Helpful Score: 11
Excellent and fast read. This is a great chick book all the way, I started reading it yesterday and read every free moment I had until it was finished- definitely a page turner. The author wrote in such a way that was so detailed and I could really envision being in the same situations. She really described the characters so well. I HIGHLY recommend this book. It is amazing and impressive for a writer's first novel! I am adding her to my list of favorite authors and can't wait to read her Between Georgia and The Girl Who Stopped Swimming.
Helpful Score: 7
There are Gods in Alabama and I killed one of them.
This story is about a girl who carries around a secret and then is forced to face all that she left behind. The story is told in two ways. One story is told in the present and the other is the story that drove her from Alabama and changed her life in many ways.
I really enjoyed this book. I loved the way the story unfolded and how the ending was not at all what I expected. I loved that although it could have been a heavy story it had just enough humor that it was a light and fun read.
This story is about a girl who carries around a secret and then is forced to face all that she left behind. The story is told in two ways. One story is told in the present and the other is the story that drove her from Alabama and changed her life in many ways.
I really enjoyed this book. I loved the way the story unfolded and how the ending was not at all what I expected. I loved that although it could have been a heavy story it had just enough humor that it was a light and fun read.
Great novel. Alternates from present to past -- both of which are interesting and well written. A family in turmoil over several events and truths revealed bit by bit.
Helpful Score: 4
I thought this was an amazing book. The author had me hooked from the first chapter and I couldn't put it down. Lena leaves her hometown promising God she'll never return if he covers up a murder she committed. The ending was a complete surprise!
Helpful Score: 4
Easy to get into. The author gives us a peek into a traditional and somewhat dysfunctional Southern family through the eyes of Lena, the daughter who left it all behind. Begrudgingly, she returns to her roots and faces her dragons - a long-ago murder, the introduction of her (wonderful) black boyfriend, her ferocious aunt and looney mother. Through it all is the deep abiding love of her cousin and, ultimately, the redemption Lena has been seeking. Well written with engaging characters and a heart-wrenching story.
Helpful Score: 4
An excellent read. I found myself thinking of the characters and the story long after I set the book down. This one will go on my keeper shelf - it was just wonderful and well worth a second read down the road.
Helpful Score: 4
Really great book! Unexpected plot and surprise ending. If you're a southerner, you'll definitely recognize these characters as people you've known. I highly recommend this one.
Helpful Score: 3
Really great book that keeps you in suspense until the end. Highly recommend!
Helpful Score: 3
I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick read and really held my attention!
Helpful Score: 3
Excellent!! A young woman committed a big sin back in Alabama in her teens. She moved to Chicago to forget about it and to start over. It's now coming back to catch up with her.
Helpful Score: 3
Excellent! Funny, poignant and an all together great read!!!
Helpful Score: 3
This book was excellent, loved it! That Aunt Florence is ruthless, loved her character. I felt sorry for Lena, the burden she carried for so long. Clarice, I found annoyingly weak in character. I am not originally from Alabama, but having lived here for about four years now, I found that much of the southern racism pointed out in this novel rang true. I highly recommend this book, very impressive for a first novel.
Helpful Score: 3
This book was not my favorite. It was a very slow read for me which doesn't happen very often.
Helpful Score: 2
There are gods in Alabama: Jack Daniel's, high school quarterbacks... so starts Jackson's work Gods in Alabama. As a parent of a high schooler, whose son's Alabama school is featured in a national TV show starring the football players, I concur! This is a funny and poignant look at a young woman who grew up in Alabama as a not-quite-outsider, with starring and supporting roles in the dramas of her day that eventually caused her to run to the North, to a black chuch, to a vow never to return.
Yet return she does to face her past and, eventually, to understand it.
I enjoyed this one.
Yet return she does to face her past and, eventually, to understand it.
I enjoyed this one.
Helpful Score: 2
I loved this book...although I am not really sure why. I read the entire thing one lazy Saturday because I couldn't put it down.
It's easy to read yet somehow enthralling. I find it pretty much hits the nail on the head about inter-generational interaction as it pertains to blue collar southern life. Plus there is just enough whodunnit to keep you flipping pages. I don't feel I came away with anything overtly meaningful but I didn't waste my time either.
It's easy to read yet somehow enthralling. I find it pretty much hits the nail on the head about inter-generational interaction as it pertains to blue collar southern life. Plus there is just enough whodunnit to keep you flipping pages. I don't feel I came away with anything overtly meaningful but I didn't waste my time either.
Helpful Score: 2
The story in this book was intense based on events. It was hard to know if you were supposed to like the protagonist or not. In the end, I felt sorry for her, but I wasn't sure if I liked her.
