her heart.”

This is Kilpatrick's best since her debut--funny, sweet, honest, irreverent, inspiring and on-the-mark Southern. I loved it! I’m not a huge fan of first-person point of view in fiction, but sometimes it works wonderfully. Such is the case here. Hearing the story in Posey’s voice makes the story funnier and more poignant, and it makes it so easy to love Posey, fabulous and flawed as she is.

Chad is vermin, of course, and he is rendered even more repulsive because he is so close to some real-life characters I have known. The other characters, like Posey, are richly dimensional. Posey’s mother is wise and vulnerable, and her grandmother’s Alzheimer’s inspires a mix of laughter and sorrow that will be familiar to those who have watched loved ones move through the stages of that disease. Rain, Posey’s half-sister, is as interesting, as complex, and as lovable as Posey herself. And former roadie, current piano tuner John is sweet and flawed and complicated.

Kilpatrick’s debut novel, The Happy Hour Choir, is still one of my favorite books. Although I have enjoyed her other novels, none has quite reached that I-want-to-read-this-again-and-again response that the first one did. I rank Bless Her Heart right up there with The Happy Hour Choir. It is a little bit Flannery O’Connor, a little bit Fannie Flagg, but mostly delightfully and originally Sally Kilpatrick. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the author revisits these characters.

I highly recommend this one for readers who like Southern fiction or women’s fiction that evokes laughter and tears. Romance readers should be aware that this is not a romance. It has a strong romantic element, but the conclusion is more open-ended than the conventional HEA.

Review - - Better Get to Livin'

Better Get to Livin'
By Sally Kilpatrick
Publisher: Kensington
Release Date: May 31, 2016
 

Presley Cline has put aside dreams of Hollywood stardom and come back to Ellery, Tennessee, to work in a beauty shop. In truth, the dreams in question were more her mother's than her own. Presley may have the face and body of a movie icon, but she lacks the stomach for it. Yet a loving relationship and normal home life seem almost as unattainable as an Oscar. Being able to see and speak to dead people certainly isn't helping. 

Presley's first job, beautifying "clients" at the Anderson Funeral Home, is quite a change from working on a movie set. The place is home to dozens of ghosts all hoping that Presley can help them move on--and also one very-much-alive owner, Declan Anderson. Like Presley, Declan is caught between following family expectations and his own aspirations. But with a little meddling from loved ones and locals--both living and dead--Presley is starting to see that life is too short not to be who you want to be, and the most rewarding journeys involve some unexpected detours…




Sally Kilpatrick takes readers back to the small Tennessee town of Ellery for her third novel. She knows her small, southern towns well and has a knack for painting both the positive and negative aspects of living within one, especially in regards to perceptions about people that are set early in life. Both Declan and Presley are much more than what the people of Ellery perceive them to be or even what each of them perceives the other to be. When Presley returns home broke after being at the center of a Hollywood scandal and having all her money stolen by her cheating boyfriend, she talks her way into a job at the local beauty salon where she's assigned funeral home detail. Soon after, when a tornado hits Ellery, destroying her ailing mother's trailer, an offer from Declan to take shelter at the funeral home puts them in daily contact and opens the door for their attraction to deepen. It also gives them the opportunity to look beneath the surface (their own and each other's), explore possibilities, and question what they really want. Are they content with the decisions family obligations have nudged them into making or is it time to reassess their dreams and get to livin'?

The pace of this book is relaxed with the building of a relationship between Presley and Declan, gentle and gradual. I was quickly drawn into the story; Kilpatrick's realistic characters and down-home charm making me care about these individuals and the triumphs and tragedies of their lives, with her sense of humor never failing to delight. First person narrative doesn't always work for me but, in this book, with the alternating chapters told from Declan's and Presley's points of view, it gives the reader the necessary insight into each of these characters that's needed to understand their actions and emotions, propelling the story as well as their relationships with their families, and each other, forward. Secondary characters add humor, chaos, and emotional depth to the overall story with Uncle Hollis (who shares Presley's ghost communication skills) being a particular favorite.

Resident ghosts, a reluctant-mortician hero, a down-on-her-luck-actress heroine and a solid supporting cast all wrapped up in Sally Kilpatrick's heart-tugging emotion and quirky, southern humor? Yes, please!

~PJ

Review - - The Happy Hour Choir

The Happy Hour Choir

By Sally Kilpatrick

Publisher: Kensington

Release Date: April 28, 2015

Beulah Land is angry with God and with the good church people who viewed her as a shameful example and topic of gossip when she became pregnant at sixteen. They are all convinced they know Beulah’s story, but no one—not her Baptist preacher father who supposedly died from his daughter’s disgrace, her wooden-spoon wielding mother who told the pregnant Beulah never to return home, or the woman who came to her rescue—knows the true story. Ginger Belmont, Beulah’s piano teacher, gave the teenager a home when the Reverend and Mrs. Land cast her off, and in the nine years since, Beulah and Ginger have been family for each other. Ginger helped Beulah survive unthinkable tragedy, and Beulah cared for Ginger during a battle with cancer. Now that the cancer has returned, Beulah can’t say no to what may well be the last thing Ginger will ask of her, the request that Beulah take over as pianist of the County Line Methodist Church, a job Ginger can no longer perform.

Beulah has spent years avoiding church, and she is not happy to return. She is much more comfortable with her regular gig playing piano and waiting tables at The Fountain, a honky-tonk across the road from the tiny Methodist church. She’s hardly surprised when Luke Daniels, the new pastor balks at her taking over Ginger’s musical duties. After all, she and the Preacher Man have already clashed over her mocking, jazzed up version of a hymn, a performance he termed a sacrilege when he heard it at The Fountain, but the preacher too finds it impossible to resist Ginger’s plan. So Sunday finds Beulah playing piano in church, but it is a choirless church since the choir refuses to sing if Beulah plays. Beulah, using a combination of charm, blackmail, and arm-twisting, recruits a new choir from the ranks of The Fountain’s regulars, a motley crew as out of place among the pious as Beulah is.

Meanwhile, Ginger and Beulah’s family expands when another waitress at The Fountain is caught up in a situation that parallels Beulah’s past in several ways. And Beulah’s relationship with Luke alternates between an unorthodox courtship and conflict complicated by Beulah’s feelings of unworthiness.

Kilpatrick’s first novel defies easy labels. Despite the role of church and faith in the story, the booze and the expletives and some scenes between Beulah and Luke place it outside the ranks of conventional Inspirationals. It has strong romantic elements, but Beulah’s journey is the central plot. Yet it is more saturated with issues of faith than is usual in women’s fiction. For those who need a category in which to place it, The Happy Hour Choir is probably best identified as Southern fiction. It is a tale with the strong sense of place and the quirky, eccentric characters that readers expect from the genre.

Readers will find themselves rooting for Beulah to believe herself deserving of love and for her and Luke to overcome the obstacles that separate them. A secondary romance supplies a touch of sweetness, and the appropriately named Ginger adds humor and pathos. Kilpatrick is a debut author with a distinctive voice who deserves an audience. Romance readers who are willing to risk a novel that is about love on many levels and which offers an upbeat ending even if it is not really romance fiction should find, as I did, that this book is a rewarding read. I’ve added the author's forthcoming books, Bitter Sweet Creek (October 27, 2015) and Better Get to Living (2016), to my list of anticipated books.

~Janga