The Sweet Potato Queens' First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn't Actually Do, but Could Have, and May Yet [Hardcover]

Jill Conner Browne (Author), Karin Gillespie (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2007

“I have no pride. I tell anything,” Jill Conner Browne is fond of saying. As Her Royal Highness, Boss Queen of the Sweet Potato Queens,® she has told legions of fans, known as “SPQ Wannabes,” her delectable secrets to living, loving - and eating - like a queen. In her words, “More is more.” How much more? The #1 New York Times bestselling author of five works of nonfiction now serves up The Sweet Potato Queens’ First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn’t Actually Do, But Could Have, and May Yet. The humor in this uproarious coming-of-queen novel is more delicious than a favorite dessert (the Queens favor Chocolate Stuff, ™ of course). In Jackson, Mississippi, Mary Bennett, Patsy, Gerald, and Jill are high school classmates whose daily routine is paced like a shuffle through the local red dirt - until the arrival of a redheaded newcomer banishes monotony forever. With her luxurious mane and voluptuous figure, Tammy Myers aspires to join the silver-spooners, who make things happen in their lives. When Jill convinces Tammy and the others that money might buy a certain kind of good time and that true friendship has no price tag, the “Sweet Potato Queens” are born. “If it ain’t fun, we ain’t doin’ it,” runs their official club motto, and the Queens are true to their word. Together, the Queens laugh out loud as they step down the long - and not altogether pretty - road toward making their very own queen dust, the sparkle that comes from livin’ and lovin’ their own lives. The Sweet Potato Queens’ First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn’t Actually Do, But Could Have, and May Yet reveals that the journey isn’t always easy, but in the company of the Queens, you can sparkle, too.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After five nonfiction bestsellers, Browne leaps into fiction (with assistance by Bottom Dollar Girls creator Karin Gillespie) and delivers a GEN-U-WINE page-turner of a novel. Fans won't be surprised that Browne's combination of bawdy humor and self-empowerment affirmations easily translates in novel form. An unexpected delight is how deftly Browne creates fully dimensional supporting characters surrounding her first-person narrator, Jill Connor. (In her nonfiction adventures, all the other queens are named Tammy and intentionally blend together.) Beginning in 1968 with five high school misfits thrown together, Browne traces the core members of the Sweet Potato Queens through two decades of weddings, funerals and disastrous relationships. While readers learn the origins of "The Promise" and the motto "Never wear panties to a party," Browne also invents some new lingo (tyrants at work are "bossholes" and men adept in bed "know about the little man in the boat"). Fans of the Queen's artery-choking recipes are in luck; after the final chapter, Browne offers menu items from Rest in Peace, a restaurant the Queens would love to open that would only serve food found at Southern funerals. Browne's hilarious and heartwarming debut sets sturdy groundwork for future fictional follies. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Browne's Sweet Potato Queen advice books on love, divorce, and cooking have found a wide audience in readers who appreciate the Queens' sassy southern charm. With coauthor Gillespie, Browne turns to fiction for the first time to share lives and loves of the Queens. Jill, Mary Bennett, Patsy, and Gerald are united by their outsider status in high school. When Tammy, a beautiful but insecure redhead, moves into town and is humiliated by the in-crowd, Jill and company form the Tammy Club to bolster her spirits. The five enter the homecoming parade in wild dresses and red wigs, but a misprint on their sign (it reads Yammy instead of Tammy) leads to the five rechristening themselves the Sweet Potato Queens. The groups' friendships last for decades, despite distance and differences of opinion. Mary Bennett pursues fame on the coasts, Gerald comes to terms with his sexuality, and Tammy marries. But not everything is rosy. Mary Bennett finds success as a soap actress at the expense of the love of her life, Jill finds a man who proves too good to be true, and Tammy's insecurities lead to infidelities. Spirited and brazen, the Queens are good company. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (January 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743278275
• ISBN-13: 978-0743278270
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #993,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jill Conner Browne is the New York Times bestselling author of six Sweet Potato Queens books. She lives and writes on all things Queenly from Jackson, Mississippi.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fine fictionalization of Jill Connor Browne's The Sweet Potato Queens, January 6, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sweet Potato Queens' First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn't Actually Do, but Could Have, and May Yet (Hardcover)

In 1968 Jackson, Mississippi, the Fab Five (Jill, Mary, Patsy, Tammy and Gerald) became tight friends because of their belief that they are magnificent though the existing high school clubs and other teen associations rejected each of them. The outsiders dubbed themselves the Sweet Potato Queens with their vision to enjoy life to the fullest for "If it ain't fun, we ain't doing it."

After graduation they remained friends though each went their separate way. Mary went Hollywood; Gerald comes out of the closet in San Francisco; Tammy becomes a Jackson TV weather reporter; Patsy becomes a mom in Atlanta, while Jill becomes a personal trainer and columnist. Each has met life head on, but now twenty plus years later following marriage, death, and relationship blunders, they meet in London to save Tammy from what her four bosom buddies think is a tragic mistake.

Though more vignette than novel, this is a fine fictionalization of Jill Connor Browne's The Sweet Potato Queens. The five protagonists are a likable quintet as they help each other stay balanced over the years. Fans of the Karen Gillespie's Bottom Dollar Girls, the Mossy Creek sagas or the Sweet Potato Queens will enjoy this humorous slice of life.

Harriet Klausner

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sweet Potato Queens Are a Hit, December 28, 2006

By 

Tamela Mccann "taminator40" (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sweet Potato Queens' First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn't Actually Do, but Could Have, and May Yet (Hardcover)

I'll begin by saying that this is not normally the type of book I read; I'm not a big fan of the chick lit genre in general. That being said, however, I will say that once I dove into this book, I really enjoyed it and found it to be a fun, light read that I can recommend.

Set first in the 1960s, SPQ (Sweet Potato Queen) Jill narrates the tales of the group members in roughly 5 year segments that follow the girls and the obligatory gay male member during the changes in their lives and attitudes. Through marriages and divorces and life-altering experiences, Jill gives us the humor and the seriousness of the relationships that exist for the group. Loyal to a fault, the SPQ lift one another out of funks and defend each other to the death. Browne does a good job of creating colorful characters who don't exceed the limits of being larger than life, and her episodes are entirely believable. Her Southern-isms are dead on, and she even includes a few recipes in the end pages that apparently help to tie this book to the others in the series.

Minor quibbles for me include the overly tidy ending (comeuppance is a rare thing as shown here), and the excess of curse words (a more judicious use of them would have had more impact--after a while they just became monotonous). But overall this is a good little novel that does what it sets out to do: entertain us and engage us in the lives of these flamboyant characters.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars SPQs Run out of Sass?, January 20, 2007

By 

Mamalinde "mamalinde" (Dallas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sweet Potato Queens' First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn't Actually Do, but Could Have, and May Yet (Hardcover)

Say it isn't so! This novel, though, really contains little new material, just an organized rehash of the earlier books -- minus the slap happy, screamingly funny little bits and pieces. It just doesn't work for me, and I've bought oodles of these books for gifts. Even the recipes were less than charming, way too much splenda (ugh!) and the Beulah Land Boo Boo Pie just was a gooey mess, even though the recipe was followed exactly. Get this one from the library, or skip it all together. A commercial enterprise, and one that didn't provide the level of sass I've come to expect from the wonderful Queens.