The Southern Chapter of the Big Girl Panties Club: A Frankilee Baxter Story by Lynda Stephenson

This wasn't what I was expecting, but that's not to say it was bad or a disappointment. The mention of the civil rights movement had me expecting something more serious and dramatic, something that would really impact me regarding the movement. But it's actually a book full of humor and this sarcastic heroine's wit.


In religion class, she says:

"I've been thinking about this quite a lot. After I got rid of Adam and the snake, I would have asked God to make me another man, because the first one was defective. The next one would be made from one of my ribs, so he'd be far superior to the first. And then everybody in the garden would be happy."

So we follow this witty heroine and her hilarious thoughts and comments as she attends her first year of college. There's her first bout of drunkenness, her learning to smoke, her first boyfriend, a murder mystery, crank calls, pet killing, nasty frat boys, and back home her grandpa is getting it on with a younger lady. This creates some non-college drama.

She has some awful and weird teachers. She is trying to cut it in journalism, but her stuff is too controversial.

Honestly, the book goes all over the place. It's a bit much to keep straight at times and some things felt irrelevant, but you can honestly laugh along. There wasn't as much about civil rights as I expected.

I thought it an enjoyable read despite my quibble up there, but there's one thing I had a huge issue with: the boyfriend Trace. As her parents say in the end, there isn't much to him beyond good looks...like them, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what she saw in the guy. Total loser. Racist. Drunk. Horny. And she's fully aware of how he is. And despite all her bravado and her big talk and threats, she keeps this douche bag around til the end.

I get it: women like bad boys and good looks, but the author failed to convey to the reader what Frankilee was seeing in this guy. It honestly never told me.

I truly enjoyed many of Frankilee's thoughts and quotes though. She had me LOLing marking pages to share with my readers.

"The entire complex is called The Boner, named for the generous Michael Jehosaphat Boner. If my name were Boner, I'd have given my million dollars anonymously."

Four bikes. I received this from the author in exchange for an honest review.