Lois Battle is quietly but steadily moving up the ladder as one of America's great writers. Her stories are well-written; characters are so well-defined the reader is sure to feel as if they've known them since childhood. And her books are about real situations that many of us can relate to. And no, this isn't a book just for women. Although it is ABOUT women, Southern Women is sure to give men a new perspective of the female gender - how they sometimes think and act. Grab a cup of hot apple cider with a cinnamon stick and curl up on the couch. You won't want to put this one down until the very last page.  

Mandie returns home to find that a Courtroom Battle may take place! Why? Well, Mandie's former step-mother comes to town claiming she has a Will to Mandie's father's house. But that can't be right...because Mandie has the will. But it turns out that when Uncle John went to file her Will, he found it had been stolen from his desk drawer! Mandie and Joe go on a search of the house, but with no luck. Who's Will is real? And where is Mandie's Will? A Courtroom Battle is sure to happen. And it does, but it isn't quite as dramatic as the cover would suggest. This is a good Mandie Book though, so I would reccomend not skipping it.

This book is wonderful. It is a story of Mandie trying to protect her father's belongings and keep them safe from the "evil stepmother" I'd say more but it would spoil it! I definetly recommend this book!

Mandie books are so cool. I cheek them out every time I go to the library.I would like to own all of them (all of the books).If you have not read this books you dont know what you are missing!!!Even my mom reads them and she realy likes them too.

The theme Lois Battle addresses in her nostalgic southern Bed and Breakfast is domestic discord. The setting is Christmas, a time all the rest of the world seems to be enjoying a season of hope, peace, love and family togetherness.
Following a decade of separation, a widowed mother of three grown daughters is prompted to plan a special Christmas reunion after witnessing a friend's close encounter with death.
The ensuing friction and strife that occur stem from old established patterns of sibling rivalry, jealousy, and unforgiven past transgressions. The myth of a happy family reunion Josie has dared to dream is shattered. The manner in which the author neatly ties together her themes and resolves most of the conflicts to our satisfaction, even managing to end the novel on a happy romantic note, makes this book an enjoyable read to curl up with. The book has many well developed believable characters, and explores many familiar problems friends, families , and couples experience in real life. .

Too many characters in too short a book leave the reader wishing for more depth -- the book jumps from mother Josie to the two older daughters, Cam and Lila, and never focuses on third daughter Evie at all -- but the story rings TRUE. As an Army brat (I even spent a good part of the summer of 1963 in Beaufort, SC, where the story is set), I can hear the truth in every line of dialogue between Josie and her war-hero husband, Bear. It's much more a story of a military family than it is of a Southern family, for all of the local color, but it's well worth a first, second, or even third read.

There is always the book that you can't discard even when you clean off the shelves to make room for new books. This is one of those books because you will always remember it as a pleasant experience-- you will truly enjoy this one!

Reading Lois Battle's "Habit of the Blood" you'll be transported to the lush Caribbean, underneath of which simmers social and political unrest.

This is the story of Ceci Baron, a 30-something with wanderlust and a prestigious family pedigree. After years of travelling, she returns to her native Jamaica to face up to family issues and become reacquainted with the love of her life.

There are several interesting story threads, from Ceci's dysfunctional fmaily to her taboo romance with one of Jamaica's prominent leaders. Battle writes wonderful discriptions of Jamaica and very convincing dialogue.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book though I do agree with the reviewer who said the author rushed through 40 yrs in 50-60 pages. The final chapter was exceptional, very moving and right. Battle creates believable multi-faceted characters. I look forward to reading more of this author. I am puzzled by a recent reviewer who called this book "a boddice-ripper." Storyville is not a bodice ripper at all. Does this reviewer even know what a bodice ripper is?

If you enjoy historical fiction with a romantic thread, you'll probably enjoy Lois Battle's STORYVILLE. Set in New Orleans during the Women's Suffrage marches, it's a pleasant break from the standard "gothic romance."

I LOVED this book! I read it before I lived in New Orleans, and I still think of it now that I live here, whenever I pass the area that was once Storyville. A very fascinating period of time. I recommend E.J Bellocq's photos to take a look at these ladies lives at that time.