The book has some spots that make you wonder why the author included them. There are a few typos and grammatical errors, which distracted the reading.
The story was colorful. Fast read. Still kinda scratching my head about it.
The book has some spots that make you wonder why the author included them. There are a few typos and grammatical errors, which distracted the reading.
The story was colorful. Fast read. Still kinda scratching my head about it.
Helpful Score: 2
I didn't expect much from this book, but it's very good. The games Burr and Lena play are funny and revealing and I really didn't guess the twist. It's a sweet story about the secrets people keep and how much more we really are loved then we understand.
Helpful Score: 1
One of those "can't-put-it-down" books. I loved the believably imperfect main character and was surprised several times by plot twists. The author has also done a nice job adding regionalism to the two locations in the book.
Helpful Score: 1
Funny book with great characters and an enjoyable storyline. Good fiction for a lazy weekend read
Helpful Score: 1
Fantastic, quick read.
Good characters and plot.
Good characters and plot.
Helpful Score: 1
Wow--this was a great book with a real twist of an ending. I really recommend it, It'll have you from the first sentence.
Helpful Score: 1
I picked this up for two reasons: The title intrigued me and it was not my usual type of story. I thought it might be something different to read. I got it on CD. It pulled me along until part of the way through my second of the 7 CD's and it started to look like this was going to be about mixed race marriage. I wasn't really interested in reading about that but I hung in a little longer and it became clear that her relationship with a black man was not the focus. I continued to listen and as I did the author brought me back to my young days when we are daring and full of angst and going through who is popular and who is not. The author's writing style brought Arlene's story to life. Her way of telling the story was different and expertly done. I did not anticipate the kind of ending it had. This is an author that is a natural story teller and I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this book. In the end, it was a feel good story, which I like. The reader was perfect for this part. This book is about family relationships and a mystery which unfolds pulling you along. I will check out other books by this author.
Helpful Score: 1
I like books about "Wacky Women". This one is definetly a five star publication. A little bit of everything comes into play when the heroine goes back to Alabama for a visit after living in the North for 10 years. Not only does she go back to face some of her left behind fears but takes her African American Boy-Friend with her into her Lily White past. Not only a book filled with funny foibles but also a good murder mystery. Enjoy, I did.
Twisting plot lines and one of a kind characters. the author calls it Southern fiction seasoned with a dash of murder mystery. There is Aunt Florence, a tough magnolia, and her neice Arlene, an uptight Southerner who never lies, but doesnt always tell the truth. And Burr, Arlene's tax attorney boyfriend.
I really enjoyed this book. It's has a clever premise and the characters have a lot of depth. Highly recommend!
A quick, interesting read with a nice plot twist at the end.
Good book but on the wild side. Is not a religious type book.
Loved this book. Great story. Just recieved Between, Georgia and can't wait to read it.
Interesting story. I enjoyed reading this book.
Fantastic book!! A real page turner. Great beach read. Had me going right up to the end. I read this book about a year ago and I am still thinking about what a great book this was! You will not be disappointed.
A little out there but enjoyable.
This was a great read! The humor was awesome and the characters are so incredibly vivid! A definite must read!
Had a really hard time getting into this book. Read the first couple chapters, and it just wasn't happening for me. Forwarded the book to a friend without finishing.
Easy and quick read. Enjoyed it until the end
Crazy-good. A wild ride of despair, hope and redemption. Fascinating from start to finish.
Funny, laugh out loud book.
I really liked this story. This author just sucks you in to her stories and characters so that you feel like you are living what is happening - that you are a part of it. This is a great story about misunderstandings and secrets - how harmful your actions can be when you think you know why the other person is doing something but you really don't. I highly recommend this one!
My most favorite book out of all that I've read, without a doubt.
Sassy female characters and witty dialogue. A fast, fun read with a few nice little plot twists along the way.
This was a great, quick read, funny and sad at the same time.
This is my second book by Joshilyn Jackson. While I did not enjoy it as much as the first one I read, it was still enjoyable and a pretty easy read. Looking forward to see what else she has out there.
I absolutely LOVED this book! It's a good read for anyone who has been running from their problems!
I really enjoyed this book. It took me a little bit to get started, but once I did, I really got into it.
I would recommend this book!
I would recommend this book!
This book will catch your attention. Full of twist and turns. True Southern Novel, based in Possett, Alabama. Story of love, family, secrets and lies.
Great story!! Anyone who has spent any time in the South will enjoy Lena's crazy family. Quite a debut novel!
I enjoyed this book. I did not relate to any of the characters but it gave thought about relationships in my life. It has a good twist that was unexpected.
Wonderfully descriptive. Interesting plot twists. Great read.
Surprising ending. Didn't see it coming.
