Etta Mae's Worst Bad-Luck Day

July 15, 2014
In the 16th installment of theAbbotsville novels, Miss Julia steps to the margins so sexy Etta Mae Wiggins,collector of Barbies and lover of men, can enter the spotlight.Etta Mae, just 30 and twicedivorced, wants a little respect from the blue-nosed ladies of the garden club;she aspires to greater things than life in a trailer park and hard hours as ahome health care assistant. Rich old Mr. Howard Connard is recovering from astroke with her patient help and has asked her to marry him; they're secretlyplanning the society wedding of her dreams. Then Mr. Connard Junior comes totown, barring Etta Mae from contact with his father, whom he's shipping off toan old folks home. Etta Mae needs to marry Mr. Howard within a day. If only herex-husband Skip didn't show up at her double-wide, hiding out from thugs tryingto steal his winning lottery ticket. And then a few hours later, she discoversJunior unconscious on her couch, his head banged in (requiring lots ofconversations with the sheriff, which she just doesn't have time for). Thoughthere are amusing coming and goings in Abbotsville, too often Ross uses obviousshortcuts to build her characters-Etta Mae's Kathie Lee Gifford dress fromWal-Mart, her collector NASCAR Barbie-which results in a caricature instead ofa sympathetic portrait of her heroine. A slapstick lingerie shower,featuring vengeful hillbillies and a drunk Miss Julia, is followed by a (moreage-appropriate) happy ending for our Etta Mae.Much of the same Southern-friedslapstick from Ross; only for fans of the series.

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September 1, 2014
Etta Mae Wiggins lives in an Abbotsville, North Carolina, trailer park, works as a home health aide, and has big dreams. Her current client, the wealthy yet frail Howard Connard, just may be her ticket out of poverty. Despite a debilitating stroke, Howard can't resist Etta's sexy curves and sweet disposition. But his family is circling the wagons, waiting eagerly for their inheritance. For Etta Mae, there are more complications. Her ex-husband, Skip, has shown up on her doorstep with a winning lottery ticket in hand and a band of thugs at his heels. And her former flame, Bobby Lee Moser, keeps popping up at odd moments to remind her that their torch has not yet been extinguished. Ross, author of the well-received Miss Julia series, steps away from her main character to tell a story from the perspective of one of the town's most colorful residents. Filled with familiar faces and southern charm, Ross' sixteenth entry in the series is the satisfying story of one woman who refuses to give up her dreams.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)