This is a story about a group of women in Florabama, Alabama who are laid off from the sewing plant when management decides to close up. It's a very scary time because most of the women have worked there for many years and have no other skills. Management arranges with the local college for a program to help them learn new skills so they can get new jobs. Bonnie, a newly-divorced mother of two grown children, is hired by the college to sort through the problems and help the women with their goals. Bonnie comes from a background of wealth, while the factory workers have lived in poverty. Brought together, they begin to learn from each other.
I really liked this book. The main characters are believable and loveable, even the grumpy ones. There's a lot to be gained as we travel along with the ladies, overcoming hardships and learning to love those who are different from ourselves. I like to underline passages and phrases that teach me things. Such as:
"What you can't cure, you must endure."
"It's remarkable how much you can accomplish when you don't care who gets the credit." (Harry Truman)
"Sometimes telling the truth was just an excuse for meanness."
There were a few minor problems with character development. I felt that there were some characters that were brought up for no apparent reason. For example, Bonnie's landlord was described in all his slimy, despicable glory, and I fully expected him to surface later on, being menacing and demanding, but you never hear from him again, except a brief mention at the end. Likewise, a man from Bonnie's past suddenly shows up and they become lovers, but nothing really becomes of it. I suppose his purpose was to show that Bonnie had grown and was no longer dependent on a man for her happiness and well-being.
I don't think that this book was anti-men, but I identified closely with the theme that the women helped each other through everything that they went through. I find this to be true in my own life, where my friends and I help each other through things, especially emotionally.

Having never read Lois Battle, her newest tome is my first adventure into her writing. I will now go back and look for other titles she has written.

Do I recommend this story of middle-age women struggling to survive? Absolutely! The spirit of the displaced homemakers from Cherished Lady lingerie's now closed plant is led by an unlikely cultured and privileged lady, Bonnie Duke Cullman. Bonnie also finds herself in this displaced homemaker category, but for a much different reason: bankruptcy and divorce.

Rescued by her family connections, her daddy Duke is rich and influential, Bonnie finds work as a job counselor in tiny Florabama's junior college. It is there, with the help of her long time friend Cass that Bonnie also finds herself.

The Cherished Lady ex-employees comprise a mix of hard-working, down-on-their-luck seamstresses who have a new opportunity to go to college and learn the skills to get new jobs. Of course they must do this while drawing unemployment, raising their grandchildren, resisting their spouses attempts to keep them down, caring for disabled spouses and dysfunctional adult children. They are a colorful and realistic set of characters who grow on the reader.

Key to the plot are the women: Hilly, Ruth, Roxy, Albertine, Lyda Jane and Celia. Key to the women's lives are the emotional baggage they have accumulated by living and the individual tastes for life that both bring them together and separate them. Their small town plant has given them earning power and a sense of community. With its closing, as the plant owners seek cheaper labor in Mexico, they are at the mercy of a world that looks for education in its future employees. Their lives have to be upgraded and the local college has a government grant to provide that upgrade.

While one cannot help but laugh over the spirited and straight shooting expressions of Hilly, this novel also reflects the heartbreaks and disappointments that represent the dark side of the characters' lives. This is also a love story, the story of Bonnie with Riz, Cass with Mark, Hilly with Jess. Each partnership takes a different road, with the women coming out stronger and less dependent on romance or sex or men.

Bonnie is the protagonist: the divorced mom of grown, spoiled children, the daughter of wealth, the step-daughter of a restless, mouthy step-mom. First, she surprizes herself by learning to respect and love her displaced Florabama homemakers. Then she surprizes herself by realizing that independence is a good thing. Furthermore, she surprizes herself with her own entrepreneurial abilities. She lives through her time in Florabama and emerges realistically triumphant.

The love of friends is important in Battle's story: the love of Cass and Bonnie, and Hilly and Ruth. Author Battle understands that women do not have it easy in a man's world, but that they can survive and rise above life's challenges. This is a positive, can't-put-it-down read. Brava!

Southern Belle. The words conjured up thoughts of genteel, tea-sipping ladies or feisty harridans the likes of Scarlett O'Hara. But these days, southern women are a rich combination of both sets of characteristics, and excellent examples of this can be found in Lois Battle's new book, "The Florabama Ladies Auxiliary and Sewing Circle."

