Customer Reviews

The Potluck Club (The Potluck Club, Book 1)

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the way Christian fiction should be written. No cardboard Christian cut-outs of sweet angelic women none of us can relate to. These women are real, just the kind of women I find in my own community. We/they are real, they struggle with their faith and how to live it out in the real world with real life problems and in real life situations. After reading this book you will be affirmed as I was not only as a woman, but as an authentic Christian woman. This book does not hit you over the head with a preachy message, but through the lives of these women you will see real faith, lived out in the real world, from real women. No cardboard Christian cut-outs here.

Tired of books with no plot? This book will satisfy your need for something to exercise your mind. Many stories within the story rivet your attention, keeping you turning the pages till the very end. Through it all you see that God is, indeed, capable of taking care of even the smallest details and using them for the good in each person's life. You'll meet:

1.Evie - leader of The Potluck Club/prayer group, needing deliverance from the crushing weight of grief;
2.Evie's niece, Leigh - seeking God's direction for her life;
3.Donna - bitter and angry, learning to cope;
4.Lisa Leann - bossy from the word "Go" but grudgingly accepted into the group;
5.Goldie - in special need of prayer support;
6.Lizzie - rock solid in her marriage and convictions;
7.Vonnie - hiding a secret that will eventually come out;

All wrapped together by a nosy reporter, getting the scoop on The Potluck Club. Get yourself a cup of tea and one of Lisa Leann's cinnamon rolls (the recipes are included!) and journey into the world of the Potluck Club. You'll be glad you did!

I've always been the type of person that enjoys a good book when eating. Somehow reading a book about food always makes the meal tastier even if what I'm reading isn't what I'm eating. "The Potluck Club" is another one of those great eating/reading books. It even comes complete with recipes from the dishes mentioned in the story in case you get a hankering for beef brisket, cinnamon rolls or broccoli casserole. I really enjoyed this book. It gave the story from many different angles, with the characters all have different personalities. The premise of the story deals with a group of women meeting together for prayer and potluck. The women are real, experiencing funny and heartbreaking events together. Each character has a background story that they try to keep secret from the others. I am very glad that the book did not fault Goldie for her decision in her situation with her husband. Other books would have let the matter slide by or have Goldie give in. My favorite scene in the book dealt with a certain bear and a chocolate cake. I had to put the book down because I was laughing so hard. (Of course if I had been in that situation I wouldn't be.)

My only complaint was the character of Clay. I'm not sure why his viewpoint is in the story. I understand he's a newspaper journalisty trying to get a story for the paper, but he just came across as annoying, nosy, and stalkerish. I also hope the conflict with Lisa Leann and Evangeline is either resovled or more fleshed out. This is a good book for women, perfect for a book club to read and discuss over a potluck! and yes! the library just got book 2 in.

I am avid reader and needed some new books/authors and the Lord had put in on my heart to get away from some of the more secular/ violents books I was reading. Unfortunately, some of the Christian authored books I have read in the past had seemed below par and I was not sure whom to choose. I happened to pick up the Potluck Club book and I thought it was great.

I was personally familiar with several of the struggles these characters faced.

One of the miss-concepts of some non-Christians is that Christians can't be normal. That if you are a Christian you can't have fun or that you have to be perfect all the time. I liked this book because it portrayed Christians as normal humans with failures and struggles but it also shared grace and faith. I think this is a great book and it was nice to see normal people in a normal setting.

I don't want to give away anything but what the pastor says at the end of the book touched me personally. And his one line runs through my mind everyday and I know he is right.

I just finished this book and was excited to see a second one available.

Oh my goodness! This book reminds me why I can't read many novels these days. I could NOT put it down -- which is quite dangerous for me. It would have taken major surgery to detach this book from my hand. I loved it!

I recently heard Eva Marie Everson speak at a conference, and her sparkling "diva" personality enticed me to buy her book. "How do two people write a novel together?" I was curious. "We each wrote three characters," she said. "But it's a secret which ones."

