Rush
The cover of RUSH reeks of Southern Architecture. A sorority house in Mississippi on the grounds of Ole Miss. And just in time for all those incoming Freshman to begin their first year.
Most of you already know what rush is. But for those of you who may not know, it’s the time when young men and women bare their souls and try like hell to get into sororities and fraternities in Universities. It’s a very stressful time where the pressure is like that of an actual pressure cooker with the lid singing and threatening to blow sky high. Yes. no exaggeration. Those of you who have been there know I am right. So this novel is about the desperation of trying to get accepted by your choice of sorority. But so much more.
This novel begins with Miss Pearl telling us about herself. Here’s the first paragraph.
“I work for four hundred and thirty-eight white ladies in a three-story mansion, not a one of them is over the age of twenty-two. When I took this job, nearly twenty-five years ago, I did it out of necessity. The things in my life had…well, let’s just say they had jumped the track. All of the women in my family, as far back as any of us knew, had worked as domestics. I had been determined to do something different-graduate from college and make a name for myself. Yet here I am following along in their footsteps.”
This little bit sets the tone for the story. It’ll be no secret that Miss Pearl is my favorite character.
There is a whole cast of characters and Patton
has done a super job fleshing them out and giving their roles credence. But I will only focus on the main characters here.
We already know Miss Rose is an integral person. What you don’t know yet is how beloved she has been for many years to all “her” girls. She’s truly been like a mother to them. And they all love her. And she has a secret. The new girls who will be joining Alpha Delt will be the luckiest of the lucky. Or will they?
Enter a woman named Liluth Whitmore who is often referred to by a special name: Mrs. Shitmore. OMG! But she is so deserving of that title. She’s the meanest of the mean and is filthy rich with a young daughter who is attending rush this year. Her concern is to get her mean-spirited daughter Annie Laurie accepted into Alpha Delt no matter what it takes. And I do mean whatever it takes. Liluth is the House Corp President of Alpha Delta Beta. And she’s wrecking havoc from day one. And she’s got a secret.
Cali Watkins is over the moon about rush. She is hoping against hope that she gets an invite. But her chances are small. You see, Cali has family secrets, and, she’s got no pedigree… But she’s whip-smart and so lovable. Of course Liluth does not like her…
Wilda is the mother of a young woman who is also rushing. And she’s keeping a secret from her husband. Liluth has asked Wilda to be on the advisory board for rush. They haven’t seen each other since their college days… And were never close. And just wait til you hear about the dorm room debacle between Annie Laurie and Wilda’s daughter. It almost put me over the edge. I had not heard of hiring a person to “do” your dorm room.
This novel brought something to the surface for me. These young people give me hope for the future. They decide to help make a better life for the Staff of their house and what they do to achieve this is above and beyond and, quite simply, heartwarming!
I have to thank Meg at Tandem Literary for sending me this lovely book. She’s been such a peach this summer sending me some great books. And thanks to St. Martin’s for providing the giveaway book!! All this in exchange for an honest review. I think it’s just super and Patton has just moved into the position of one of the best southern writers today!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now for the winner!! Diane Sutter you are my winner today. Girl, I had the most entries of any giveaway I’ve done yet. Congratulations, Diane Sutta. I will send off an email to let you know.
