"Secrets Over Sweet Tea" by Denise Hildreth Jones

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Secrets can be funny things. We think they keep us safe, but more often than not, they spill out when we least expect and make a mess out of everything. It’s a truth Scarlett Jo Newberry knows all too well—a truth Grace Shepherd and Zach Craig are about to learn the hard way. As the lives of this boisterous pastor’s wife, polished news anchor, and beleaguered divorce attorney intersect in the tree-lined streets of Franklin, Tennessee, scandal threatens to topple their carefully constructed worlds. Grasping at survival, they embark on a journey of friendship and courage, desperate to find a way back to laughter, love, and life.

I was so excited to see this book up for review. I live in Tennessee where sweet tea is a part of life, and the characters from the blurb sounded great. Unfortunately, it did not live up to expectations. Scarlett Jo, the pastor's wife, is more of a caricature than a character. Now, I do not subscribe to the notion that a pastor's wife has to be perfect. Having been a pastor's wife I know full well that we are human beings with all our own faults and failures. However, she is just over the top loud, boisterous, crude and unsubmissive (more than once her pastor/husband tells her not to do something or to wait before she does it and she immediately goes and does is anyway). She bites back a cuss word at one point. Her husband "asked her to stop cussing since Jack was a baby, and she did okay most days." They even allow their younger boys to each say a cuss word at one point because they want to, saying that Jesus looks on the heart and that, basically, if there's no evil intent in the heart it's not sin. It is justified that even though we're clearly taught in the Bible not to take the Lord's name in vain, it's actually a worse sin to be mean to people. Are you kidding?!? There are no degrees to sin in God's eyes. Sin is sin!

I loved Grace's character. Her pain in her situation and the choices she has to make are so clear. You really root for things to turn out for her. Zach is unlikable in the beginning, but he really grows and develops leaving you rooting for him as well in the end. Unfortunately, in my opinion, they were not enough to save this book, though they did bump it up to two stars.

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale Publishing for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.