On Flashback Fridays I will share with you the books I was not able to review when they were first released that have been screaming at me from my To-Be-Read bookshelf.
I grabbed this book at the end of last year on Amazon and reading it helps me finally finish this year’s Alphabet Soup Challenge.
The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop
The Cadillac Series
Romantic Comedy/Women’s Fiction
3rd in Series
Setting – Texas
Montlake Romance (July 14, 2015)
Paperback: 313 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1477830604
E-Book ASIN: B00S6Z3S8C
Stella’s mama never should’ve put Stella on the church prayer list. With Stella’s twenty-seventh birthday coming up fast, Nancy desperately wants to see her daughter married and giving her grandbabies. Petitioning heaven seems like a surefire way to get it done. But in Cadillac, Texas, where the gossip’s hotter than the city’s famous jalapeño peppers, it isn’t long before all hell breaks loose.
Heather, the bossy leader of the church’s Prayer Angels, thinks a summer ball will get Stella and the town’s other single gals paired off. But nobody can tell redheaded spitfire Stella what to do—not her mama, not Heather, and not even the sexy beau Stella’s been seeing in secret. Together, Stella, her best friends Charlotte and Piper, and the loyal customers of the Yellow Rose Beauty Shop hatch a good old-fashioned scheme to sabotage the ball. But will it wreck Stella’s relationship with her mama forever? And what will the church folk think when Stella reveals the identity of her mystery man?
Dollycas’s Thoughts
I did not know this was a series when I purchased it but I had no trouble following the characters or the story.
Welcome to Cadillac Texas, where everyone knows your business and gossip runs rampant. Nancy wants her daughter to get married and start giving her grandchildren. So at the weekly meeting of the “prayer angels” at her church she asks them to “prayer for my daughter, she needs a husband”. No one was more surprised that Stella when her mother’s request was posted for all the world to see on a the sign in front of the church. Add the that, the head of the group thinks the way to help Stella is to have a gala ball and maybe she can help other singles as well. Stella and her friends Charlotte and Piper run The Yellow Rose Beauty Shop so Stella has to face the public every day. Why in the world did her mother put in this predicament? There is no way she is going along with this. She already has a man in her life, but she is not ready to make her relationship public just yet. So, she and her friends are going to do anything they can to sabotage this ball/barn dance.
This story is a HILARIOUS HOOT!
Set in a small southern town all the characters are very realistic. They could be in a small town anywhere with the exception of the dialogue that I read hearing a bit of southern twang. There is a bit of swearing, the sh*t word is used frequently but it fits with the characters and the story.
Heather, the head of the “prayer angels” really doesn’t like Nancy or Stella. She has dreams way beyond Cadillac and she will use just about anyone and anything to make her dream come true. Stella and Nancy are the typical mother and daughter, but Stella is not ready to forgive and forget the position her mother has put her in. Agnes Flynn, is a redhead like Stella, and at 80 years old she still likes to be right in the mix of all the drama especially if she is the one creating it. Some of her one-liners had me laughing out loud. Stella, Charlotte, Piper, Nancy and Agnes compare themselves to the characters in Steel Magnolias and that hits the nail right on the head.
At the heart this is a story of friendship and the friend’s romances and family life. A funny and heartwarming story with some fun and sassy characters set in the hotter than hot Cadillac Texas right in the middle of the summer. With the temp getting lower and lower here in Wisconsin, I enjoyed the virtual heat and always love a happy ending.
This is my first Carolyn Brown story but it definitely will not be my last. I have already ordered The Blue-Ribbon Jalapeño Society Jubilee
You can find out more about Carolyn Brown and her books on her webpage here.
You can find more of Carolyn Brown’s books on Amazon here.
I had planned to offer a giveaway of this book, but the paperback copy I ordered has not yet arrived. I will try to give a copy away at the end of the month during my Blogoversary Celebration.
This book was from my private collection.
It sounds like fun. Heading to buy it now.