I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for review consideration.
The Happy Hour Choir by Sally Kilpatrick Published by Kensington Books on April 28, 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Debut, Family & Relationships, Fiction, Friendship
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
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From debut author Sally Kilpatrick comes a hopeful tale of love and redemption in a quiet Southern town where a lost soul finds her way with the help of an unlikely circle of friends…
Life has dealt Beulah Land a tough hand to play, least of all being named after a hymn. A teenage pregnancy estranged her from her family, and a tragedy caused her to lose what little faith remained. The wayward daughter of a Baptist deacon, she spends her nights playing the piano at The Fountain, a honky-tonk located just across the road from County Line Methodist. But when she learns that a dear friend’s dying wish is for her to take over as the church’s piano player, she realizes it may be time to face the music…
Beulah butts heads with Luke Daniels, the new pastor at County Line, who is determined to cling to tradition even though he needs to attract more congregants to the aging church. But the choir also isn’t enthusiastic about Beulah’s contemporary take on the old songs and refuse to perform. Undaunted, Beulah assembles a ragtag group of patrons from The Fountain to form the Happy Hour Choir. And as the unexpected gig helps her let go of her painful past—and accept the love she didn’t think she deserved—she just may be able to prove to Luke that she can toe the line between sinner and saint…
A little twitter conversation brought The Happy Hour Choir to my attention, and I am so glad it did. Concerned at the beginning that there might be too much religion/church in it for my liking, I was pleasantly surprised to find a story centered around friendship and community.
It’s been a while since I read The Happy Hour Choir, and honestly even though I made notes, they are terrible. So in order to control my blabbering, and to hopefully hold your attention, I’m going to list 5 reasons why you should read Sally Kilpatrick’s debut:
- Southern fiction is the best. I’ve never traveled to the South (Florida does not count, anyone will tell you that!) and I love nothing more than traveling vicariously through other people’s imagery.
- Ginger is a character and a half! An eccentric, and lovable real Southern gal who you just want to grab and hug and chat to all day long.
- Beulah makes good decisions, even though she thinks she makes bad ones. She’s a great friend to Tiffany and an even better one to Ginger. She makes mistakes in love, but we all do so she can be forgiven.
- Sally’s Twitter handle is @SuperWriterMom, if that isn’t awesome I don’t know what is. Plus she is super! I mean really! Sally has been openly grateful to all the support she has received thus far for The Happy Hour Choir.
- And finally, Sally has already written her second novel, Bittersweet Creek, and it will be published on October 27th. That gives you just short of 5 months to read The Happy Hour Choir and fall in love with her writing!
I’m positively blushing. Thank you so much!
OK! Looks fun. Though you don’t say which state it *IS* set in (I assume not Florida? why isn’t FL the south? I think of it as the South?! am I wrong?) And it doesn’t really matter which state, but you have me curious…
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