Well, budder my butt...

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When I purchased Cake Icing, Butt Budder & Tea Lids by Renee Andrews I was totally unprepared to be blown away. I somewhere got the impression that this was a collection of quaint little amusing Southern stories, something along the line of Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes (by Deborah Smith, Virginia Ellis, Sandra Chastain, etc...a cute easy-read book that gets a thumb's up from me.) Instead it was the unexpected saga of a young southern girl in an "unorthodox" family...growing up in the family bakery with her mother and aunt, all three of them believing they would find the "Right Man" eventually. And eventually they all three did. In very unexpected places.

From the pendulous icing covered breasts (anybody who can conjure up believable every-day characters with my predilection for being naked gets an extra star right off the bat) to the main character's surprise father I was enchanted. I just wish I knew where I could buy me some Butt Budder! I roll my eyes when people describe a book or a movie as "I laughed out loud, I cried" because I rarely do either. But, I have to say I got a little teary-eyed during the "Tea Lids" portion of the book. And while I didn't laugh out loud, I did smile through the first pages of this book and was still smiling when I finished. As I've said, I don't give many five stars these days, but when a book can really keep me engrossed and keep me smiling OR on the edge of my seat, I can forgive a few typos and formatting errors and focus on the writing and storyteling. Both of which in this case were excellent.