Atlanta socialite Bonnie Duke Cullman has come to a life-altering crossroads in her life. Her husband has run out on her for a younger woman. To add insult to injury, he has also spent their life's savings and filed for bankruptcy. Accustomed since birth to a country club existence, she has never done a "real" day's work in her life. So, for the first time in her life, 50-year old Bonnie is facing life alone and financially strapped.

Hope for Bonnie comes in the form of a position at a tiny community college in Florabama, Alabama. The Cherished Lady lingerie factory is being closed down, and the college hires Bonnie to run its program for displaced homemakers and workers. In a blind-leading-the-blind proposition, Bonnie is supposed to help the women, many who had never known another job, figure out what to do with the rest of their lives. She starts out by gathering them into a weekly group session to help everyone air their opinions and concerns, and begins to learn just how hard "real" life is for these women.

Determined to help the ladies better their lives, Bonnie calls upon friends from her former life to help them set up a cottage industry using their skills as seamstresses to design a line of unique children's clothes. The project is a huge success, but teeters on the brink of disaster when one of their own runs off with their first big paycheck. But with resolve and resilience that surprises even the most skeptical in the group, the women regroup and come back to prove they are capable of overcoming the odds to be victorious.

Author Lois Battle has gathered a delightful group of women in this heartwarming tale. In sharing their stories, the "Ladies" form a delightful patchwork quilt of characters. There's patient, saintly Ruth, who has always wanted to be a teacher; the hot-tempered, slightly bigoted Hilly who finds the second love of her life in a Mexican restaurant; and Roxy, the irresponsible young mother who takes anything she can get, as long as it doesn't involve work. But the star of the story is Bonnie, who proves to herself that she is capable of overcoming her own obstacles to find a happier life and, in doing so, develops a healthy respect for herself. She even finds a little love along the way.

"The Florabama Ladies Auxiliary and Sewing Circle" provides a genuine glimpse into the lives of modern-day southern women. Don't be surprise to find there is a little tea-sipping Scarlett in each of these resilient ladies.

A Major Disappointment! This is one of the "slowest" reads I've had in a long time. It felt like labor just to get through it. I kept putting it down to read other books that were much more interesting, so it took me five weeks to finish. I kept plugging away, because there would be a hint that it would pick up and get better, but it would slow back down again. It finally ended leaving me confused as to what happened to one of the main characters!

I wanted to read this book because of the subject matter... foreign women who married American GI's after WWII and immigrated to the USA. This story was written by the daughter of one such couple. It revolves around three women. But I found that the lack of dates at the beginning of chapters, or very little reference to time frames throughout the book as it jumped from character to character made the book hard to follow. For example, when it went back and forth between chapters on Dawn, it was hard to tell if one month or a year had gone by. Then at the end, it was almost as if the author realized the book was too long, or got tired of writing, and just decided to stop! We never learn what really happened to Gaynor.

I think this book would have been much more effective if the author had written about one character, even if it meant having a shorter book. Or written about three separate characters in three separate mini-books combined in one novel, but following that one character all the way through. Since these characters had very little interaction after the first chapter, that could have been the prologue and then had epilogue to wrap up any connections or to tell what happened to them later.

Over all - I would not recommend this if you want to read anything "interesting" or "quick".... so boring!

I like light fare for my bedtime reading and I like stories about women. This was perfect. A few pages at a time, it lasted me for months. Nothing deep that I have to "get something out of". I do agree though, that the ending left something to be desired.

This is a unique story of Australian women who by chance meeteligible and vulnerable American service men while the men arestationed in Australia during WWII. Each couple meet and hastily march to marriage encouraged and motivated by the events and times at the end of the war. Despite family members expressing objection, the story centers on 3 young women who take the plunge and board ship for America to start their lives with the husbands they only knew for the briefest time. Each of the women are different and what motivates their destiny becomes the essence of the story line. One must remember that during this time in women's history, a wife was expected to place their husband first, no matter the personal sacrifice. For all these women, the sacrifices are so costly, they are each pushed to the edge and are challenged in a foreign country to make the best of their situation. A somewhat slow novel in the beginning, the story developes and holds the reader to the end.