This isn't the fun read that the Sarah books were. It covers the time during World War II from a perspective of a girl from the deep south who has to come to terms with the religious practices, prejudices, and traditions of the people around her. It did make me think some, and I felt compelled to finish it. I don't know that I enjoyed it. ( )

Had this as an audiobook, & the problematic reading affected my reaction almost more than the author's writing, so this might not be a fair review of the novel.
Themes of racial prejudice vs Frosty being essentially 'blind' to race; rigidly strict southern Baptist parenting; women learning to play dumb or weak in order to get their way. Frosty is the quintessential good girl.
In the first half of the book we are following so many different people's POV that I wasn't sure where this book was going. It did eventually focus in on being told only thru Gordon and Frosty, and the other characters are then only seen thru their eyes.
The jacket blurb made me expect some big revelation when Frosty & Gordon return to her hometown, but it didn't happen like that. Instead it seems the author lost her courage...or felt "big revelation" would be too dramatic & unrealistic. The ending didn't feel right, at first. It took me a while to see that Frosty needed some space to integrate the overwhelming rejection she felt, and the finality of her decision. Turner started to get a good metaphor going about 'taking flight' but then had to let it go.
I did like the development of Frosty, as she gained courage and self-esteem. And it was realistic that even when Frosty understood the reasons for her mother's behavior, understanding wasn't sufficient for her to live with it.
There were 2 main problems with the audio version. 1)There wasn't sufficient pause between one characters section & the next. Hardly a breath taken between them & it was disorienting to try to figure out that this is a new person's life. 2)Everytime I turned the player back on it would repeat what must be a subtitle "We Burned the N...Church after the Junior/Senior Prom." I kept waiting for the story to move on to a new section so I wouldn't have to continually hear that irritating word, but it was repeated for the entire book. ( )

Darn. I bought this ebook because I have read one book of her which I really liked and have 2 others of that series on my wish list for ages (they are too expensive) so I was thrilled to find out this book was only 6 dollars.

Darn I wish now I had bought the more expensive wishlist book because I do not like the style of this book at all. It is jumping from here to there very annoying and confusing.

Well I will give this book another chance when I am in a I can read anything mood.





Don't you guys have that? You have the well hated reading slump where every book you try you can't get into them but there is also the opposite where you can read anything. You devour the books. So when I am in such a devour mood I will give it a second change

Set in Mississippi before and just after WWII, this story is about Frosty Summers growing up in a strict Baptist house, surrounded by racial prejudice and intolerance. The story is a good one; the characters are real. The flaw is in the format. The beginning was very confusing with characters and the format, which lacked chapter breaks, made it more so. It is definitely a good book with minor flaws. ( )