God Is Getting Tired And So Am I

I think you have to really love the books and the characters in the God Don't Like Ugly series to still be reading the sequels and enjoying them. I'm not so sure I am. I am sure that God is getting tired of these stories because I know that I am.

Now; I have to admit that I am a long-time Mary Monroe fan. Her stories rate up there at the top of fiction reader's most loved novels. And her characters have always been some of the most interesting people that I have never met so I am sorry to report that her latest in the series, God Ain't Blind did not do it for me this time. Mary Monroe has been hailed as a masterful storyteller and is a New York Times bestselling author. Mary, Mary, Mary! Why didn't you re-think this one?

Protagonist Annette Goode Davis has been through a lot over the years, and with the love and support of her best friend, Rhoda O'Toole she has managed to survive the worst of situations. Annette and Rhoda return in this new installment still thick as thieves and still with a little larceny in their hearts, something that readers have always loved. Yet, this story just does not have any meat on its bones.

Readers will meet a new Annette. Afraid that her husband is wandering; Annette has lost a ton of weight and has had a total makeover. She's fly and looking hot for perhaps the first time in her life, but her husband Pee-Wee hasn't noticed the change one bit! She is at her wit's end trying to figure out what has doused the fire in her marriage to Pee-Wee.

However; her friend Rhoda encourages her to forget about winning over her husband and to look for some greener grass in another pasture. When a local businessman opens a catering business and restaurant in town and takes an interest in Annette, Rhoda tells her to go for it. After all, Rhoda has been stepping out on her husband for years with his best friend.

Louis Baines is an attractive younger man full of sweet talk for Annette. Annette is a stranger to such an attraction having been the homely friend of the gorgeous Rhoda since they were teens. Pee-Wee is the only man she has ever wanted and the only man who has ever wanted her. Attention from a man like Louis is something she has never experienced.

After being ignored by her husband for so long, Annette is like putty in Rhoda's hands. She allows Rhoda to convince her to stray from her marriage. She starts an affair with the younger man sneaking out to the Doo Drop Inn for her indiscretions with him. She pretends to join Rhoda's bowling league to account for her time after work. Rhoda is her very eager alibi in hiding her outside affair and no one is the wisest in the beginning. But the more involved Annette becomes, the weaker she becomes for Louis. She is having the time of her life. Louis senses her desperation and realizes that she can be a very fruitful ally in his quest to build his business to another level. When the con man comes out in Louis, Annette falls for the old "okie doke" and starts to supplement his finances thinking that the man really cares about her.

Who is this new woman that Annette has become and how did she get to be so stupid? Annette finds herself about to lose both her marriage and her job when she finally realizes her mistakes. She should have known better than to listen to Rhoda.

The pacing was so slow that it took me several days to read this book by an author whom I have always enjoyed. It just wasn't like a Mary Monroe storyline. Where was the humor? Where was the drama? Where were the characters that were so unique and the dialog that used to make me whoop and holler?

I couldn't get interested. I just wanted it to be over. The only redeeming portion of the story was when Rhoda's infamous "daughter from the dark side" comes back to town after flunking out of college. Jade injects some of the drama that Monroe is known best for into the story. Seeing Jade get her comeupence for some of the horrible things that she did to Annette in the past was satisfying. However; it was not enough to save this novel.

I'm not sure if I want to re-visit the God Don't Like Ugly series in the next upcoming installment. It has really gotten old to this reader unless the author comes up with a better story that actually has a real plot.