I loved watching True Blood on TV. It had all the things I loved- romance, thrills, chills and great dialogue! There was also a sense that even has the plot lines got more and more outrageous, the show runners would often insert a little “wink and nod” showing even they knew this was over the top! I got that same feeling reading this book by Hendrix. He certainly does a great job in exposing the hardships and ingratitude for women in the 1990’s but he also creates this chilling and horrifying plot line that keeps you compulsively reading just to make it all stop!
Patricia Campbell is a mother of two and wife to a mostly absent workaholic husband. Her life revolves around taking care of her senile mother-in-law who lives with them, and her children, while doing all the things one must do to manage a household. For Patricia, her book club is the one place that she can go to shed her various roles and worries and spend time with other women, talking and sharing about something they had read.
One evening in early summer, on her way back from book club, Patricia is suddenly attacked by her senile, elderly neighbor. This event brings Jamie Harris, her neighbors nephew into her life. Harris is charming, well-traveled and Patrica is flattered and intrigued by his seeming interest in her. But as the summer wears on and rumors of children going missing in another part of town begin to swirl, Patrica begins to suspect Harris. Gathering her book club members together, Patricia tries to get the police to focus their investigation on Harris, but when that fails, these ‘steel magnolias” take matters in their own hands to save their town and their children from the monster living in their midst.
Hendrix does a great job in describing in detail the challenges many women face and continue to face in raising a family, creating a home and working at home or outside the home. His depictions of the misogony and sexism of thirty years ago are quite shocking but accurate and it makes you realize how far we have come and still need to go! There is some graphic violence, this is after all a book about vampires, so readers should beware, but all in all this was a fun and compulsive read!
Brenda’s Rating: **** (4 Out Of 5 Stars)
Recommend this book to: Sharon, Marian, Lauren and Keith
Book Study Worthy? Of course!
Read in ebook format.
A year ago, Kim Gillespie disappeared. It was the night of the town’s festival and they found Kim’s baby carefully wrapped up in her stroller not far from the ferris wheel. This year Kim’s older daughter is hoping that those who attended last year’s festival might have some information to help trace Kim’s whereabouts and to solve the mystery of her disappearance.
Danny Ryan married into the family, but has never been given much credence by his father-in-law, who is the head of the Irish crime family. Danny feels like they need to go more “legit,” and find ways to make money that leaves them less exposed to prosecutors intent on making a name for themselves. But no one listens to Danny, and so he does what is asked and keeps the peace. But suddenly the peace is disturbed when at the annual barbecue hosted by their friendly Italian rivals, a beautiful women appears as a guest and sets off a brutal rivalry between the two families. As the body count rises, and grief consumes his father-in-law, Danny must take the reins to try and save the family he has sworn to protect. Surprisingly, Danny emerges as a ruthless strategist, as he tries to negotiate a way forward while avoiding the threats posed by the Italians, the greedy New York and Las Vegas families who see a chance to take over his territory, and the law who must find a way to stop the blood shed and restore order.
Claudia has been bucking her family’s expectations for years. Her mother wants her to marry a nice, stable, Chinese boy. Her brother, who works for a large hedge fund wants her to go into software design or finance, but Claudia doesn’t want any of those things. First she prefers girls, and second she just accepted a job with Veracity, an online dating detective agency with an exclusive clientele, but she can never tell her family, these things because of the disappointment and upset it would cause.
Stacey, Beth, Melissa, and Gaby have been friends since their first years at university. Now several decades later they are busy with their work and lives and yet still manage to keep in touch.
Leigh Collier is an up and coming defense attorney working at one of the prestigious law firms in Atlanta. Separated from her husband with whom she amicably co- parents their sixteen year old daughter, Leigh has managed to create an image of a normal life, even if it is the middle of a pandemic. But under that facade of normalcy, are secrets, betrayal and a brutal act of violence, that Callie, Leigh’s younger sister has never recovered from.
El Higgins is the last person you would think would be a hero. Orion Lake is much more the hero type. Bold and decisive, Orion wants to save everyone at School of the Wind University, a school of magical arts. Mostly people are grateful when Orion swoops in and saves them from the nasty magical creatures that infest the school, but El was not. Her whole plan to just fly under the radar, do the least amount of work possible and not make any connections or alliances was now in jeopardy because of Orion’s single action.
her affinity in magic was spells of mass destruction. One of the fringe lines of study it was often associated with the dark arts and so most magical people shunned those with such an affinity. But with Orion pulling her into the spotlight, suddenly her plan is in jeopardy.
Eliza, became a prostitute after her husband was killed in a barroom brawl. Penniless, naive and alone, she approached Mrs Park, the madam of the brothel and found that for the most part it was not such a bad life, as she now has some money of her own, something very few of the women in the town have. But her perception changes when the bodies of dead girls began to turn up outside the town, especially when one of the girls is a friend.
Lily has escaped to Boston and is building a new life. Raised in an abusive home, Lily still bears the scars of being unloved and abandoned. The one highlight in her growing up years was her friendship with Atlas, a homeless teen who lived in an abandoned house adjacent to Lily’s. Both lived under difficult circumstances and found solace in each other. But their time together was short and when Atlas left to find his father, Lily had to struggle on her own.
committed relationship. He often seems disconnected and self absorbed. But Lily finds it hard to evaluate these signs against the feelings she has for Ryle. She begins to question her own instincts and wonders whether her own upbringing is making her unable to fully trust Ryle. Then she runs into Atlas and suddenly Lily’s world is turned upside down. As the warning signs multiply in her relationship with Ryle, Lily is drawn to Altas who was her protector in the past.
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