Some people seem to make poor choice after poor choice in life, whether because they don't know any better or because they didn't have better role models. But poor life choices don't have to define a person forever. Breaking the pattern, breaking away, can be incredibly difficult but it is possible. There is always hope. Joshilyn Jackson's novel Backseat Saints is full of both poor decisions and hope for the future.

Ro Grandee, nee Rose Mae Lolley, was a side character in Jackson's debut novel gods in Alabama (lower case g intentional) but here she takes center stage. She grew up in Alabama, abandoned by her mother when she was just eight, and left directly in the line of fire of her alcoholic father's fists. So it's no surprise when she high tails it out of town as soon as possible. But leaving doesn't break the cycle of violence in her life as she meets and marries Thom Grandee, the son of the first family in his small Texas town. Rose Mae becomes Ro, a quiet, compliant, perfect wife whose hair and makeup are always impeccable and whose long sleeves hide the near constant bruises on her arms. Ro Grandee is not the quick, fearless spitfire that Rose Mae Lolley was although she needs to find that irrepressible girl inside herself again to find the courage to leave Thom, especially after a tarot reading stranger at the airport tells her that she will have to kill her husband or be killed, a truth she recognizes even as she still loves her abuser. And if she does leave, can she escape Thom as long as they're both still alive?

This is a companion novel to gods in Alabama although no knowledge of the first novel is needed to enjoy this one. There is a surprising amount of humor here, even in the face of such heavy topics as abandonment, domestic abuse, and alcoholism. Many of the characters, and especially Rose Mae, are emotionally damaged by their pasts. She must reckon with that past though, perhaps find her mother and confront her father, in order to understand and change the present, to escape her own certain death at Thom's hands. Jackson is adept at drawing small Southern towns and the people who inhabit them, understanding where each person fits in the hierarchy of place and the complications inherent in all of that. The novel is funny, heartbreaking, suspenseful, and twisty. Those who are looking for a good look into the psychology of an abused wife, the bravery it takes to run to a new life, and the promise of hope will find this a satisfying read. ( )

I love Joshilyn Jackson. I will forever read anything and everything that she writes. This one was even better because I did the Audible version read by the author herself!! Nothin better than a story about a southern girl read by a southern girl herself! Jackson's stories seldom deal with the happiest parts of life. Her protagonists are usually a bit broken, a bit messed up. But she always pulls them up by their boot straps and one way or another brings you to a happy-ish ending. Because lets face it, life is never all the way happy and perfect. Rose Mae is one of those broken characters, but this girl is still full of fire. Raised motherless, in an abusive home, she marries herself right into another one. After so many years of abuse she is used to it. Finding the mother who abandoned her many years ago leads her to believe that this is all there is for her. But her mother and the tarot cards have a plan. They just have to murder her heavy fisted husband! What follows is an almost hilarious chain of events, hilarious if it wasn't all just so sad. In the end Rose and her mother are both set free, each in their own way, though not in the way you'd expect. ( )

I bought this book because the opening line hooked me: “It was an airport gypsy who told me that I had to kill my husband. She may have been the firt to say the words out loud, but she was only giving voice to a thing that I’d been trying not to know for a long, long timel.”

The first paragraph displayed a fresh, direct, authentic voice combined with compelling story telling craft and a willingness to tackle the most difficult emotions – the ones that bring us shame but also show is that we are alive, the ones that make us most ourselves, even if it’s a self we don’t like so much.

The rest of the book didn’t disappoint, it exceeded my expectations.

This isn’t just a sassy firecracker of a woman dealing with her abusive husband with witty lines and a smile on her face. This book crawls inside an abusive relationship and makes you live there. It makes you understand why she lives there and how she fuels the flames that burn her. This is physical and real and refuses to bow its head to politically correct clichés.

This book deals with broken people who cannot be fixed but may, perhaps be saved, even if they cannot save themselves.

It is about love and how that can get twisted up with hate and betrayal and loss and guilt.

It is a thriller that will keep you turning the pages and needing to know what happens next.

In this book, nothing is what it first seems but this is not the sleight of hand of the locked-room-murder mystery, this is about a slowly deepening perception of who these people are, what they mean to each other and what that does to them.

The thing I enjoyed most about the book is the sheer skill of the writing. Joshilyn Jackson slips back and forth along time lines and changes of perspective and variations of mood effortlessly. Her dialogue is perfect, her language is precise and unaffected. She is, literally, a joy to read.

This was the first novel of hers that I’ve read, but I now have “The Gods of Alabama” on order. ( )

This was the perfect summer read. A tough female protagonist with a secret past, a bit of romance, and that Southern touch that Joshilyn Jackson is so well known for. Very fun! ( )

So bad I was praying for Thom to hurry up and finish it. ( )