Backseat Saints

I won't lie, I honestly thought about throwing the towel in on this one because it started out a bit slow, but I LOVED gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson and wanted to know more behind the character of Rose Mae Lolley so I kept plugging.  What happened? I finished the book the same day.  I would definitely recommend this book if you liked Black & Blue by Anna Quindlin but also suggest that you don't read it if domestic abuse is a trigger.

Description:  Rose Mae Lolley's mother disappeared when she was eight, leaving Rose with a heap of old novels and a taste for dangerous men. Now, as demure Mrs. Ro Grandee, she's living the very life her mother abandoned. She's all but forgotten the girl she used to be-teenaged spitfire, Alabama heartbreaker, and a crack shot with a pistol-until an airport gypsy warns Rose it's time to find her way back to that brave, tough girl . . . or else. Armed with only her wit, her pawpy's ancient .45, and her dog Fat Gretel, Rose Mae hightails it out of Texas, running from a man who will never let her go, on a mission to find the mother who did.

Starring a minor character from Jackson's bestselling gods in Alabama, BACKSEAT SAINTS will dazzle readers with its stunning portrayal of the measures a mother will take to right the wrongs she's created, and how far a daughter will travel to satisfy the demands of forgiveness.

Rose Mae does appear in gods in Alabama, but you wouldn't necessarily need to read that first.  It would be helpful and explain her search for Jim Beverly a bit, but it happens a little before and a little after the time frame of gods in Alabama.  But, I do suggest you check out gods in Alabama. ;)

Ro Grandee used to be Rose Mae.  Rose Mae is deep in Ro and she comes out every so often and she infuriates Ro's husband Thom, who then beats her.  This story has so much sadness to it.  Generations of people hurting each other.  Rose's daddy used to hit her mom until her mom left and then he hit her.  Then she married Thom who hurt her, who if he wasn't physically abused by his dad as a child he is being emotionally and verbally abused by him as an adult.  And so is his Thom's mother.

But a chance meeting with a gypsy in an airport has Rose Mae pushing through and ready to ditch Ro for life.  The fight for her life and her strength is what made this book so captivating.

Have you read a book by an author who expands on another character from another one of their books?  Do you get on author kicks and read a bunch by the the same author right in a row?