The Secret Lives of the Kudzu Debutantes: A Novel

This audio book has all the earmarks of what COULD HAVE BEEN a great book: terrific characters, humorous situations, and an interesting plot. I didn't expect great literature, but it should have been much more enjoyable. I think I might have been rolling on the the floor, at times, if someone like Judith Ivey, Isabel Keating, Renee Raudman, or Lorelei King had narrated it.

Marguerite Gavin's narration of the story wasn't bad, but it wasn't good, either. Most of her sentences came out as statements, and there was too little differentiation between character voices. As with any book set in the South (as those whom have lived, or do live there, or even visit often know) the possibilities of pitch, intonation, and accent - even within the same small town - are almost endless. Unfortunately, Ms. Gavin's reading was pedestrian when it could have been interesting and certainly more engrossing.

In addition, pronunciations could have used a little more research, i.e., bunco should have been pronounced like "bunk-o," not "Bun Co." It seems her pronunciation of New Orleans should have been closer to "Nawlins" than "New Orlins" - but perhaps I'm being too too picky. The real shame is that lines that should have been laugh-out-loud funny are performed as throw-aways. Some of the well-written (if sometimes slightly cliche) characters could have been more endearing in their eccentricity if more individuality had been given to voices and intonation.

To be fair, Ms. Gavin's narration is better in Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series, but as I recall, it's not set in the south, and her character voices are better varied. Even there, though, she also has a tendency to make statements out of sentences. All-in-all she's not one of my favorite narrrators, but I've heard MUCH worse.

Oh my, Oh my... Ms. Holton has nothing else to say other than bad words, and I mean the really bad ones and taking the Lord's name in vain constantly. I love it when I can identify with the characters of a book, in this case I am glad I don't. I live in the South, and I have never met women like these! This book lacks charm, intelligence, wit, humor but will reward you with drunken ladies, low moral and profanity. I wish I hadn't bought this book, and luckily I only spend $5.00 on it.

Skip this sequel and read the first book in the series. The author must have had a 2 book deal to get this published! Inane plot, silly dialogue, needless profanity and more coincidences than a night time soap opera to make the story move along. Don't waste your time with this one.

This was just ok, nothing exciting or too special for me. It was easy to listen too and the story was fine just kind of bland.

I was unable to finish this book. This book was so boring that it almost made me fall asleep while driving. I could not relate or feel any sort of empathy with any of the characters and even after listening for a few hours, there did not seem to be much of a story if any.

This book wasn't a bad listen, but it didn't make me want to come back for more. The characters are neat, but the story isn't that intriguing. I wasn't blown away.

I tried several times to listen to this book, and could never get into it. The characters seemed interesting, but the narrator literally "read" the story and her voice varied little between the characters. I find most audio-books to be an enjoyable read where I can listen without having to "think" about what the narrator is saying in order to follow the story. That was not the case with this book. I had to concentrate to follow the story-line, and finally gave up because it just wasn't enjoyable.

I don't like the term "Chick Lit", but surely this book can fall only into this category I'm not going to give away the ending, but you'll quickly realize that one character is going to be tried to be brought down big-time. To get to this penultimate scene, we have to:

-Accept as normal southern behavior of an alcoholic degree of hard drinking as the almost everyday norm;

-Endure almost non-sensical metaphors,

-Accept a story line that is inexplicable in some areas (Now, I know we all don't do rational things all the time, but some of the actions or inactions of these characters are obviously only included to set up the big scene near the end). And,

-Characters that are not very likeable.


The narrator tries hard, and is OK, - sometimes I was impressed with her characters and sometimes I noticed how stilted her delivery was. She's not the best, but not a reason not to listen.

Most of us like light reading now and then, but I suggest finding something that is entertaining. Two stars because 1 star has to be reserved for the worst.

Loved this book. The characters were well developed and the narration was the best I have heard.