What is the Potluck Club? It's a tight-knit group of six friends who get together to share a home-cooked meal, spicing things up with the latest gossip (excuse me, prayer requests.) And there's plenty to talk about in their small town nestled in the scenic Colorado mountains.

What I love most about the book is these women are real. They're funny and flawed, but have a heart for growing in their faith. As the plot unfolds, we enter into their joys and heartaches, frowning at the naughty and smiling at the nice. And the men! The husbands, sons, boyfriends...and that nosy reporter who keeps showing up everywhere. I laughed and cried -- now, I'm hooked and can't wait to read the next one.

It's about time Christian publishers gave us something to read that rivals best-selling chick-lit that won't make us blush! This is a novel you wouldn't mind your teen daughter or your grandmother picking up after you -- pass it on. Forget the trashy romances -- here's a piece that's good for your mind and soul.

Ladies, if you're looking for something fun and poignant to discuss at your next book club meeting, this book is the perfect accompaniment to the staples of food and laughter. Since all the recipes are included at the back of the book, why not try some out? Are Lisa Leann's oven-barbecued brisket and cinnamon rolls really ALL THAT? Make them and see. Vonnie's Mexican Tamales will always remind you of that sad secret in her past. And Mother Dippel's Chocolate Cake looks delicious -- just watch out for hungry black bears!

The Potluck Club would make a great movie, one I would actually enjoy taking my daughters to see.

--Reviewed by Heather Lynn Ivester for Mom 2 Mom Connection

I liked the innovative approach the author used by writing multiple points of view in the first person. I've never read another book quite like it.

However, the book started out very, very slow. Several times I considered putting it down and walking away. Somewhere around page 180 it started to pick up some. All that long wind-up was beginning to go somewhere. Unfortunately, I was already annoyed and distracted by the slow pace so I didn't enjoy the end as much as I hoped.

I thought the characters were very catty, especially in the beginning. If you're looking for Christian fiction that mirrors the world, then this might be for you. I found it very hard to relate to the characters or find even one that I could hold up as a good example of a Christian. (I understand and appreciate flawed characters, I just guess I have higher expectations that at least one might be working on being more Christ-like).

There were numerous spelling and grammatical issues in the Kindle version. Issues such as: Tbdd (should be Todd), fbrties (forties), Oltiva (Olivia), etc. I stopped counting around 10. Normally, I don't mind one or two mistakes--even more if it's not distracting. But in this case, they became very disruptive to the reading.

Overall, this book did not appeal to me.

While this is an entertaining little tale, there is no excuse for the sloppiness of the manuscript. It is rife with spelling and other errors that should not be in it.

I loved this! It's delightfully delicious, witty, and at times poignant. After the first few chapters, the reader becomes almost like a silent member of the Potluck Club, sitting back and experiencing all the woes, regrets, vulnerabilities, longings and triumphs of the six female protagonists. We laugh and cry with them, shake our heads at their antics and feel the joy of their victories. They are real to us and their relationships palpably engrossing. And through it all someone always seems to be cooking. With its warmth and hominess, The Potluck Club is reminiscent of the Mitford Series with a dash of extra spice. These are characters you develop a personal attachment to...and miss when you close the cover of the book.

The Potluck Club began as a twosome, just kitchen-phobic old maid Evangeline Benson and her lifelong friend, Ruth Ann McDonald. They met once a month, in their small town of Summit View, Colorado, for gossip, goulash, and a dash of prayer.

Then Evangeline's biggest prayer wasn't answered, and Ruth Ann died of cancer.

Now Evangeline has taken on the presidency of the group, and the Potluck Club has expanded to six women who share prayer, recipes, and social time, not necessarily in that order. Unfortunately, the stews this club creates don't always include meat and vegetables.

What begins as a light-hearted jaunt through small-town U.S.A.'s daily happenings turns serious as the six members of the Potluck Club each face real-life issues, including grief, marital problems, serious illness, and family troubles. One member's past confronts her, and she must decide what to do about a secret she's harbored for years. Another member is determined to take over leadership of the club, by force if necessary. And Evangeline has to figure out what to do when her childhood sweetheart wants another chance.

