Southern Belle Challenge Book # 4: Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews

Source:  Goodreads

Mary Kay Andrews
Source:  http://www.marykayandrews.com/

Goodreads summary

Keeley Murdock's wedding to A.J. Jernigan should have been the social event of the season. But when she catches her fiance doing the deed with her maid of honor at the country club rehearsal dinner, all bets are off. And so is the wedding. Keeley pitches the hissy fit of the century, earning herself instant notoriety in the small town of Madison, Georgia.
Even worse is the financial pressure A.J.'s banking family brings to bear on Keeley's interior design business. But riding to the rescue — in a vintage yellow Cadillac — is the redheaded stranger who's bought a failing local bra plant. Will Mahoney hires Keeley to redo the derelict antebellum mansion he's bought. Her assignment: decorate it for the woman of his dreams — a woman he's never met.
Only a designing woman like Keeley Murdock can find a way to clear her name and give her cheating varmint of an ex-fiance the comeuppance he so richly deserves. And only Mary Kay Andrews can deliver such delicious social satire. With Hissy Fit, she's created a story as outrageous, dishy, and true as Savannah Blues and Little Bitty Lies.

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I read this book because I am participating in the Southern Belle Reading Challenge being hosted by Brenda over at Curling Up With a Good Book during the month of September.  I found this book on a list that Brenda provided on her blog.  You can view Brenda's list of "southern" books by clicking HERE.   Hissy Fit is the fourth book I've read for this challenge.  I checked  out the copy that I read from my local library.

I think what lead me to read this book most of all was the title.  "Hissy fit" is a term I've heard and have said all my life, and I've been known to throw a few myself.  I was also drawn to the bright yellow cover.  Hissy Fit was released in 2004 and has 419 pages.  420 if you count the yummy recipe for "Grit's n' Greens Casserole" on the very last page of the book.

I loved this book!  It is so much more than the summary leads you to believe.  Yes, it is very funny and very southern, but it is also serious and heart wrenching at times.  What the summary doesn't tell you about is the family tragedy that haunts every day of Keely's life or how much this tragedy effects her even twenty five years later.

Keely in an interior designer, so there were a lot of shopping trips for antiques and talk of wall color and flowers.  All of which made me want to get my butt in gear and start the remodel of my house that I've been putting off for months!

There were parts in this book that were so hilarious and unexpected that I actually covered my mouth and giggled, but there were also parts that made me shake my head in disgust.  Through it all, Keely is likable and real and very southern.  I respected Andrews' take on the "southern girl".   I found it fair, funny, and very believable.  There was no playing to stereotypes or trying to hard.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone!