Customer Reviews

The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc: A Novel

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As much as I love living down here in the Deep South I enjoy reading a good book about it even more. This was one of the rare books set in the South that accurately portrayed and didn't make us look like charicatures of our real selves.

Set in rural Gentry, Louisiana Sissy's story is essentially a flash back to her early adult years when she was trapped in a loveless marriage with PeeWee LeBlanc, a man she never really loved in the first place. This particualar summer her high school sweetheart returns to Gentry and stirs up his and Sissy's desire once again. Throughout the book we see views of young Sissy in high school and of adult Sissy struggling to be the reputable wife and mother while fighting her feelings for Parker. These glimpses show just how Sissy ended up stuck in Gentry with PeeWee and often make you wonder which was the scandalous summer - her high school one or the one that is the "main" focus of the story.

This was a most entertaining and often enlightening read. There were some very dark themes in the book but they were well handled and balanced by all the good Southern charm and humor dispersed through out. I look forward to more from this author.

Sissy is sexy, sassy, savvy, and sweetly, seductively sinful. Ain't nobody--certainly no mere man--push her 'round. Here is honey-dipped hilarity from start to finish, with much to say about the way men and women get along and, perhaps more pertinently, the way they do not. Loraine Despres writes with a Southern-fried quill that flows with characters who are fiercely, wholly, completely human. Sissy Leblanc's Scandalous Summer is laff-out-loud funny and keenly erotic. Its author serves up a feast, a banquet, that pops and sizzles with dialog that is so sharp you should read it with a supply of BandAids at the ready.

I happened to see this book and knew that it was going to be a fun read ~~ it has all the ingredients I look for in a book ~~ saucy, sexy and hilarious. Sissy LeBlanc, without trying to, stirs up trouble wherever she goes. Married to PeeWee, Sissy realizes that she is bored in her marriage. When a high school flame breezed in from out of town, she hooks up with him and trouble ensues in their path.

It has the perfect characters ~~ there is the wimpy husband, Peewee who could never stand up to his father, there's the father-in-law who is evil to the core; there is the psychopathic older son, Chip, who uses his mother's trangressions to his benefits, as well as torturing people and dogs with his chemistry set; the adorable middle son, Billy Joe and the cute little daughter, Marilee. There is Parker, the old high school flame who could never get Sissy out of his mind; Belle, the sassy grandmother who is proud of her granddaughter; the cousin who is of mixed race and how Sissy trys to help her to get ahead to college. There is the typical nosey-body neighbor who couldn't wait to tell Peewee about his wife's sin ... and so forth. These characters will stick with you long after the last page is turned.

Written with typical southern dry wit and humor ~~ this book is absolutely perfect for people to take on vacation. You'll fall in love with Sissy and her pickled watermelon rinds. You'll enjoy reading about her scandalous summer in 1956 where she shocked everyone in Gentry with her love affair with Parker. You'll find yourself rooting for her as well. This is just a great book to read! It was a near-miss for me ~~ one that I am glad to have picked up!...

The Scandalous Summer of Sissy Leblanc is definitely a scandalous story. The plot is full of surprising twists and turns in the dysfunctions of family & small town community. When the main character Sissy LeBlanc finds herself face to face with her long lost highschool sweetheart, Parker, she has a lot of questions to ask herself and a lot of self-reflection to do. In an unhappy marriage to PeeWee Leblanc with three children, Sissy is put to the test. How far will she go to explore a lost love, how much does her marriage mean to her & what about her children? It was difficult to rate this book because for writing it is a 5-once I started it I read straight through to see where the story was going and how it would all come together in the end. However, I had a hard time finding any sympathy for the main character, Sissy. Almost every character in the story was dysfuntional, but entertaining. I was hoping for a little more good substance in Sissy's character that I didn't find. This novel is an excellent beach read & is entertaining. It does deliver what the title promises-scandal! Loraine Despres does have a gift for writing & I would read more from this author.

The title of this book caught my attention. And scandalous it definitely was. The book initially focuses on Sissy after 14 years of marriage and 3 kids facing the return of her first love. Sissy has principles and beliefs (which she keeps numbered in her mind as little quips and quotes titled the "Southern Belle's Handbook") It leads you down one road, only to take several shocking twists turns and flashes back to when she was in high school. It addressed several relavent and historic issues and also showed the mutifaceted layers of Sissy - her bad and good. Its a story not only about love and passion, but about family drama, friendship, the people of the south during the 40s & 50s, and most importantly, of standing up for what you believe in. If you liked Ya-Ya's - you will like this more scandlous book.

This book, The Scandalous Summer is quite an interesting story about a young women, Sissy, having problems being a faithful wife when her highschool love, Parker Davidson, comes back to town. I thought this was a great read about a women trying to test the boundaries, and finding herself all at the same time. This was certainly a great read!

I have never felt compelled to review a book before but after reading this charming novel I knew it was something I had to do. I was transported back in time to that hot, sultry summer of 1956 in southern Louisiana where I fell in love with Sissy and her Southern Belle's Handbook. I didn't want this book to end. I have ordered Mrs. Despres' next novel and am eagerly awaiting more.

I was so sorry to learn that this was the only novel by Lorraine available at the moment. It was such a captivating and fun read for the summer than I immediately pre-ordered her second book! This story has many twists and turns and keeps you turning the pages to see where Sissy will end up next! She a fun character with and interesting life and story to tell. I would recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a fun and interesting story.

This book sat in my "to read" pile for months before I finally picked it up this past weekend, and didn't put it down until Monday night. It was a great read!

If you enjoyed The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, you will find Loraine Despres's The Scandalous Summer of Sissy Leblanc equally entertaining. The books are of the same genre and written for the same audience - proud Southerners who take pleasure in reading about and laughing at the intrinsic truths of their everyday lives. Sissy is a beautiful, audacious Southern belle in 1956 small-town Louisiana. She feels trapped by the gender roles of the 50s and the South. To cope with her fixed station, she has developed a guide of numbered personal credos - the Southern Belle's Handbook - to which she constantly adds and refers. Her world is rocked when her high school sweetheart Parker Davidson returns from life abroad. Sissy is tempted to abandon everything for this man who embodies all that is her life lacks. Despres uses an omniscient point of view to tell the story from nearly every characters perspective. She characterizes Sissy wonderfully, but leaves other characters such as Peewee, Sissy's husband, quite underdeveloped. The novel examines race relations and bigotry of small-town Southern life and looks at the frustrations of gender roles in the middle of the century. What I found most entertaining about the book were the characters who seemed all too familiar; I believe many of us know or are related to people like the characters of this novel. Sissy's story is a funny and entertaining page-turner that conveys truth about life, both in the South and universally.