Along the way, Clay Whitefield, the local journalist, and a man determined to expose the secrets of the Potluck Club, stirs the mix by giving his insights into each of the women's personalities.

Authors Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson weave in a subtle spiritual thread as the Potluckers realize they have put God on the back burner of their cooking club. Through their friendships and the crises they face, each realizes what has interfered with her relationship with the Lord and overcomes her personal stumbling block to draw closer to Him.

At first, I was tempted to dismiss this book as being too frivolous, because I'm not a big fan of warm and fuzzy women's gatherings. Then I found the six women's first-person points of view, plus excerpts from Clay Whitefield's journal, confusing.

However, after a few chapters, I realized each one started with the point of view character's name. Once I knew whose thoughts I was reading and whose perspective I was seeing, the conversational tone of the book pulled me right in, and I had a hard time putting it down. In fact, I stayed up way too late one night because I wanted to finish the book.

At the end of the book, Shepherd and Everson provide a feast of fantastic recipes for everything from Chai tea to Cheese Enchiladas. They also give a sneak peek of their next book in the series, due out next year. And in a last entry at the back, journalist Clay Whitefield hints that the deepest secret of all has not yet been revealed.

I look forward to another heaping helping of the Potluck Club's adventures in the summer of 2006!

The Potluck Club is a group of mostly middle-aged women (think 50's) that gather together to pray at their meetings...pray for whoever requests their prayers or whoever they feel needs a prayer. They live in a small town where it seems that everyone knows everyone else's name and no one can keep secrets without the whole town finding out about it. Each woman has her own struggles to deal with and by the end of the book, most of these struggles are resolved (some characters you probably have to wait for the sequeals).

It's certainly a familiar concept and one that I like. I was thinking somewhere along the lines of the ya-ya sisterhood...maybe sisterhood of the traveling pants...maybe joy luck club type of book. While it certainly has the same underlying theme...the writing made it difficult to get past the first 1/4 of the book.

Each chapter in this book is a narrative from one of the main characters...there are 6 main characters that cycle back and forth. The beginning narratives from each character serves the purpose of spoon-feeding you their life story and their struggle that they will be dealing with. The problem with that is that these characters tell you their life story before you have a reason to care. I prefer books that allow the characters to unfold throughout the book. Plus...I found Lisa Leann's introductory narrative to be completely unbelievable due to how undeveloped it was.

Getting past that, each person's chapter is separated by a brief chapter inside the town reporter's mind (Clay Whitefield). There is absolutely zero character development about Clay. He doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose at all. His chapters could be completely taken out and the book wouldn't change. You learn that he's younger than than these women since he went to high school and had one of their husbands as his coach. You learn that he has two pet gerbils that he talks to about his news stories. He stalks the Potluck Club for reasons that are unexplained except that the town is curious about what goes on in their meetings. Some of his chapters seem to serve as a recap in what happened in the previous character's chapter. He happens to be in all the right places at all the right times so he sees everything that happens to these women and he contemplates them...for what?. I thought maybe by the end of the book his purpose would unfold...it never does.

Besides the main characters, every other character seems to exist only to serve a function. Their characters are very poorly developed. The author talks about the pastor and his wife as the sweetest people you ever meet but their characters are never developed enough for you to make that decision on your own...it is made for you. That seems to be a common enough occurence in the book. What you are supposed to think and believe about the people in the book is spelled out for you...there is no coming to your own conclusion here. In fact, in case you missed it...Clay will be there in the very next chapter to tell you exactly what you were supposed to get out of the last chapter.

The problems these characters are in are easily resolved...completely unrealistic. I won't go into an example because obviously that would be a bit of a spoiler.

I wish the characters in this book were more developed...it would make it easier for you to care about them. This book felt rushed...like the author bit off more than she could chew and was just trying to throw it together.

Like I said earlier...this is a good storyline if you can put the rest of the flaws aside. There were a few typos in the kindle version but that's not a huge deal.

Giving this 3 stars because I got it for free (if I had paid money for this, it would get 2) and because I enjoy the storyline.