A strange promise to God over a misunderstanding and quite a surprising ending. Characters to love, pity, and hate.
Easy reading book with a good plot twist
Liked it, but kinda forgot what it was about. Wasn't terrible, but obviously wasn't the greatest book I've ever read.
Highly recommend!!!! Wonderful story! I just couldn't put it down!
A great story, Jackson has a way with words.
"Crackling with humor, defiantly endearing characters, and plot twists that will astonish even the most jaded reader, Gods in Alabama will send you careening from tears to laughter and back. Most of all, it brings a unique, rough-around-the-edges heroine to life and makes her a permanent part of your own."
Incredible book. Read in three settings which is very unusal for me since I have a three year old.
This book was a nice read with an unexpected ending for me.
Great book about a less than perfect heroine who has good intentions but has made some bad choices and has to finally step up to move her life forward - good surprise ending - absolutely no peeking!!!
This is a fun light summer read. Not a page turner, but well written enough to keep you interested. It is not as heavy handed as most chick lit books.
I really enjoyed this book!!
This was a quick, riveting read with outcomes I never saw coming. The author's writing feels really fresh & clever. I can't wait to read other books by the same writer. This was a fun weekend read.
I absolutely LOVED this book! Lena {Arlene} is a great character in this book! ****
Excellent book. Easy read with very connectible characters and twists at the ending. A book that will keep you up reading until you finish it.
This was an excellent book and I highly recommend it to anybody who enjoys reading suspenseful novels. I read this book in one sitting I was that hooked! The author does a wonderful job introducing each layer of the plot and the characters feel as if you could easily find them in your circle of family or friends, especially if you are familiar with the deep south. The protagonist was such a unique individual and quite possibly frightening at times. This novel is a great exploration into the question of whether or not committing murder is justifiable and what makes a person good or bad. I thoroughly enjoyed the relationship between the protagonist, Arlene, and her cousin Clarice. There's is a bond comparable to blood sisters and is was so beautiful to see how they cared for and loved one another. An excellent novel and I highly recommend it to anybody who enjoys reading and I also feel that this would be a great story to read if you are just starting your own life, moving away from your family, or beginning a family of your own. There are great lessons to be learned from this novel.
This was a good book. It had twists and turns that I did not expect. It was a quick read and I really wanted to get to the end to figure out what will happen. I will read her books again.
I was quite disappointed in this book. The story did not move well and her internal dialogue saying "there are gods in Alabama" became rather silly after a while. There were not any characters that I could care about or root for. Unfortunately I would not recommend this one.
It's a who done-it kind of book that keeps the reader wondering and reading to find out the truth. A very good read.
Great! A surprising mix of literary mystery and Southern Steel Magnolia like charm
This is a great book. The flow of the book is refreshing and unique. Well written and terrific. It will be a good book to relax with.
I found this book to be amazing! I just couldn't put it down. I loved the writing style and how the writer hooked me in the first page. The ending was a total surprise, just couldn't guess how it would end. I've ordered the author's other book and can't wait to get it. I hope she keeps writing.
This was a pretty good book. I would recommend it. It is funny in parts and the overall story was good. Put it on your list of books to read.
Enjoyable, fast read. The ending was more simplistic than I had expected.
Very well read and easy to listen to. I thought the story was excellent with an ending I didn't expect.
Great read for first book!
Love it! Joshilyn Jackson is such an incredible author. I am so happy to have discovered her and added her books to my pile!
This was a great book. Good if you like the murder mystery genre, as Joshilyn Jackson is good for that. Id recommend this book to anyone and definitely if you live in the south (it has a lot of southern references). Its probably one of her better books.
Delightful!
what a crazy, fun ride, interesting and unusual story line. there is some sexually explicit content, though.
I really enjoyed this book. Very well written. I would've never guessed the end. I love surprise endings!
GREAT book. So unpredictable and so poingiant. The elements of culture are also perfect. All in all, a great read.
I really enjoyed this book.
I enjoyed this book. It started good - but I got bogged down a little half-way through, but then it picked up and ended with a bang.
At the beginning of this story I didn't like the main character very much. However, there was enough substance to her to keep me interested. Then the story took off and I was hooked. Great book.
Very nice story about a southern girl.
Could not put this down and finished in 5 hours! Good read, don't miss it.
very suspenseful, but funny!
Good southern drama!
I was underwhelmed by this. I had read a great review of it, but found it to be rather cliched and predictable.
This book is very hard to put down,but I was disappointed in the ending of the book.
I just could not stand to read this book. I made it 96 pages and finally thought what am I wasting my time for. The flashbacks to the past were just too much, I don't care that you don't like roaches, who does! Don't waste your time with this book.
